YANOMAMI - AN ARENA OF CONFLICT AND AGGRESSION IN THE AMAZON

The Yanomami of Venezuela and Brazil have become an arena of conflict and aggression in the Amazon in at least three respects: their interna l aggression; the aggression among anthropologists and others concerne d with them; and the external aggression against the Yanomami from Wes tern society. As such, the Yanomami provide a microcosm of several asp ects of the anthropology of conflict and aggression. After some backgr ound, a critical analysis is developed of 10 problem areas that call i nto serious question the scientific status of Yanomami as one of the m ost violent human societies ever known in anthropology: the Yanomami a s ''the fierce people''; documentation of their aggression; inflation of their aggression as warfare; neglect of cross-cultural perspective; modern warfare as reversion to tribalization; the negative concept of peace; male sexist bias; the Yanomami as ''primitive''; the character of debates; and research priorities and professional ethics. The anal ysis has more general implications for the epistemology of the study o f aggression. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.