Yanomamo: The Fierce People

In this section, Chagnon explores the nuances of Yanomami kinship. He states that a combination of the kinship system and rules for marriage form the structure of their society. He uses diagrams throughout the chapter and a model of an ideal Yanomami village to explain these rules. He labels the individuals in the model with letters and numbers and describes the Yanomami kinship system as bifurcate merging and patrilineal, or based on the father’s line of descent. The model traces the incorporation of a new lineage into the hypothetical village and illustrates how marriage ties extend to include new members. These relationships are stronger than blood ties and impact the formation and fission of villages. Chagnon notes that Yanomami men must marry women of the “wife” kinship category. He also mentions the need for the exchange of women in “reciprocal marriage exchanges” (58) between brothers-in-law due to social obligations.

Following the explanation of his idealized model, Chagnon presents 10 real-life kinship examples, labeled A to J, to illustrate how Yanomami kinship actually works. He organizes these examples in “decreasing order of correspondence to our own biological concepts of kinship” (61). Eight examples come from Patanowä-teri, and the other two from Bisaasi-teri.