Politics and Violence

The Yanomamo do not have written language, a number system, formal laws or court system. There is no judge or lawyers to enforce laws in their culture, it is clear as to how everyone should behave and what rules they should follow. Even though there is an understanding of what the rules are people often violated the unwritten system when they feel they had the need to do so. There does not seem to be any punishment if someone chose to participate in a violent act. If a problem becomes violent, the individual is responsible, and required to use his own skills and the help of his close family.

On the eve of revenge killing small quantities of the dead man’s ashes are to be consumed by the women of the village. To avenge the raid against the village that killed him, the women alone drink the ashes of the slain to make raiders “bushuwo “(anger verging on violence), and fill them with resolve. The raiders travel as far as 4 day to commit their killings.  Any members of the tribe that refuse to conduct revenge raids get a reputation of cowardice.

Though it is dangerous to be involved in revenge killings, those who participate, benefit by maintaining the status of unokias.  The Unokais mean those who have killed. Boys are rewarded for showing aggressive tendencies. Once the men have killed, they then participate in a ritual purification called Nokaimou. This is to avert any supernatural harm that might be inflicted on them by the spirits of the person they killed. Men who take the risk and concerned about the welfare of their kin are considered to have good male characteristics. All of the unokais are headmen in their village. There can be more than one headman in a village. The headmen are the largest political leaders of the group. Being headmen allows them to have as many as twelve wives. An issue that is negative for those wanting to be unokias is it is not always easy. Most men that try to become one fail, and usually die trying.

One of the biggest benefits of being a non-unokais , to me, would have to be, not causing oneself to be the center of another vengeance killing. If they do not go out and kill anyone, they can still get killed but they don’t have worry about being some ones primarily target. The other benefit would have to be, when the village starts new group, the unokais are usually related to the other group. This sometimes causes problems because when a war rises up between the two groups, the unokais might have to kill their own family member.

 

Men that are unokais are considered to be more valuable. Because every village have one or more “patas” which means “big ones”. Revenge killing influence the Yanomano political structure, by establishing power in their group. The more you kill the more power you have, therefore you become political leaders.

The most influential leaders are the ones that have killed. They gain social status in their village because of the respect that comes along with being a political leader. They are more desirable than non-unokais to women who that will marry. Sometimes the wives are taken by force from others.

 Pates are most respected by the village. With respect, comes the benefit of wives. Since the patas can have up to twelve wives, they can have a very large family. The wives bare children for their husband and he becomes in charge of the close kinship in the village. The patas have a better success rate in reproduction. Compared to the other men who are not “patas”, they have the most relatives in the village. It appears as if having wives amount to having money in your bank account.

Other than defense, I believe there should be law against killing because we all do not view killing as the same. Like the Yanomano village, they sometimes resolve to revenge killings because someone died of natural causes, therefore innocent people get killed. While they are morning a death, some of the people from this village think it is okay to kill a person that have nothing to do with the death. If we do not have these laws preventing people from killing others, people could come up with other reason to do so. What is okay in one culture does not mean it is okay in every culture.

Recently I’ve heard of “Honor killing”. In certain culture, “Honor Killings” are acceptable and even expected. This happens when a daughter is seen as disobeying and disrespectful. The parent (I’m not sure if it is just the dad or both mom and dad) kills the daughter to regain their family’s honor. Every culture or society have their own rules and law, they all expect others to follow that law in order to keep their society functioning the way they want it to. People do not generally think that killing is wrong. Some cultures look at is as honorable.

 Sayom M.