Philippe Descola,
Professor of Anthropology on the Collège de France, Paris
Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Member of the British Academy
25 February 2013
As a fellow anthropologist, additionally with a protracted trajectory within the research of Amazonian
Indians, I absolutely agree with the evaluation given by Viveiros de Castro of the work of
Chagnon among the many Yanomami.It’s puzzling for European anthropologists that
Chagnon has met with such big success within the US (by way of books offered no less than),
so crude is his pondering and so shallow his ethnography. I don’t keep in mind having
seen any reference made to his work for a really very long time within the anthropological
literature on Amazonia. Professor Sahlins is, in my eyes and people of many different
students the world over, essentially the most revered anthropologist alive at present, and I ought to
assume that the media and the overall US public ought to take note of his brave
stand on this case.
Manuela Carneiro da Cunha
Professor emerita on the College of Chicago
Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences
Member of the Third World Academy of Sciences
25 February 2013
In 1988, because the then president of the Brazilian Anthropological Affiliation, I despatched a
letter of protest to the American Anthropological Affiliation in regards to the work of
Napoleon Chagnon and its political results. As a member myself of the Brazilian
Academy of Sciences and of the Third World Academy of Sciences, I used to be shocked by
his current election to the Nationwide Academy of Sciences, and notably so since his
affect on our career is subsequent to nil. Marshall Sahlins, in distinction, continues to
be essentially the most broadly cited and most influential North American anthropologist in
Brazil. That he needs to be portrayed as an enemy of science by Napoleon Chagnon,
who in flip poses as its avenger is to have a really poor opinion of what science is. I
applaud Sahlins’s resolution to resign from the NAS, which is constant along with his
biography, that of a stellar anthropologist and a dedicated citizen, who has by no means
hesitated in taking a stand in protection of justice each in politics and in sound
anthropology.
Eduardo Viveiros de Castro
Professor of anthropology at Rio de Janeiro Federal College
24 February 2013
As an anthropologist with expertise in Amazonia, in addition to a Brazilian citizen, I
want to specific within the strongest potential phrases my settlement with Prof. Sahlins’s
place regarding the election of Napoleon Chagon to the Nationwide Academy of
Sciences.
Chagnon’s writings on the Yanomami of Amazonia have strongly contributed to
reinforcing the worst prejudices in opposition to this Indigenous individuals, who actually don’t
want the form of stereotyping pseudo-scientific anthropology Chagnon has chosen to
pursue at their value.
The Yanomami are something however the nasty, callous, sociobiological robots Chagnon
makes them appear to be – projecting, in all probability, his notion of his personal society
(or persona) onto the tribe. They’re an Indigenous individuals who have managed,
in opposition to all odds, to outlive of their conventional methods in an Amazonia more and more
threatened by social and environmental destruction. Their tradition is unique, strong
and creative; their society is infinitely much less ‘violent’ than Brazilian or American
societies.
Just about all anthropologists who’ve labored with the Yanomami, a lot of them
with far bigger area expertise with this individuals than Chagnon, discover his analysis
strategies objectionable (to place it mildly) and his ethnographic characterizations
fantastical.
*Carlo Zacquini *
Catholic Missionary who labored with the Yanomami for almost 50 years
2 February 2013
_Those who I knew – and I’ve recognized many Yanomami throughout all of the years after I visited a number of communities – should not like that [violent]. There are all the time tensions, as there are tensions in every household and every place, however for me this isn’t battle. Struggle is one other factor. I do know battle. I’ve recognized it since I used to be a toddler.
There are fights, I feel they all the time existed, they exist in all societies, and generally somebody dies, however it’s so uncommon. Fights grew to become far more critical when the gold miners got here into the world and the Indians acquired firearms… However this additionally was not a normal factor, it’s not a relentless factor – Yanomami ‘wars’ hardly trigger any hurt. The hurt from a ‘battle’ is much lower than the hurt attributable to flu.
I noticed within the case of the Yanomami that when the State got here together with its actions saying they had been for the safety of the border, violence in opposition to the Yanomami was actually nice, though not by gunfire, however by individuals linked to the state like, for instance, the gold miners. Earlier than, life for the Yanomami was very peaceable, far more so, then afterwards the issues multiplied enormously in an unacceptable manner I’d say. _
