Response: Doing Fieldwork Among the Yanomamo

Doing Fieldwork among the Yanomamo: Response Shaki, or Napoleon A. Chagnon’s 15 month enculturation with the Yanomamo tribe, Bisaasi-teri is characterized by fear, discomfort, loneliness, nosiness, and invaluable experiences through relationships and modesty about human culture. Chagnon documents the experience through the struggle and discovery surrounding his proposed research, as his lifestyle gradually comes in sync with the natural functions of his community. Much of his focus and time was consumed by identification of genealogical records, and the establishment of informants and methods of trustworthy divulgence. Marriage, sex, and often resulting violence are the foremost driving forces within Yanomamo, and everything that we consider part of daily routine is completely unknown and inconsequential to them. Traveling between neighboring tribes, he draws conclusions about intertribal relations, especially concerning marriage and raiding. Chagnon deals with cultural complexity that takes time to decipher, and in process, potential risk. Confronted with seemingly trivial situations, they often become unexpected phenomena and Chagnon’s adherence to documentation is amazing. He encounters personal epiphanies that I find intriguing, related to privacy and hygiene. This report becomes an inspiring document of an extreme anthropologic lifestyle as much as it is a cultural essay.
Few articles capture my attention like this one did. I found myself evolving in relation to the paralleled maturation of both cultures. Merely sitting on my bed, I developed a detachment from the tendency to contrast my knowledge of culture from the pure consideration of theirs. My affinity for this type of anthropologic study stems from my adoration of travel. Fortunate to travel from a younger age I have been enamored by being dropped in a stew of culture. I have vacationed to European and Caribbean countries with family and tapped into the tourism that runs the world of