shaman (what are they/?)
an all male section of Yanomamo society that have achieved status through training
Role:
-healing and health specialists
-participants in spiritual warfare
they also have prestige as being a shaman will carry social weight
conditions in which men may start shaman training
-once they have reached adolescence
-made a personal commitment to the path and started fasting
- they have a shaman mentor
first ritual: first dose of ebene (highly hallucinogenic substance)
training conditions
-abstain from sexual activity at all times
-must fast completely, eating only the bare minimum to survive
to reach the spirit world the shamen have to know…..
-how to survive ebene
-how to make and collect ebene
-how to prepare and take ebene
what is ebene
-made from tree frog poison and pulp of tree bark they are boiled off together in water which leaves a powder residue which can be snorted
-can cause instant v* or nasal discharge, you can also die from an overdose of ebene
what else does the mentor teach in the liminal status
-the nature of the spirit world
-how to spot hekura spirits
-how to attract hekura spirits
Hekura (what are they?)
small shining spirits that are not manifested in other animals. most are wild, some are dangerous, they all can be tamed.
Hekura (How to find them)
(to see hekura you must be on a lot of ebene)
in order to find hekura, you must know the songs and mannerisms that they like, a hekura tat chooses you will sleep in your chest
Hekura (what can they do?)
hekura will set up residence within a shaman’s chest and they can:
-climb into a sick persons body and heal them of illness
-climb into a well persons body and make them ill
-fight other hekura
Moieties
all of Yanomamo society is divided between 2 moieties, each moiety has a roughly even split in each country area and shabono
---moieties considered to be your wider kin group in which you cannot marry into
Leadership in the Moeties
each village has a big man or big men of one or both moieties called a chief
--chief’s have achieved status through force of will, violence and leadership
the Yanomamo practice ‘patronymic naming‘→ in which everyone is named after the chief of their family
marriage (patrilineal exogamy)
-cannot get married from within the same moiety
-decent through the male/fathers line
marriage as a form of alliance
big men of opposing moieties are most likely your perfect allies and often build an alliance. They can offer:
→safety (as they aren’t a threat) and military support
→ hekura assistance
→ promises of marriage of their daughters to the ally or the ally’s son
marriage as a form of antagonism
patrilineal exogamy means that all men from the same moiety can theoretically steal your wives:
→ close kin rarely do this it is mostly intra moiety big men from other shabono’s that are your biggest threat **they may even be willing to kill you for your wives
Marriage (suaboya)
-due to the existence of moieties and patrilineal exogamy, there is a pressure to marry outside of your close kin
-however, the benefit of having a tightly knit shabono means there is pressure to marry someone who has become your kin
**the ideal marriage is cross cousin marriage
Marriage Formalities
Marriage is not punctuated by a formal ceremony
—>A girl may marry as soon as she has started menstruating but has usually been betrothed beforehand
—> A man may be betrothed from any age but it is unheard of them to be betrothed pre-puberty
Marriage Roles for Women
To be officially married a woman just needs to perform daily tasks for a man and to live in his section of their shabono. She must….
-anticipate the needs of her husband
-collect firewood and water everyday
-gather and prepare an evening meal everyday
-be involved in the childrearing of her own or her sister-wives children
Marriage roles for Men
Men must:
→ protect their wives from abduction, though this is likely out of self interest
→ Men must hunt for their wives and their wives’ parents
Implications of Patronymy
Patronymy indicates both marriage and possesion
-’Kaobawa’s Wife’ is both a status of marriage and possession
How arguments and disputes are settled
-a chest pounding duel
—> these fights can sometimes escalate to side slapping or worst case scenario, a club fight
How do chest pounding duels start
-the 2 maen square up to each other and wait for observers to arrive
-they will vocally shout their issue and threaten each other
-One man will take the defensive stance and encourage the other to hit him
-the attacker takes up to 4 blows to the chest, yje recipient then returns the same number
2 ways in which the chest pounding duel ends
Participant is knocked to the ground
One of the participants might retire or back out - this determines their win or defeat/prestige or shame
a club fight
after chest pounding and side slapping, fights can esculate to a club fight, in which the offender hits their opponent upon their head with a stick of bamboo
Functionalist Perspectives on Law and Order
-Malinowski: all societies need order. Some societies don’t have written laws but they must have order to prevent anomie
-Parsons(Strain Theory):People break laws when they are under strain. Strain→ Crime. In Yanomamo society most people go along with the chief unless they are under strain
-Cohen(Status Frustration Theory): Status Frustration leads to crime/deviance
Feminist perspectives on Law and Order
Sylvia Walby and the 6 pillars of patriachy:
-One pillar is vilence, which is the way men maintain control
Marxist perspectives on Law and Order
-Karl Marx,-all forms of law are a repressive state apparatus designed to oppress the poor