Name

Name:

The name Yanomami means human-being in the yanomami language. In the tribe when an infant is born the father goes on a hunt for a name for the child. To do this the father uses either the name of the first species he kills or the name of a body part of the animal he kills. Names could be things such as, Paw of wolf or Eye of Monkey. The tribe must use this way of naming their children because once they die the name can no longer be used. The tribe also will not use their names publicly, but instead replaced with things like brother or leader.

Home to the Yanomami: Origin and Use of a Yanomami's Name. www1.broward.edu/~hsorkin/Lib-Arts/Projects/Fall2002/Hottinger/culture.html


          'Yanomami' means 'Human Being'

Population

Population:

The population of the Yanomami tribe consists of 24,000 people. There are 15,000 tribe members that live in Venezuela and 9,000 members that live in Brazil. There population is usually spread out among 350 villages across their territory that they own. Their population is separated into four different subdivisions named the Sanema, Ninam, Yanomam, and the Yanomamo. The Sanema live in the northern Sector, Ninam live in the Southeastern sector, the Yanomam that live in the southeastern part, and the Yanomamo live in the southwestern part. These four parts make up the Yanomami tribe and its population.

Yanomami Indians of Brazil: Crystal Inks. wwwcrystalinks.com/yanomami.html.

Geographic Location

Geographic Location:

There are around 24,000 Yanomami tribe members that all live in South America. 15,000 of the tribe members live in Venezuela, while the other 9,000 live in Brazil. The size of the territory they live on can be compared to the size of Austria. They have been around for 50,000 years, when the first people arrived in South America. The tribe lives in villages scattered around South America. They change their place of living every 3-4 years say they can find new land to plant gardens.

The Yanomami. Indigenous People of  The World: www.gymmuenchenstein.ch/stalder/klassen/hie/indigenous/cont.htm. 2005.

technology

Their technology is extremely basic, utilizing poles and vine bridges; their tools are created from the natural resources that are available in their environments. Very self dependent on acquiring their own supplies. They make their own bowstaves, pots and even have their own fire drills made from cocoa tree wood and two-piece gadgets.

http://www.crystalinks.com/yanomami.html

media framing

Media Framing allows us to view cultures and groups of people into greater depth. Today, media has given us insight into what’s going on in other countries, what other people are experiencing, and how interpret things we see every day. The Yanomami people have experienced devastation; their land has been invaded, their gold taken, and migrators have brought over diseases that have killed many of their people.  Media has heightened our awareness of such events and how the Yanomami feel about them. In interviews  such as ‘Our Land is Our Heritage’ we get a personal testimony of the Yanomami people. By gaining the trust of the Yanomami people and getting close to them, we can also gain insight on the differences between cultures. In ‘The Laughing Alligator’a man by the name of Juan Downey lives and experiences the Yanomami people. He’s able to get close and personal and find out things about the group of people that most people would never think of. Media makes us knowledgeable of  other people and cultures in the world.

http://mediaburn.org/video/image-union-yanomami-episode-204-2/

http://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/yanomami

Subsistence

Subsistence

For the Yanomami people, their means of subsistence would be a combination of hunting, fishing, and agriculture. The hunting is normally done by the men, while the fishing is done by both the men and women. For agriculture, the Yanomami people use the slash and burn method for clearing the land. The men normally participate in the initial work - the chopping down and the clearing, and the women seal with the maintenence work such as planting, tending to the crops, and weeding.

                                                   

Language

Language

The language of the Yanomami people has several names but is typically called Yanomaman. It's thought to be part of the Carib and Arawak language families. The Yanomami people practice their language orally because they don't have a written language. Their language consists of less words than ours, but their working vocabulary is massive compared to ours because they must store all their words into memory. They also have formal and informal dialects.Wayamo, the formal dialect is only spoken by the men and at special events, while the informal dialect is spoken at every other time. Storytelling is a huge part of their culture and language because they only communicate verbally. Storytelling is seen as art and entertainment.

                                                

http://www1.broward.edu/~hsorkin/Lib-Arts/Projects/Fall2002/Hottinger/culture.html