Background Information

     The Yanomami are an indigenous group of about 20,000 people that dwell in approximately 200-250 villages in the Amazon Rainforest between Venezuela and Brazil. The villages consist of families and extended families and can range from 40 people to almost 400 villagers. The entire village lives in the same building called a "shabono". The Yanomami depend on the rainforest for survival and gather fruit, fish, and hunt animals in order to survive. To avoid completely decimating one area, they continuously move. The families are patriarchal and the children stay at home with the women. The men gather food, keep the village safe, and provide for the group while the women harvest crops to eat and perform household duties.

     Rituals are a very important to the Yanomami and many hallucinogenic drugs are taken, despite women not being allowed to participate in the drugs. The origin of their language is unknown and there are many dialects of the language which make communication with other groups very difficult. The Yanomami have been associated with violence to other groups and themselves. There are many examples of the Yanomami having brutal fights which sometimes end in death. This video Professor Villamar showed us in class perfectly illustrates the violence of the Yanomami.



Yanomami YOPO Snuff, electronic document, http://www.shamanic-extracts.com/xcart/shamanic-products/yanomami-yopo-snuff.html, date accessed 25 March 2013.

The Ax Fight, electronic document, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnQqxDTA04Y, date accessed 21 March 2013.

Yanomami, electronic document,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yanomami, date accessed 20 March 2013.