Yanomamo: The Fierce People

While Yanomamö: The Fierce People is one of the best-selling and best-recognized anthropology texts, it is also one of the most controversial. The earliest objections to Chagnon’s work arose in 1993 when he was appointed to a presidential commission that had power over Yanomami land rights. Upon his appointment, the backlash from native rights groups, the Catholic Church, the attorney general, and several native tribes caused Chagnon to be permanently expelled from Venezuela and barred from further study of the Yanomami people. Despite Chagnon’s removal, his work remained largely unchallenged in the American anthropological community. Later, in response to both The Fierce People and Chagnon’s subsequent book, Noble Savages: My Life Among Two Dangerous Tribes—The Yanomamö and the Anthropologists (2013), Yanomami spokesperson Davi Kopenawa publicly expressed his disapproval of the anthropologist, criticizing Chagnon’s negative portrayal of the Yanomami people, which focused on their violence and aggression. Kopenawa has asserted that Chagnon’s views contribute to a distorted image of the Yanomami people and perpetuate stereotypes of them as savages. Kopenawa states his belief that Chagnon behaved irresponsibly by spreading information, particularly regarding conflicts and violence within the Yanomami community.

However, the best-known controversy surrounding Chagnon and his work comes from the book titled Darkness in El Dorado: How Scientists and Journalists Devastated the Amazon (2000), which was written by investigative journalist Patrick Tierney. (In 2005, anthropologist Robert Borofsky covered this controversy in his book Yanomami: The Fierce Controversy and What We Can Learn from It.) Essentially, Tierney accused both Chagnon and geneticist James Neel of conducting unethical fieldwork amongst the Yanomami people. Tierney specifically accused Chagnon of misrepresenting Yanomami society, causing violence through the distribution of goods such as machetes. He also accused Chagnon of staging films, fabricating data, using unethical methods for genealogical research, and violating Venezuelan law. Chagnon’s approach to his research often involved invading people’s privacy and violating taboos, such as that of speaking a dead person’s name. The media’s response to Tierney’s book fueled the controversy and emphasized the scandal of misconduct in anthropology. As a result, questions arose about Chagnon’s silence on the misuse of his work in Brazil, his criticism of Kopenawa, and the distribution of royalties from The Fierce People. However, Tierney also faced criticism. While the extensive footnotes and citations in his Darkness in El Dorado lend the book the appearance of academic integrity, some anthropologists have alleged inaccuracies and distortions in his work and have questioned the strength of his supporting data. In any case, the controversy has raised broader questions regarding the power dynamics between anthropologists and their informants, and the issues of informed consent. The controversy therefore proceeded on several fronts, for it involved specific accusations regarding Chagnon’s work, and it also challenged the foundational principles of anthropology.