Week 4- violence politics post
1. The Yanomamo rules regarding killing and the consequences for breaking these rules differ from the rules in Western cultures in general because they deal with the killings in different ways. The Yanomamo kill the enemy in return for killing one of the kingsmen. They use the term "tit for tat" when they decide to kill the enemy. The reason why they do this is because they believe that it will make them fierce and hopefully keep others away so their people don't get killed. They appreciate and respect the men and women who kill which are known as Unokai. They are rewarded for their aggressive tendencies. The Yanomamo have different practice than the western cultures because they don't have regulations like the western cultures. I believe that their would be more killings in the western cultures if there weren't any consequences such as the death penalty.
2. The process of revenge killings in Yanomamo populations begins with either the killing of a kingsmen or sexual assaults towards women. Many outsiders or men for their community try to advance women even though they are married or in a relationship. Many raids take place because of this. Usually when a battle starts, it ends in death. When they want to perform a revenge killing, they get a group of 10 to 20 men together and raid the village of the enemy. They don't all make it to the village but their goal is to perform a surprise attack on the enemies.
3. The benefits of obtaining the status of unokais is that you are respected by everyone. You will always be known for your actions and be appreciated. You will also have a higher chance of marrying your lover and having children. Also, it says that women look for men who have obtained the status of unokais. They are attracted to this status beause they know that their husband will protect them and they are less likely to be killed. The benefit of being a non-unokais its that they have a greater chance of living longer. The reason for this is because they are not involved in raids which means that they aren't exposed to danger. I think a man would choose to be a unokais rather than a non-unokais because they want to be respected and eventually find a soulmate that they can have children with.
4. The relationship between revenge killings and these aspects of the Yanomamo culture definitely benefit their community. Their community is respected by their people and outsiders. They are less likely to be attacked because they know that they have valiant individuals. They will most likely leave them alone because they don't want to be raided by their people. They have a higher social status than other communities because of their traditions. It make them more powerful and important. These killers tend to have a larger kinship because they are known for having multiple wives. They have a greater chance of finding a women to marry and eventually have children with.
5. We need laws against something that no one should want to do because our world would be out of control. There would be many killings a day and everyone would just get revenge by killing others instead of working things out. You should always have rules against actions that are morally wrong. Everyone deserves to live their life without having to worry about avoiding others because they might get killed. If we didn't have laws, we wouldn't be able to control anyone and many people would be killed.
2. The process of revenge killings in Yanomamo populations begins with either the killing of a kingsmen or sexual assaults towards women. Many outsiders or men for their community try to advance women even though they are married or in a relationship. Many raids take place because of this. Usually when a battle starts, it ends in death. When they want to perform a revenge killing, they get a group of 10 to 20 men together and raid the village of the enemy. They don't all make it to the village but their goal is to perform a surprise attack on the enemies.
3. The benefits of obtaining the status of unokais is that you are respected by everyone. You will always be known for your actions and be appreciated. You will also have a higher chance of marrying your lover and having children. Also, it says that women look for men who have obtained the status of unokais. They are attracted to this status beause they know that their husband will protect them and they are less likely to be killed. The benefit of being a non-unokais its that they have a greater chance of living longer. The reason for this is because they are not involved in raids which means that they aren't exposed to danger. I think a man would choose to be a unokais rather than a non-unokais because they want to be respected and eventually find a soulmate that they can have children with.
4. The relationship between revenge killings and these aspects of the Yanomamo culture definitely benefit their community. Their community is respected by their people and outsiders. They are less likely to be attacked because they know that they have valiant individuals. They will most likely leave them alone because they don't want to be raided by their people. They have a higher social status than other communities because of their traditions. It make them more powerful and important. These killers tend to have a larger kinship because they are known for having multiple wives. They have a greater chance of finding a women to marry and eventually have children with.
5. We need laws against something that no one should want to do because our world would be out of control. There would be many killings a day and everyone would just get revenge by killing others instead of working things out. You should always have rules against actions that are morally wrong. Everyone deserves to live their life without having to worry about avoiding others because they might get killed. If we didn't have laws, we wouldn't be able to control anyone and many people would be killed.
I agree that laws are put in place to protect people from acting unjustly based on sudden urges/emotions they may feel. If the laws of not killing people didn't exist, our population wouldn't be thriving as much which would then have an effect to the way our society operates. I think your answer for number four could have been elaborated more since revenge killings have such an impact on the different cultural aspects of the Yanomamo, but you pretty much summarized it well and got straight to the point, great post.
ReplyDeleteI agreed with your opening description comparing the Yanomamo and Western cultures until you came to this sentence:
ReplyDelete"The Yanomamo have different practice than the western cultures because they don't have regulations like the western cultures."
Rules ARE regulations. :-) So yes, the Yanomamo regulate the act of killing and the repercussions of killing, just as we do. I do agree with your last comment about their being more killings without laws, but that would be true with the Yanomamo as well. This relates to the final question in this assignment.
Good description of the actual process of a raid.
Good comparison between the benefits of being an unokais vs. a non-unokais. With regard to this sentence:
"I think a man would choose to be a unokais rather than a non-unokais because they want to be respected and eventually find a soulmate that they can have children with."
Was this necessary for this section? There are both unokais and non-unokais in the Yanomamo populations, so it's clear that some DON'T choose to be unokais. You are expressing an opinion here where you had plenty of facts to present instead. Facts are always preferable in science over opinion, especially when the facts contradict the opinion.
In the fourth section, notice that there are points assigned for each topic. That means each topic should have been addressed separately.
I don't see a discussion on the issue of how revenge killings impacts the politics of the culture. How does it influence who has power and authority in this society?
With regard to social status:
"They have a higher social status than other communities because of their traditions."
We are talking about social status within one community, not a comparison across communities. So how do revenge killings influence the status of a person in this community? Does it exhibit multiple levels of status or just one? How does it influence how the community is organized?
Instead of "killers", let's use the Yanomamo term "unokais". Less judgment.
Yes, this system means that the unokais will tend to have more kin than non-unokais but how does kin influence the revenge killing system? Who does the killing? Who can they kill? What are the rules here?
Okay on the issue of marriage and reproduction.
"We need laws against something that no one should want to do because our world would be out of control."
That misses the point of the question. If no one should want to kill, why do we need laws against this behavior? Why would anyone kill? The answer: Because sometimes, it can benefit those who kill. We are creatures of biology, regardless of how "civilized" we might want to think we are. Killing can benefit an organism if they gain resources or a mate or defend their offspring in the process, correct? So that benefit is still there in humans, whether we like it or not. Understand that this isn't excusing the behavior. It just explains it. But we need laws against this behavior, not because no one wants to do it but because sometimes people can benefit from this behavior. Laws protect us from selfish actions of others, acting to their own benefit and the harm of others.