Name: Adrian Phillip B.

Subaldo Subject: Soc Sci 1

Yr/Cr/Sec: 1BSVetTech-A Date: 11/09/21

OBSERVING ETHICS IN ETHNOGRAPHY. From the documentary entitled, “secrets of the

tribe,” identify different ethical issues in the practice of ethnography among the Yanomami.

1. One of the Anthropologist Married a Yanomami Woman

- Kenneth Good married a Yanomami girl just out of her adolescence. Good’s
autobiographical narratives depict a complicated personal relationship that develops
within the setting of Yanomami (and American) cultural conventions. He recalls
being promised to his future wife while she was still a child, in accordance with local
customs and community wishes. They married while she was between the ages of
15 and 16 years old.
2. Controversy of Lizot among Yanomami Boys
- After bringing shotguns and other foreign commodities into the village, French
researcher Jacques Lizot, a protégé of Claude Levi-Strauss, traded various
untraditional homosexual favors from Yanomami youths in what Tierney called
“shotgun-driven prostitution”. Lizot’s sexual exploitation of adolescent males
enraged, repulsed, and outraged the Yanomami, who became skeptical of
anthropologists in general, fearing that they may share Lizot’s sexual tendencies.
3. Reproductive Success
- Chagnon published a research in 1998 that showed a link between warrior status
(unokai) and male fertility and marriage success among the Yanomami, which
sparked a flurry of debate in the media and elsewhere. This research, as well as
attempts by others to reproduce the findings, are critical to Chagnon’s theoretical
approach on human behavior, which integrates cultural and biological perspectives.
The “blood revenge” study by Chagnon (1998) is based on two (2) essential
discoveries. “Is reproductive success comparable in an egalitarian society?”
Chagnon wondered in 1979 and discovered that male reproductive variance was
higher than female reproductive variance, supporting Triver’s (1972) parental
investment theory. A key conclusion was that, while the Yanomami had little material;
or economic variance (i.e., economic inequality), male reproductive variance was
significant. Of course, polygyny was liked to large reproductive variance, implying
that three (3) must be some explanation for why some males are polygynous while
others are not. Moreover, in communities where there is economic equality,
Yanomami marriage was not linked to bride price or material transactions that allow
wealthier men to be more physically fit. Second, Chagnon’s “blood revenge” study
was motivated by Iron’s forecast (1979) that cultural success – measured in terms of
achieving culturally decided high status – would be measured in terms of reaching
culturally determined high status. Irons (1979) found that wealthier males had higher
fertility than impoverished ones in Turkmen research. The “blood revenge” study
demonstrated that being a redoubtable warrior was linked to high rank. Attaining the
position of unokai – killing an enemy and undergoing the attendant purifying
 ceremony – left a permanent imprint. When compared to non-unokais, unokais had
more fertility and marital success (as judged by the number of spouses). Another
purpose of Chagnon’s study was to better understand the nature of revenge killing by
looking into the potential fitness benefits of being a culturally diverse person. R.
Chagnon writes “…the notion that cultural success leads to biological success
among the Yanomami would be the most promising avenue of inquiry to account for
the high reproductive success of unokais.
4. Protein Deficiency and Tribal Warfare in Amazonia
- An increasing number of anthropological studies on native Amazonian warfare and
demographic practices attempt to explain these phenomena as a result of rivalry for
limited game animals and other high-quality protein sources. According to recent
field studies conducted among the Yanomami Indians living near the Venezuela-
Brazil border, their protein intake is comparable to that of highly developed
industrialized countries and up to 200% higher than many nutritional authorities
prescribe as daily recommendations. Recent research on other Amazonian tribes
has found no link between protein intake and the intensity of conflict patterns.
5. Measles Epidemic
- The most serious indictment accuses Neel of purposely starting a 1968 measles
outbreak among the Yanomami by testing hypotheses about human evolution,
“leadership genes”, and infectious diseases using a dangerous and contraindicated
vaccination. This claim has been definitively refuted by documented proof of Neel’s
orginal vaccination plan, as well as evidence that the measles epidemic has already
started and was known to Neel before he arrived in the area. Experts in the field of
measles vaccination opined that Neel’s immunization method, the Edmonston B
vaccine, was appropriate.

These five (5) ethical issues are deemed issues since they affected the lives of
Yanomami people, and the film Secrets of the Tribe provides a forum for those
Yanomami who appear in the video itself to speak out about their grief and resentments
as a result of antropologists’ misdeeds. Although it’s impossible to determine how
representative these Yanomami witnesses are of the Yanomami anthropological
experience as a whole, and we don’t hear what the Yanomami say about the
anthropologists among themselves, the film undoubtedly convinces the audience of the
sincerity of their testifying. The film also captures the feelings of others in other regions
of the world who have been abused by anthropology in other parts of the world, but I’ve
never had the chance to witness it.

Protein deficit and prostitution are also regarded problems since protein shortage
can result in swelling, fatty liver, skin deterioration, increased infection severity, and
stunted growth among Yanomami children. At the same time, prostitution exists in our
society and produces major difficulties for members of our society, including loss of
morality, the spread of various sexually transmitted illness, violence, and so on, just as it
does for the Yanomami people.