Blood Revenge

1. The Yanomamo people do not have courts or laws or juries of their peers. In western society most of the time a person will be punished for killing another person. Also revenge killings are punished, not as severely, given the circumstances, but punished. A judge is the deciding factor on how a killing will be punished. The Yanomamo have a headman who decides if a revenge killing will take place. Most of the killings take place over sexual issues, coercing woman, taking women, infidelity or jealousy. In our society these issues do not usually warrant killing, however passion killings are not punished as severely as other killings.

2. The Yanomamo people engage in progressive fighting. Shouting matches, chest pounding duels, side slapping, club fightings, fighting with machetes, and finally bows and arrows. If dueling occurs within the villages, village fission takes place and then both parties begin raiding each other.

3. There are many benefits for Unokais the first benefits is the Unokais have more marriage partners, Ferociousness is considered a benefit for family and the marriage partners. All headmen are Unokais. So raiding can increase a man’s social status. Unokais have more children because of the availability of marriage partners.  And finally if retaliation is swift it can act as a deterrent and keep the mortality rate low. A man who is a non-unokais may survive to live another day, However he is often ridiculed and his women are prey to sexual advances and seduction.

4. The headman or Pata is always a Unokais. Political status- Since the decision to raid is up to the headman he carries status and some political control. Social Status- the Yanomamo organizes their villages around patrilineal kinship groups. Unokais is a gives a person social status. Non Unokais are ridiculed and lose their women. Being strong and fierce is looked upon as providing safety for the village. Economic support- The headman is treated with respect and usually in tribal societies the people will give him extra food or possessions in accordance with his status. Also, the wives do work and provide, so if he has more wives, more work will be completed for him.  Kinship- The kinship is patrilineal and if there are two descent lines often the people will marry within the descent lines. This gives the headman many close kin. Which in turn will raid with him and make his village strong and the mortality rate lessen, because of the swift retribution and the reputation of being fierce? Marriage- A Unokais has more marriage partners, either by coercing or seduction or attractiveness. The larger the descent group the more protection for his kin and the more attractive he will be for marriage. The Unokais will have more children than non-unokais.  The revenge killings influence the all the areas of, social status, political status economic support kinship bonds. It is believed the revenge killings occur for competition for women and food, thus insuring the survival of someone’s genetics or inclusive fitness.

5. We need laws to prevent killings because our society is a huge multi-cultured society. One culture may have different standards than another culture and the group cannot control the behavior of so many different value systems. When a situation arises where the needs of a group is based on limited resources, such as food or land, conflict will arise if the benefits of the conflict outweigh the costs. It is a biological imperative to reproduce and insure our genetics will be carried forward. Conflict for sexual rights and privileges takes place in many cultures and is based on the theory of inclusive fitness.