Growing in a New Culture
In regards to Napoleon Chagnon's "Doing Fieldwork among the Yanomamo" article, I found one of the
more fascinating points to be how, in his fieldwork experiences, he described his time with the Ye'kwana
Indians to be "pleasant and charming." However, it is apparent through his initial interaction with the
Yanomamo people that Chagnon was quite repulsed by this people and their culture. He even states that
he would have, “ended his fieldwork then and there,” if he the means to do so.
It is humorous how in prior paragraphs he is practically romanticizing about his expected--perhaps ideal-fieldwork scenario. His sudden alarm upon seeing the Yanomamo for the first time revealed that he was,
in fact, quite green in his anticipation. I feel this provided a strong example of the “culture shock” that
our Humanity textbook noted as occurring in many budding anthropologists.
Given that Chagnon has performed fieldwork with at least two different cultures and yet invested so
much more of his life in such a “difficult” people really communicated how he values his various
anthropological endeavors. That he also formed two strong friendships and came to assume a unique
role of sorts within his village (and likely others) shows that his experience took him much further than
simply adapting to a new type of people and culture; he really did become a part of it.
Response
"I felt Chagnon's frustration with the village people giving him false information which wasted five
months of his documentation."
It seems that, from how it was described in the article, shortly after he became aware of the
Yanomamo's trickery was when he gained a great deal of insight into their culture--like a breakthrough of
sorts. While I am certain that at first he viewed it as a loss of five months of work, his eventual
acceptance and understanding likely played a prominant role in how he might more objectively and
effectively go about learning and observing these people.
Put more plainly: It seems as if this particular misstep brough him closer to them.
Response
"Your post gave me new insight on the phrase, "culture shock"; I hadn't thought about that in relation to
anthropologists."
That's funny, reading this caused me to remember how so many people would refer to "culture shock" as
spending a weekend in Berkeley.
To this I am sure Chagnon and others like him would politely reply, "Not I, sir."
Response
"In fact, I find it interesting that so many different cultures independently come up with an idea of
heaven and hell."
I also find parallels such as this of interest. I'm hoping that some of our subsequent reading assignments
will touch upon instances of same practices, belief systems, survival techniques, etc. having developed
within two or more separate, unrelated cultures. In fact, based on what was covered in Chapter 4 of
Humanity, I'm willing to bet that these are particular points of interest for anthropologists that subscribe
to the "scientific orientation" side of the field (in that it supports repititious forms of human behavior).