Yanomamo

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What struck me the most with the essay on the Yanomamo, was that it seemed like an “armchair ethnography”.  Please understand, I feel a sincere pain for the Yanomamo. All of there issues from rape, and aids to poverty and genocide, are horrid issue; as such, we all question the ethics of the anthropologists involved. However, is it not the function of an anthropologist to inform the world of a particular culture in an unbiased fashion?Also, if you question the anthropologists actions, you also have to consider what they could have done better. Once again, it is the function of an anthropologist to observe; the problems they saw with the Yanomamo was observed and published. It is not a function for an anthropologist to overthrow, commandeer, or force laws to be put in place: all of which are military functions.

The reason I stated this seemed like an “armchair ethnography”, is due to the fact that it lacks any quotations, written 1st hand experiences, or even general statements from the locals.The author does describe the environment in great detail; but, without any of the aforementioned information, I question whether or not the author didn’t simply read heavily on the subject and generalize it into a few pages.

The reason “armchair ethnographies” are bad has been proven by Bronislaw Malinowski. Before Malinowski, everyone thought any group of people that didn’t live in buildings and act like the Europeans, were wild inferior savages. Simply because they sat in their armchairs and read other people’s reaction; as opposed to actually going there and getting all information 1st hand.