Materialist, cultural and biological theories on why Yanomami make war
- 1 March 2001
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Anthropological Theory
- Vol. 1 (1) , 99-116
- https://doi.org/10.1177/14634990122228647
Abstract
For decades, there have been three primary anthropological perspectives on why people make war: materialist, cultural, and biological. Each has a long history of application to the Yanomami. This paper considers these three alternatives. First, it summarizes the author's materialist models and what they are purported to explain. Second, it discusses more cultural explanations offered by several field researchers, concluding that some might be synthesized with a materialist perspective, while others seem irreconcilable. Finally, a range of hypotheses invoking evolved predispositions are considered and found to be directly contradicted by Yanomami ethnography, even if limited to the works of Napoleon Chagnon.Keywords
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