Word: yanomamo
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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That was 1987, and Plotkin was deep in a Venezuelan rain forest. Then director of plant conservation for the World Wildlife Fund, he had heard of a hallucinogen used by Yanomamo medicine men. Made from the leaves, sap and seeds of various plants, the potent snuff might have medicinal benefits, he thought. After all, aspirin came from white willow bark, which North American Indians relied on to relieve pain. In fact, plants were vital in the development of 25% of all prescription drugs...
...Associated Press article appearing in the Crimson (Real World, March 17) described an "Amazon Fire out of Control" whose spread was endangering a number of Yanomamo villages. Despite the well-intentioned concern for the Yanomamo voiced in the article, I was truly surprised at the racist assumptions pervading the description of this people. Beginning with a description of the Yanomamo as a "Stone Age tribe," the article concludes with the following: "For centuries, the Yanomami lived in virtual isolation, hunting and fishing with bow and arrows. They have no written language and count only up to two--anything more...
...assumptions behind this article go beyond simple word choice to present a distinct worldview. The account places the Yanomamo squarely into an evolutionary view of human societies with "Stone Age tribes" at one end and Euro-American high culture at the other. This is the same worldview that contrasts the confused, pathologically bilingual, overly emotional Latino to the modern, rational Anglo. It is the same worldview that sends pseudo-scientists racing around measuring Negro skulls. Never mind that we are all living at the same point in time and that all human beings and human cultures are equally deserving...
While the specific details mentioned about Yanomamo culture are true, they have been selected in such a way so as to fit the Yanomamo into our notions of the ignorant and primitive (though noble) savage. It goes unmentioned that today's Yanomamo is as likely to be found wearing a T-shirt and jeans as a loincloth. The context of the two-sentence ethnographic sketch is neglected, and we are led to believe that the Yanomamo are both culturally and biologically retarded. Indeed, their brains are so poorly developed that they would not even realize that four ignorant gringos...
...ADMIRABLE YANOMAMO...