Napolean Chagnon (jan 1, 1938 – jan 1, 1983)

Description:

About:
-1938-2019, U.S. Anthropologist
-PhD University of Michigan, 1966
-advisor was Leslie White
-extensive fieldwork with the Yanomamö people of the Amazon
-Became the most famous anthropologist in America after Mead
-Sociobiologist
→ influenced by White’s neo-evolutionism
→ looks for genetic and evolutionary explanations for cultural practices
→ emphasises kinship and gender roles
→ thus, reproductive strategies become super important

Major works:
-Yanomamö: The Fierce People (1968)
-Ethnographic Films: A Man Called Bee; The Ax Fight; the Feast
-Noble Savages: My Life Among Two Dangerous Tribes -- the Yanomamo and the Anthropologists (2014)

Major points:
-argued that Yanomamö society was structured
around aggression, with warfare and male dominance central to their culture
-claimed that violence was tied to reproductive success, with fierceness enhancing status and access to women

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