View source for Yanomami

{{short description|Indigenous people who live in the Amazonas basin}}
{{For|the languages|Yanomaman languages}}
{{See|Yanomami humanitarian crisis}}
{{pp-move-indef}}
{{infobox ethnic group|
| group = Yanomami
| image = Yanomami Woman & Child.jpg|
| caption = Yanomami woman and her child, June 1997
| total = {{approximately|35,339}}
| total_ref = <ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://pib.socioambiental.org/en/Povo:Yanomami|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619112937/https://pib.socioambiental.org/en/Povo:Yanomami|archive-date=June 19, 2018|title=Yanomami - Indigenous Peoples in Brazil|website=pib.socioambiental.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Criado|first=Miguel Ángel|url=https://noticias.uol.com.br/internacional/ultimas-noticias/el-pais/2014/10/29/ianomamis-vao-a-guerra-com-estranhos-em-troca-de-mulheres-diz-pesquisador.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308062323/http://noticias.uol.com.br/internacional/ultimas-noticias/el-pais/2014/10/29/ianomamis-vao-a-guerra-com-estranhos-em-troca-de-mulheres-diz-pesquisador.htm?amp|archive-date=March 8, 2016|title=Ianomamis vão à guerra com estranhos em troca de mulheres, diz pesquisador|trans-title=Yanomami go to war with strangers in exchange for women, says researcher|website=Internacional|language=pt-BR|date=29 October 2014 }}</ref>
| region1 = {{Flag|Venezuela}} (southeastern)
| pop1 = 16,069 (2009)
| region2 = {{Flag|Brazil}} (northern)
| pop2 = 19,420 (2011)
| rels = [[Shamanism]]
| langs = [[Yanomaman languages]]
| related =
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
}}
The '''Yanomami''', also spelled '''Yąnomamö''' or '''Yanomama''', are a group of approximately 35,000 [[indigenous people of the Americas|indigenous people]] who live in some 200–250 villages in the [[Amazon rainforest]] on the border between [[Venezuela]] and [[Brazil]].
==Etymology==
The [[ethnonym]] ''Yanomami'' was produced by anthropologists on the basis of the word {{lang|und|yanõmami}}, which, in the expression {{lang|und|yanõmami thëpë}}, signifies "human beings." This expression is opposed to the categories {{lang|und|yaro}} (game animals) and {{lang|und|yai}} (invisible or nameless beings), but also {{lang|und|napë}} (enemy, stranger, non-indigenous).<ref name="auto"/>
According to ethnologist [[Jacques Lizot]]:
{{blockquote|''Yanomami'' is the Indians' self-denomination ... the term refers to communities disseminated to the south of the Orinoco, [whereas] the variant ''Yanomawi'' is used to refer to communities north of the Orinoco. The term [[Sanumá people|Sanumá]] corresponds to a dialect reserved for a cultural subgroup, much influenced by the neighboring [[Ye'kuana people]]. Other denominations applied to the Yanomami include ''Waika'' or ''Waica, Guiaca, [[Shiriana language|Shiriana]], [[Ninam language|Shirishana]], Guaharibo'' or ''Guajaribo, [[Yanomaman languages|Yanoama]]'', ''[[Ninam language|Ninam]]'', and [[Sanumá language|''Xamatari'']] or ''Shamatari''.<ref>Jacques Lizot, ''Diccionario Yanomami-Espanol,'' Central University of Venezuela, Faculty of Social and Scientific Economics, Caracas, 1975.</ref>}}
''Yanomamö'' and ''Yanomama'' are variant spellings. Supporters of the work on the tribe of anthropologist [[Napoleon Chagnon]] usually use ''Yanomamö'', while those who oppose his work or are neutral usually use ''Yanomami'' or ''Yanomama''.<ref name="eakin20130213">{{Cite news |last=Eakin |first=Emily |date=2013-02-17 |title=Who Are the Real Savages? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/magazine/napoleon-chagnon-americas-most-controversial-anthropologist.html |access-date=2024-07-03 |work=The New York Times Magazine |pages=32 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
==History==
The first report of the Yanomami is from 1654, when a Spanish expedition under Apolinar Diaz de la Fuente visited some [[Ye'kuana people]] living on the [[Padamo River]]. Diaz wrote:
{{blockquote|By interlocution of an Uramanavi Indian, I asked Chief Yoni if he had navigated by the [[Orinoco]] to its headwaters; he replied yes, and that he had gone to make war against the Guaharibo [Yanomami] Indians, who were very brave ... and who will not be friends with any kind of Indian.<ref>Francisco Michelena y Rojas, ''Exploracion Oficial,'' Nelly Arvelo-Jiminez and Horacio Biord Castillo, eds., 1989. Iquitos, Peru: IIAP-CETA; pp. 171–172.</ref>}}
From approximately 1630 to 1720, the other river-based indigenous societies who lived in the same region were wiped out or reduced as a result of slave-hunting expeditions by the [[conquistador]]s and [[bandeirantes]].<ref>John Hemming, ''Red Gold: The Conquest of the Brazilian Indians,'' Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978.</ref> How this affected the Yanomami is unknown. Sustained contact with the outside world began in the 1950s with the arrival of members of the [[New Tribes Mission]]<ref>Ritchie, Mark Andrew. ''Spirit of the Rainforest: A Yanomamo Shaman's Story.'' {{ISBN|0-9646952-3-5}}</ref> as well as Catholic missionaries from the [[Society of Jesus]] and [[Salesians of Don Bosco]].<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Smiljanic | first1 = Maria Inês | title = Os enviados de Dom Bosco entre os Masiripiwëiteri. O impacto missionário sobre o sistema social e cultural dos Yanomami ocidentais (Amazonas, Brasil.) | journal = Journal de la Société des Américanistes | volume = 2002 | issue = 88| pages = 137–158 | doi = 10.4000/jsa.2763 | date = January 2002 | s2cid = 161453622 | url = http://journals.openedition.org/jsa/2763 }}</ref>
In [[Roraima]], the 1970s saw the implementation of development projects within the framework of the "National Integration Plan" launched by the Brazilian military governments of the time. This meant the opening of a stretch of perimeter road (1973–76) and various colonization programs on land traditionally occupied by the Yanomami. During the same period, the Amazonian resources survey project RADAM (1975) detected important mineral deposits in the region. This triggered a progressive movement of gold prospectors, which after 1987 took the form of a real [[gold rush]]. Hundreds of clandestine runways were opened by gold miners in the major tributaries of the [[Branco River]] between 1987 and 1990. The number of gold miners in the Yanomami area of Roraima was then estimated at 30 to 40 thousand, about five times the indigenous population resident there. Although the intensity of this gold rush has subsided greatly since 1990, gold prospecting continues today in the Yanomami land, spreading violence and serious health and social problems.<ref name="auto"/>
Increasing pressure from farmers, cattle ranchers, and gold miners, as well as those interested in [[:pt:Projeto Calha Norte|securing the Brazilian border]] by constructing roads and military bases near Yanomami communities, led to a campaign to defend the rights of the Yanomami to live in a protected area. In 1978 the Pro-Yanomami Commission (CCPY) was established. Originally named the Commission for the Creation of a Yanomami Park, it is a Brazilian [[non-governmental organization|non-governmental]] [[nonprofit organization]] dedicated to the defense of the territorial, cultural, and [[civil and political rights]] of the Yanomami. CCPY devoted itself to a long national and international campaign to inform and sensitize public opinion and put pressure on the Brazilian government to demarcate an area suited to the needs of the Yanomami. After 13 years the [[Yanomami Indigenous Territory|Yanomami indigenous land]] was officially demarcated in 1991 and approved and registered in 1992, thus ensuring that indigenous people had the constitutional right to the exclusive use of almost {{convert|96,650|km2|mi2}} located in the States of [[Roraima]] and [[Amazonas (Brazilian state)|Amazonas]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=C C P Y - Comissão Pró-Yanomami |url=http://www.proyanomami.org.br/v0904/index.asp?pag=htm&url=http://www.proyanomami.org.br/quem.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060518115910/http://www.proyanomami.org.br/v0904/index.asp?pag=htm&url=http://www.proyanomami.org.br/quem.htm |archive-date=May 18, 2006 |website=proyanomami.org.br |place=[[Brasília]] |language=pt-br}}</ref>
The [[Alto Orinoco-Casiquiare Biosphere Reserve]] was created in 1993 with the objective of preserving the traditional territory and lifestyle of the Yanomami and [[Ye'kuana]] peoples.<ref>{{Cite web |date= |title=UNESCO - MAB Biosphere Reserves Directory |url=https://www.unesco.org/mabdb/br/brdir/directory/biores.asp?code=VEN+01&mode=all |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070309233126/https://www.unesco.org/mabdb/br/brdir/directory/biores.asp?code=VEN+01&mode=all |archive-date=March 9, 2007 |access-date=2017-04-02 |website=[[UNESCO]] |place=[[Venezuela]]}}</ref>
However, while the [[constitution of Venezuela]] recognizes indigenous peoples’ rights to their [[ancestral domain]]s, few have received official title to their territories and the government has announced it will open up large parts of the Amazon rainforest to legal mining.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=June 18, 2015 |title=Venezuelan tribes protest against violent mining gangs |url=https://www.survivalinternational.org/news/10819 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231201134949/https://www.survivalinternational.org/news/10819 |archive-date=December 1, 2023 |website=survivalinternational.org}}</ref>
==Organization==
[[File:Yanomami location.png|thumb|left|Location of the Yanomami peoples]]
The Yanomami do not recognize themselves as a united group, but rather as individuals associated with their politically autonomous villages. Yanomami communities are grouped together because they have similar ages and kinship, and militaristic coalitions interweave communities together. The Yanomami have common historical ties to [[Carib language|Carib]] speakers who resided near the [[Orinoco]] river and moved to the highlands of Brazil and Venezuela, the location the Yanomami currently occupy.<ref>{{cite book|last=Early|first=John|title=The Xilixana Yanomami of the Amazon: History, Social Structure, and Population Dynamics|year=2000|publisher=University Press of Florida|location=Gainesville, Florida|page=4}}</ref>
Mature men hold most political and religious authority. A ''tuxawa'' (headman) acts as the leader of each village, but no single leader presides over the whole of those classified as Yanomami. Headmen gain political power by demonstrating skill in settling disputes both within the village and with neighboring communities. A consensus of mature males is usually required for action that involves the community, but individuals are not required to take part.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|last=Hames, Beierle|first=Raymond B., John|title=Culture Summary: Yanoama|url=http://ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu.libezp.lib.lsu.edu/ehrafe/citation.do?method=citation&forward=searchFullContext&col=collection('/eHRAF/ethnography/SouthAmer/SQ18')&docId=sq18-000&tocOffsetId=tocPubInfoP|publisher=New Haven, Connecticut|access-date=10 December 2013}}</ref> Local descent groups also play important roles in regulating marriages and settling disputes within villages.
{{-}}
==Domestic life==
[[File:Postoyano Feb 2001 1 (2).jpg|thumb|right| Aerial view of a Yanomami shabono in northern Brazil. Outlying buildings are for the privacy of newlywed couples, or may be used for the preparation of game and fish.]]
Groups of Yanomami live in villages usually consisting of their children and extended families. Villages vary in size, but usually contain between 50 and 400 people. In this largely communal system, the entire village lives under a common roof called the ''[[shabono]]''. ''Shabonos'' have a characteristic oval shape, with open grounds in the center measuring an average of {{convert|100|yards}}. The ''shabono'' shelter constitutes the perimeter of the village, if it has not been fortified with [[palisade]]s.
Under the roof, divisions exist marked only by support posts, partitioning individual houses and spaces. ''Shabonos'' are built from raw materials from the surrounding rainforest, such as leaves, vines, and tree trunks. They are susceptible to heavy damage from rains, winds, and insect [[infestation]]. As a result, new ''shabonos'' are constructed every 4 to 6 years.
The Yanomami can be classified as foraging horticulturalists, depending heavily on [[rainforest]] resources; they use [[slash-and-burn]] [[horticulture]], grow [[banana]]s, gather fruit, and hunt animals and fish. Crops compose up to 75% of the calories in the Yanomami diet. Protein is supplied by wild resources obtained through gathering, hunting, and fishing. When the soil becomes exhausted, Yanomami frequently move to avoid areas that have become overused, a practice known as [[shifting cultivation]].<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Hames|first1=R. B.|title=Culture Summary: Yanoama|last2=Beierle|first2=J.|publisher=Human Relations Area Files|year=1995|location=New Haven, Connecticut|pages=3}}</ref>
[[File:Yanomami en el Estado Amazonas (21).jpg|thumb|Yanomami women in Venezuela]]
Children stay close to their mothers when young; most of the childrearing is done by women. Yanomami groups are a famous example of the approximately fifty documented societies that openly accept [[polyandry]],<ref>Starkweather and Hames, 2012</ref> though [[polygyny]] among Amazonian tribes has also been observed.{{Citation needed|date=November 2011}} Many unions are monogamous. Polygamous families consist of a large patrifocal family unit based on one man, and smaller matrifocal subfamilies: each woman's family unit, composed of the woman and her children. Life in the village is centered around the small, matrilocal family unit, whereas the larger patrilocal unit has more political importance beyond the village.
Men of the Yanomami are said to commit significant intervals of bride service living with their in-laws, and [[Levirate marriage|levirate]] or [[sororate marriage]] might be practiced in the event of the death of a spouse.<ref name=":0" /> Kin groups tend to be localized in villages and their genealogical depth is rather shallow. Kinship is critical in the arrangement of marriage and very strong bonds develop between kin groups who exchange women. Their kinship system can be described in terms of [[Iroquois kinship|Iroquois classificatory pattern]]. To quote anthropologist [[Napoleon Chagnon]], “In a word, everyone in Yanomamo society is called by some kinship term that can be translated into what we would call blood relatives.” &nbsp;<ref>{{Cite book|last=Chagnon|first=N. A.|title=Yanomamö Warfare, Social Organization And Marriage Alliances|publisher=University Microfilms|year=1967|location=Ann Arbor, Michigan}}</ref>
[[File:Piau Nov 1998.jpg|thumb|right|Interior of Yanomami shabono, showing circular structure with separate divisions for each family around a central communal space]]
The Yanomami are known as hunters, fishers, and horticulturists. The women cultivate [[cooking plantain]]s and [[cassava]] in gardens as their main crops. Men do the heavy work of clearing areas of forest for the gardens. Another food source for the Yanomami is [[Larva|grubs]].<ref name=Chagnon>''Ya̦nomamö: the fierce people'' (Chagnon 1968; Chagnon 1977; Chagnon 1983; Chagnon 1992; Chagnon 1998; Chagnon 2012)</ref> Often the Yanomami will cut down palms in order to facilitate the growth of grubs. The traditional Yanomami diet is very low in edible salt. Their [[blood pressure]] is characteristically among the lowest of any demographic group.<ref>[http://www.scielo.br/pdf/abc/v80n3/a05v80n3.pdf "Yanomami Indians in the INTERSALT study"] (accessed 14 January 2007)</ref> For this reason, the Yanomami have been the subject of studies seeking to link [[hypertension]] to [[sodium]] consumption.{{fact|date=April 2023}}
[[Ritual]]s are a very important part of Yanomami culture. The Yanomami celebrate a good harvest with a big feast to which nearby villages are invited. The Yanomami village members gather large amounts of food, which helps to maintain good relations with their neighbors. They also decorate their bodies with feathers and flowers. During the feast, the Yanomami eat a lot, and the women dance and sing late into the night.{{fact|date=April 2023}}
[[Hallucinogen]]s or [[entheogen]]s, known as ''yakoana'' or ''ebene'', are used by Yanomami [[shamanism|shamans]] as part of healing rituals for members of the community who are ill. ''Yakoana'' also refers to the tree from which it is derived, ''[[Virola elongata]]''. ''Yopo'', derived from a different plant with hallucinogenic effects (''[[Anadenanthera peregrina]]''), is usually cultivated in the garden by the shaman. The [[Sanumá language|Xamatari]] also mix the powdered bark of ''Virola elongata'' with the powdered seeds of ''yopo'' to create the drug ''ebene''. The drugs facilitate communication with the ''hekura'', spirits that are believed to govern many aspects of the physical world. Women do not engage in this practice, known as ''shapuri''.<ref name = "Lizot"/>
The Yanomami people practice ritual [[endocannibalism]], in which they consume the bones of deceased kinsmen.<ref name=Good-Chanoff/> The body is wrapped in leaves and placed in the forest some distance from the ''shabono;'' then after insects have consumed the soft tissue (usually about 30 to 45 days), the bones are collected and [[cremation|cremated]]. The ashes are then mixed with a kind of soup made from bananas, which is consumed by the entire community. The ashes may be preserved in a [[gourd]] and the ritual repeated annually until the ashes are gone. All of the dead person's personal belongings are also burned, because it is believed that they may harbor some evil spirits.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Leveratto |first=Yuri |date=December 5, 2023 |title=The origin of the Yanomami |url=https://www.neperos.com/article/s5782s1d43f1dc3e |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240424232711/https://www.neperos.com/article/s5782s1d43f1dc3e |archive-date=April 24, 2024 |website=neperos.com |language=}}</ref> In daily conversation, no reference may be made to a dead person except on the annual "day of remembrance", when the ashes of the dead are consumed and people recall the lives of their deceased relatives. This tradition is meant to strengthen the Yanomami people and keep the spirit of that individual alive. Infanticide is also noted amongst the Yanomami for reasons of disability, adultery, and rape.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Toledo |first=Marcelo |date=2016-01-06 |title=In Brazil, Activists Defend Infanticide Among Indigenous Tribes - Worldcrunch |url=https://worldcrunch.com/culture-society/in-brazil-activists-defend-infanticide-among-indigenous-tribes |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180624081525/https://www.worldcrunch.com/culture-society/in-brazil-activists-defend-infanticide-among-indigenous-tribes |archive-date=June 24, 2018 |access-date= |website=worldcrunch.com |publisher=[[Folha de S. Paulo]]}}</ref>
The women are responsible for many domestic duties and chores, excluding [[hunting]] and killing game for food. Although the women do not hunt, they do work in the gardens and gather fruits, [[tuber]]s, nuts and other wild foodstuffs. The garden plots are sectioned off by family, and grow [[banana]]s, plantains, [[sugarcane]], [[mango]]es, [[sweet potato]]es, [[papaya]]s, [[cassava]], [[maize]], and other [[crop]]s.<ref name=Chagnon2>Napoleon A. Chagnon (1992). ''Yanomamo''. NY: Harcourt Brace College Publishers. Fourth edition.</ref> Yanomami women cultivate until the gardens are no longer fertile, and then move their plots. Women are expected to carry {{convert|70|to|80|lb|kg}} of crops on their backs during harvesting, using bark straps and woven [[basket]]s.<ref name=Good>Kenneth Good (1991). ''Into the Heart: One Man's Pursuit of Love and Knowledge Among the Yanomami''. NY: Simon and Schuster.</ref>
In the mornings, while the men are off hunting, the women and young children go off in search of [[termite]] nests and other grubs, which will later be roasted at the family hearths. The women also pursue [[frog]]s, [[terrestrial crab]]s, or [[caterpillar]]s, or even look for vines that can be woven into baskets. While some women gather these small sources of food, other women go off and fish for several hours during the day.<ref name=Ramos>Alcida Rita Ramos (1995). Sanuma Memories: Yanomami Ethnography in Times of Crisis. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
</ref> The women also [[Cassava#Toxicity|prepare cassava]], shredding the roots and expressing the [[Glycoside#Cyanogenic glycosides|toxic juice]], then roasting the flour to make flat cakes (known in Spanish as [[:es:Casabe de yuca|casabe]]), which they cook over a small pile of coals.<ref name=Schwartz>Schwartz, David M, with Victor Englebert. ''Vanishing Peoples Yanomami People of The Amazon''. New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books.</ref>
[[Yanomami women]] are expected to take responsibility for the children, who are expected to help their mothers with domestic chores from a very young age, and mothers rely very much on help from their daughters. Boys typically become the responsibility of the male members of the community after about age 8.
Using small strings of [[Bark (botany)|bark]] and [[root]]s, Yanomami women weave and decorate baskets. They use these baskets to carry plants, crops, and food to bring back to the ''shabono''.<ref name=Good/> They use a red berry known as ''onoto'' or ''urucu'' to dye the baskets, as well as to paint their bodies and dye their loin cloths.<ref name=Ramos/> After the baskets are painted, they are further decorated with masticated charcoal pigment.<ref>{{cite book |author=Cruz, Valdir |year=2002 |title=Faces of the Rainforest: The Yanomami |location=New York |publisher=PowerHouse Books}}</ref>
==Female puberty and menstruation==
{{main article|Yanomami women}}
The start of ''[[menstruation]]'' symbolizes the beginning of [[womanhood]]. Girls typically start menstruation around the ages of 12 to 13.<ref name="Chagnon-2013">{{cite book|last=Changon|first=Napoleon|title=Noble Savages: My Life Among Two Dangerous Tribes – the Yanomamo and the Anthropologists|date=February 2013|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn= 978-0684855110}}</ref><ref name="Biocca-1969">{{cite book|last=Biocca|first=Ettore|title=Yanoama: The Narrative of a Young Woman Kidnapped by Amazonian Indians|date=October 1969|publisher=Allen & Unwin|isbn=978-0045720187}}</ref> Girls are often betrothed before [[menarche]] and the marriage may be consummated only once the girl starts menstruating, though the taboo is often violated, and many girls become sexually active before then.<ref name=Chagnon-2013/>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=November 2023}} The Yanomami word for menstruation (''roo'') translates literally as "squatting" in English, as they use no pads or cloths to absorb the blood. Due to the belief that menstrual blood is [[poisonous]] and dangerous, girls are kept hidden away in a small tent-like screen of leaves. A deep hole is built in the structure over which girls squat, to "rid themselves" of their blood. These structures are regarded as isolation screens.<ref name=Chagnon3>Chagnon, Napoleon A. (1992). ''Yanomamo''. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.</ref>[[File:Xidea Aug 1997 13.jpg|thumb|A Yanomami girl at Xidea, Brazil in August 1997]]
The [[mother]] is notified immediately, and she, along with the elder female friends of the girl, are responsible for disposing of her old cotton [[garments]] and replacing them with new ones that symbolize her womanhood and availability for marriage.<ref name=Chagnon3/> During the week of that first menstrual period, the girl is fed with a stick, because she is forbidden from touching the food in any way. While on confinement, she has to whisper when speaking, and she may speak only to close kin, such as sisters or her mother, but never to a male.<ref name=Good-Chanoff>Good, Kenneth, with David Chanoff (1988) ''Into the Heart''. London: The Ulverscroft Foundation.</ref>
Until the time of menstruation, girls are treated as [[children]], and are only responsible for assisting their mothers in household work. When they approach the age of menstruation, they are sought out by males as potential [[wives]]. [[Puberty]] is not seen as an important time period for male Yanomami children, as it is for females. After menstruating for the first time, the girls are expected to leave childhood, enter adulthood, and take on the responsibilities of a grown Yanomami woman. After a young girl gets her period, she is forbidden from showing her [[genitalia]] and must keep herself covered with a [[loincloth]].<ref name=Good-Chanoff/>
The [[menstrual cycle]] of Yanomami women does not occur frequently due to constant nursing or child-birthing, and is treated as a very significant occurrence only at this time.<ref name=Chagnon1>[[Napoleon Chagnon|Chagnon, Napoleon A.]] (1974). ''Studying the Yanomamo''. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=November 2023}}
==Language==
{{main article|Yanomaman languages}}
[[Yanomaman languages]] comprise four main varieties: [[Ninam language|Ninam]], [[Sanumá language|Sanumá]], [[Waiká language|Waiká]], and [[Yanomamö language|Yanomamö]]. Many local variations and dialects also exist, such that people from different villages cannot always understand each other. Many linguists consider the Yanomaman family to be a [[language isolate]], unrelated to other South American indigenous languages, while others believe the language of the Yanomami to be part of the [[Macro-Jê languages|Macro-Jê]] group.<ref name=":1" /> The origins of the language are obscure.
==Violence==
[[File:Indio Yanomami.jpg|thumb|left|Traditional [[face painting]]]]
In early anthropological studies the Yanomami culture was described as being permeated with violence. The Yanomami people have a history of acting violently not only towards other tribes, but towards one another.<ref name=Ferguson>R. Brian Ferguson (1995). ''Yanomami Warfare: A Political History''. Santa Fe: School for American Research Press.</ref><ref>Ramos, A. R. (1987), Reflecting on the Yanomami: Ethnographic Images and the Pursuit of the Exotic. Cultural Anthropology, 2: 284–304. {{doi|10.1525/can.1987.2.3.02a00020}}</ref>
An influential ethnography by anthropologist [[Napoleon Chagnon]] described the Yanomami as living in "a state of chronic warfare".<ref name=Chagnon/> Chagnon's account and similar descriptions of the Yanomami portrayed them as aggressive and warlike, sparking controversy amongst anthropologists and creating an enormous interest in the Yanomami. The debate centered around the degree of violence in Yanomami society, and the question of whether violence and warfare were best explained as an inherent part of Yanomami culture, or rather as a response to specific historical situations. Writing in 1985, anthropologist [[Jacques Lizot]], who had lived among the Yanomami for more than twenty years, stated:
{{blockquote|I would like my book to help revise the exaggerated representation that has been given of Yanomami violence. The Yanomami are warriors; they can be brutal and cruel, but they can also be delicate, sensitive, and loving. Violence is only sporadic; it never dominates social life for any length of time, and long peaceful moments can separate two explosions. When one is acquainted with the societies of the North American plains or the societies of the Chaco in South America, one cannot say that Yanomami culture is organized around warfare as Chagnon does.<ref name = "Lizot">Lizot, Jacques. 1985. ''Tales of the Yanomami: Daily Life in the Venezuelan Forest'', Cambridge Studies in Social Anthropology, Cambridge University Press, Worcester; {{ISBN|0-521406722}}; pp. xiv–xv. Original volume in French: ''Le Cercle des feux: Faits e dits des Indiens yanomami,'' (1976)</ref>}}
Anthropologists working in the ecologist tradition, such as [[Marvin Harris]], argued that a culture of violence had evolved among the Yanomami through competition resulting from a lack of nutritional resources in their territory.<ref>Harris, Marvin. 1984. "A cultural materialist theory of band and village warfare: the Yanomamo test". in ''Warfare, Culture, and Environment'', R.B. Ferguson (ed.) pp. 111–40. Orlando: Academic Press.</ref><ref>Marvin Harris. 1979. "The Yanomamö and the cause of war in band and village societies." In ''Brazil: Anthropological Perspectives, Essays in Honor of Charles Wagley. M. Margolis and W. Carter (eds.) pp. 121–32. New York Columbia University Press''.</ref> However, the 1995 study "Yanomami Warfare", by [[R. Brian Ferguson]], examined all documented cases of warfare among the Yanomami and concluded:
{{blockquote|Although some Yanomami really have been engaged in intensive warfare and other kinds of bloody conflict, this violence is not an expression of Yanomami culture itself. It is, rather, a product of specific historical situations: The Yanomami make war not because Western culture is absent, but because it is present, and present in certain specific forms. All Yanomami warfare ''that we know about'' occurs within what [[Neil L. Whitehead|Neil Whitehead]] and I call a "tribal zone", an extensive area beyond state administrative control, inhabited by nonstate people who must react to the far-flung effects of the state presence.<ref>Ferguson, R. Brian. 1995. ''Yanomami Warfare: A political history''. SAR Press. p. 6</ref>}}
Ferguson stresses the idea that contrary to Chagnon's description of the Yanomami as unaffected by Western culture, the Yanomami experienced the effects of colonization long before their territory became accessible to Westerners in the 1950s, and that they had acquired many influences and materials from Western culture through trade networks much earlier.<ref name=Ferguson />
[[Lawrence H. Keeley|Lawrence Keeley]] questioned Ferguson's analysis, writing that the character and speed of changes caused by contact with civilization are not well understood, and that diseases, trade items, weapons, and population movements likely all existed as possible contributors to warfare before civilization.<ref name=Keeley>Lawrence H. Keeley (1996). War Before Civilization: The Myth of the Peaceful Savage. Oxford University Press.</ref>
[[File:War deaths caused by warfare.svg|thumb|right|Percentage of male deaths due to warfare in two Yanomami subgroups, as compared to other indigenous ethnic groups in [[New Guinea]] and [[South America]] and to some industrialized nations]]
Violence is one of the leading causes of Yanomami death. Up to half of all Yanomami males die violent deaths in the constant conflict between neighboring communities over local resources. Often these confrontations lead to Yanomami leaving their villages in search of new ones.<ref name=Chagnon3/>  Women are often victims of physical abuse and anger. Inter-village warfare is common, but is less often fatal to women. When Yanomami tribes fight and raid nearby tribes, women are often [[rape]]d, beaten, and brought back to the ''shabono'' to be adopted into the captor's community. Wives may be beaten frequently, so as to keep them docile and faithful to their husbands.<ref name=Ferguson/> Sexual jealousy causes much of the violence.<ref name=Chagnon1/> Women are beaten with clubs, sticks, [[machete]]s, and other blunt or sharp objects. Burning with a [[human branding|branding]] stick occurs often, and symbolizes a male's strength or dominance over his wife.<ref name=Good-Chanoff/>
Yanomami men have been known to kill children while raiding enemy villages.<ref name="valero"/> [[Yanoama|Helena Valero]], a Brazilian woman kidnapped by Yanomami warriors in the 1930s, witnessed a Karawetari raid on her tribe:
{{blockquote|They killed so many. I was weeping for fear and for pity but there was nothing I could do. They snatched the children from their mothers to kill them, while the others held the mothers tightly by the arms and wrists as they stood up in a line. All the women wept... The men began to kill the children; little ones, bigger ones, they killed many of them.<ref name="valero">Christine Fielder, Chris King (2006). "''[https://books.google.com/books?id=9YInrVSoa9cC Sexual Paradox: Complementarity, Reproductive Conflict and Human Emergence]''". LULU PR. p.156. {{ISBN|1-4116-5532-X}}</ref>}}
Following the increase in threats and attacks against the uncontacted Yanomami, member of parliament [[Joênia Wapixana|Joenia Wapichana]], Dario Kopenawa Yanomami and some other Brazilian indigenous leaders met with [[Michelle Bachelet]], [[United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights]], to assess the inability of the government to protect their constitutional rights. On September 13, 2021, in her report to the [[United Nations Human Rights Council]], Michelle Bachelet declared that she was "alarmed by recent attacks against members of the Yanomami and [[Munduruku]]," in Brazil, "by illegal miners in the Amazon."<ref>{{Cite web |date=13 September 2021 |title=Human Rights Council Opens Forty-Eighth Regular Session, Hearing the High Commissioner's Global Human Rights Update and Her Separate Updates on Venezuela, Afghanistan, Nicaragua and Sri Lanka |url=https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=27451&LangID=E |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210915014510/https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=27451&LangID=E |archive-date=September 15, 2021 |access-date=2022-01-17 |website=[[United Nations Human Rights Council]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=13 September 2021 |title=Environmental crisis: High Commissioner calls for leadership by Human Rights Council member states |url=https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=27443 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210918192908/https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=27443 |archive-date=September 18, 2021 |access-date=2022-01-17 |website=[[United Nations Human Rights Council]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=March 24, 2020 |title=Davi Yanomami warns uncontacted Yanomami in Brazil "could soon be exterminated" |url=https://www.survivalinternational.org/news/12361 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240331091812/https://www.survivalinternational.org/news/12361 |archive-date=March 31, 2024 |access-date=2022-01-17 |website=survivalinternational.org |language=}}</ref>
==Controversies==
{{see also|Gold mining}}
[[Gold]] was found in Yanomami territory in the early 1970s and the resulting influx of [[Gold mining|miners]] brought disease, alcoholism, and violence. Yanomami culture was severely endangered.
In the mid-1970s, ''[[garimpeiros]]'' (small independent gold-diggers) started to enter the Yanomami country. Where these ''garimpeiros'' settled, they killed members of the Yanomami tribe in conflict over land. In addition, mining techniques by the ''garimpeiros'' led to [[environmental degradation]]. Despite the existence of [[FUNAI]], the federal agency representing the rights and interests of indigenous populations, the Yanomami have received little protection from the government against these intrusive forces. In some cases the government can be cited as supporting the infiltration of mining companies into Yanomami lands. In 1978, the militarized government, under pressure from anthropologists and the international community, enacted a plan that demarcated land for the Yanomami. These reserves, however, were small "island" tracts of land lacking consideration for Yanomami lifestyle, trading networks, and trails, with boundaries that were determined solely by the concentration of mineral deposits.<ref>{{cite book|last=Rabben|first=Linda|title=Brazil's Indians and the Onslaught of Civilization|year=2004|publisher=University of Washington Press|location=Seattle|page=96}}</ref> In 1990, more than 40,000 ''garimpeiros'' had entered the Yanomami land.<ref>Kottak, Conrad Phillip (2004) ''Anthropology: the exploration of human diversity'', 10th ed., p. 464, New York: McGraw-Hill.</ref> In 1992, the government of Brazil, led by [[Fernando Collor de Mello]], demarcated an indigenous Yanomami area on the recommendations of Brazilian anthropologists and [[Survival International]], a campaign that started in the early 1970s. Non-Yanomami people continue to enter the land; the Brazilian and Venezuelan governments do not have adequate enforcement programs to prevent the entry of outsiders.<ref>Chagnon, N. ''Yanomamo: Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology.'' 6th edition, Wadsworth Publishing, January 1, 2012; pp. 231–232.</ref>
[[Bioethics|Ethical]] [[Darkness in El Dorado|controversy]] has arisen about Yanomami blood taken for study by scientists such as Napoleon Chagnon and his associate [[James Neel]]. Although Yanomami religious tradition prohibits the keeping of any bodily matter after the death of that person, the donors were not warned that blood samples would be kept indefinitely for experimentation.  Several prominent Yanomami delegations have sent letters to the scientists who are studying them, demanding the return of their blood samples. As of June 2010 these samples were in the process of being removed from storage for shipping to the Amazon, pending the decision as to whom to deliver them to and how to prevent any potential health risks in doing so.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.328.5983.1218 | doi=10.1126/science.328.5983.1218 | title=Researchers to Return Blood Samples to the Yanomamö | year=2010 | last1=Couzin-Frankel | first1=Jennifer | journal=Science | volume=328 | issue=5983 | page=1218 | pmid=20522749 | bibcode=2010Sci...328.1218C }}</ref> In 2015 the blood samples were returned and buried by the Yanomami. <ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=April 13, 2015 |title=Brazil: Blood samples returned to Yanomami after nearly 50 years |url=https://www.survivalinternational.org/news/10727 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230430060423/https://www.survivalinternational.org/news/10727 |archive-date=April 30, 2023 |access-date=2023-04-30 |website=survivalinternational.org |language=}}</ref>
In 2000 [[Patrick Tierney (journalist)|Patrick Tierney]] published ''[[Darkness in El Dorado]]'', charging that anthropologists had repeatedly caused harm—and in some cases, death—to members of the Yanomami people whom they had studied in the 1960s.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jaschik |first=Scott |date= |title=Never Mind |url=http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/06/29/anthro |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050823101037/https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/06/29/anthro |archive-date=2005-08-23 |access-date= |website=insidehighered.com}}</ref> This began a heated debate. The book's claims were found to be largely fabricated by Tierney, and the [[American Anthropological Association]] in the end voted 846 to 338 in 2005 to rescind a 2002 report on the allegations of misconduct by scholars studying the Yanomami people.<ref name="apa-rescinds">{{cite web |year=2005 |title=AAA Rescinds Acceptance of the El Dorado Report |url=http://www.aaanet.org/stmts/05ref_eldorado.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150704095927/http://www.aaanet.org/stmts/05ref_eldorado.htm |archive-date=4 July 2015 |accessdate=30 August 2013 |publisher=[[American Anthropological Association]]}}</ref> In 2010, Brazilian director [[José Padilha]] revisited the ''Darkness in El Dorado'' controversy in his documentary ''[[Secrets of the Tribe]]''.
Illegal gold mining has significantly harmed the Yanomami people’s health and environment. According to a 2023 report, mercury pollution from mining has contaminated rivers, leading to widespread malnutrition and increased disease rates, including malaria.<ref>{{Cite web |title=How Illegal Mining Caused a Humanitarian Crisis in the Amazon |url=https://e360.yale.edu/features/brazil-yanomami-mining-malaria-malnutrition-lula |access-date=2024-10-12 |website=Yale E360 |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Population decrease==
From 1987 to 1990, the Yanomami population was severely affected by [[malaria]], [[mercury poisoning]], malnutrition, and violence due to an influx of ''garimpeiros'' searching for gold in their territory.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ramos|first=Alcida|title=Seduced and Abandoned: The Taming of Brazilian Indians|year=1995|publisher=University of Iowa|location=Iowa City}}</ref> Malaria, which was first introduced to Yanomami populations by gold miners during the 1980s, is now frequent in Yanomami populations.<ref>Grenfell P, Fanello CI, Magris M, Goncalves J, Metzger WG, Vivas-Martínez S, Curtis C, Vivas L. Anaemia and malaria in Yanomami communities with differing access to healthcare. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2008 Jul;102(7):645-52. doi: 10.1016/j.trstmh.2008.02.021. Epub 2008 Apr 10. PMID 18405929.</ref> Without the protection of the government, Yanomami populations declined when miners were allowed to enter the Yanomami territory frequently throughout this 3-year span.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hemming |first=John |title=Roraima: Brazil's Northernmost Frontier |url=http://sas-space.sas.ac.uk/3378/1/B02_-_Roraima_Brazil%27s_Northernmost_Frontier.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230127000341/https://sas-space.sas.ac.uk/3378/1/B02_-_Roraima_Brazil's_Northernmost_Frontier.pdf |archive-date=January 27, 2023}}</ref>
In 1987, [[FUNAI]] President [[Romero Jucá]] denied that the sharp increase in Yanomami deaths was due to ''garimpeiro'' invasions, and [[José Sarney]], then president of Brazil, also supported the economic venture of the ''garimpeiros'' over the land rights of the Yanomami.<ref name="Rabben 2004 103">{{cite book|last=Rabben|first=Linda|title=Brazil's Indians and the Onslaught of Civilization|year=2004|publisher=University of Washington Press|location=Seattle|page=103}}</ref> Alcida Rita Ramos, an anthropologist who worked closely with the Yanomami, says this three-year period "led to charges against Brazil for genocide."<ref>{{cite book|last=Ramos|first=Alcida|title=Sanuma Memories: Yanomami Ethnography in Times of Crisis|year=1995|publisher=University Wisconsin Press|location=Madison, WI|page=xvi}}</ref>
=== Massacres ===
{{main article|Haximu massacre}}
The Haximu massacre, also known as the Yanomami massacre, was an armed conflict in 1993, just outside Haximu, Brazil, close to the border with Venezuela. A group of ''garimpeiros'' killed approximately 16 Yanomami. In turn, Yanomami warriors killed at least two ''garimpeiros'' and wounded two more.
In July 2012 the government of Venezuela investigated another alleged massacre. According to Yanomami organizations, a village of eighty people was attacked by a helicopter and the only known survivors of the village were three men who happened to be out hunting while the attack occurred.<ref>{{cite news |date=30 August 2012 |title=Venezuela investigating an alleged massacre of indigenous people in the Amazon |url=http://en.mercopress.com/2012/08/30/venezuela-investigating-alleged-massacre-of-indigenous-people-in-the-amazon |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303233402/https://en.mercopress.com/2012/08/30/venezuela-investigating-alleged-massacre-of-indigenous-people-in-the-amazon |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |access-date=9 April 2013 |work=MercoPress}}</ref> However, in September 2012 [[Survival International]], who had been supporting the Yanomami in this allegation, retracted their support, concluding the report was false after journalists taken to the area by the government found that the area was undisturbed and the local Yanomami had not heard of the alleged massacre.<ref>{{cite news |author=Watts |first=Jonathan |date=September 11, 2012 |title=Campaign group retracts Yanomami 'massacre' claims |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/sep/11/venezuela-yanomami-massacre-claims-retracted |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131031234200/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/sep/11/venezuela-yanomami-massacre-claims-retracted |archive-date=October 31, 2013 |access-date=September 13, 2012 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref>
===COVID-19 pandemic===
{{outdated section|date=December 2021}}
On April 3, 2020, during the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], a 15-year-old Yanomami boy from the [[Uraricoera River]] area was confirmed to have [[COVID-19]] and was admitted to the intensive care unit at Roraima General Hospital in [[Boa Vista, Roraima|Boa Vista]], before dying on April 10.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Kaur |first1=Harmeet |last2=Alberti |first2=Mia |date=April 10, 2020 |title=A boy from a remote Amazonian tribe has died, raising concerns about Covid-19's impact on indigenous people |url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/10/world/yanomami-amazon-coronavirus-brazil-trnd/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200410184749/https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/10/world/yanomami-amazon-coronavirus-brazil-trnd/index.html |archive-date=April 10, 2020 |website=[[CNN]]}}</ref>
According to the [[Brazilian Ministry of Health]], this was the first confirmed Yanomami death and the third death due to COVID-19 in an indigenous tribe, and raised fears over the virus' impact on Brazil's indigenous peoples.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Phillips |first=Tom |date=April 10, 2020 |title=First Yanomami Covid-19 death raises fears for Brazil's indigenous peoples |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/10/first-yanomami-covid-19-death-brazl-indigenous |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |publication-place=[[Rio de Janeiro]]}}</ref> Ten Yanomami children were reported to have died from COVID-19 in January 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Milhorance |first=Flávia |date=February 8, 2021 |title=Covid deaths of Yanomami children fuel fears for Brazil's indigenous groups |url=http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/feb/08/covid-deaths-yanomami-children-indigenous |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208100302/https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/feb/08/covid-deaths-yanomami-children-indigenous |archive-date=February 8, 2021 |access-date=2023-01-23 |website=[[The Guardian]] |place=[[Rio de Janeiro]] |language=}}</ref>
=== 2023 national emergency decree ===
{{See|Yanomami humanitarian crisis}}
In 2023, President [[Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva]] accused the government of his predecessor [[Jair Bolsonaro]] of having committed [[genocide]] against the Yanomami, citing widespread starvation and contamination of water supplies by miners, whose illegal activities were unrestricted under Bolsonaro.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gozzi |first=Laura |date=January 24, 2023 |title=Brazil airlifts starving Yanomami tribal people from jungle |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-64381922 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124055916/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-64381922 |archive-date=January 24, 2023 |access-date=2023-01-25 |website=[[BBC]] |language=}}</ref> The Brazilian [[Ministry of Health (Brazil)|Ministry of Health]] declared a national emergency following reports of deaths among Yanomami children due to malnutrition and disease exposure.<ref>{{Cite news |last= |date=January 22, 2023 |title=Brazil declares emergency over deaths of Yanomami children from malnutrition |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazil-declares-emergency-over-deaths-yanomami-children-malnutrition-2023-01-22/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230513153014/https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazil-declares-emergency-over-deaths-yanomami-children-malnutrition-2023-01-22/ |archive-date=May 13, 2023 |access-date=2023-01-23 |work=[[Reuters]] |language=en}}</ref>
In January 2023, Indigenous health secretary Weibe Tapeba compared the conditions of Yanomami to that of a "concentration camp". Tapeba stated that 20,000 illegal gold miners contaminated the local water supply and fish within and were responsible for causing [[mercury poisoning]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 24, 2023 |title=Calls for action as Brazil Yanomami Indigenous people face crisis |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/1/24/calls-for-action-as-brazil-yanomami-indigenous-people-face-crisis |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124222957/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/1/24/calls-for-action-as-brazil-yanomami-indigenous-people-face-crisis |archive-date=January 24, 2023 |access-date=January 25, 2023 |website=[[Al Jazeera English]]}}</ref>
==Groups working for the Yanomami==
David Good, son of Yarima and her husband anthropologist [[Kenneth Good (anthropologist)|Kenneth Good]], created The Good Project to help support the future of the Yanomami people.<ref name="Good-Project">{{cite web |title=Helping the future leaders of the Amazon rainforest |url=https://jointhegoodproject.com |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216095114/https://www.yanomamifoundation.org/ |archive-date=December 16, 2023 |access-date=July 31, 2015}}</ref><ref name="Kremer-2013">{{cite news |last=Kremer |first=William |date=August 29, 2013 |title=Return to the rainforest: A son's search for his Amazonian mother |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23758087 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130829165840/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23758087 |archive-date=August 29, 2013 |access-date=29 August 2013 |newspaper=[[BBC News Online|BBC News Magazine]] |publisher=[[BBC]]}}</ref>
UK-based non-governmental organization [[Survival International]] has created global awareness-raising campaigns on the human rights situation of the Yanomami people.<ref>{{cite web |title=YANOMAMI HEALTH EMERGENCY |url=http://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/yanomami |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240422044127/https://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/yanomami |archive-date=April 22, 2024 |access-date=April 9, 2013 |website=survivalinternational.org |publisher=}}</ref>
In 1988 the US-based [[World Wildlife Fund]] (WWF) funded the musical ''Yanomamo,'' by [[Peter Rose and Anne Conlon]], to convey what is happening to the people and their natural environment in the [[Amazon rainforest]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Musicals for Schools |url=http://www.wwf.org.uk/about_wwf/working_with_schools/resources_hub/musicals/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150414223447/https://www.wwf.org.uk/about_wwf/working_with_schools/resources_hub/musicals/ |archive-date=April 14, 2015 |website=wwf.org.uk}}</ref> It tells of Yanomami tribesmen/tribeswomen living in the Amazon and has been performed by many drama groups around the world.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-03-31 |title=Yanomamo |url=http://www.mtishows.co.uk/yanomamo |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180124015132/https://www.mtishows.co.uk/yanomamo |archive-date=January 24, 2018 |access-date= |website=[[Music Theatre International]] |language=}}</ref>
The German-based non-governmental organization Yanomami-Hilfe e.V. is building medical stations and schools for the Yanomami in Venezuela and Brazil.<ref>{{cite web |author=Haverkamp |first=Christina |title=Campaigns & Projects |url=http://www.yanomami-hilfe.de/en/campaigns-and-projects/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230921184033/https://www.yanomami-hilfe.de/en/campaigns-and-projects/ |archive-date=September 21, 2023 |access-date=April 9, 2013 |website=Yanomami-Hilfe e.V. |publisher=}}</ref> Founder [[Rüdiger Nehberg]] crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 1987 in a [[Pedalo]] and, together with [[Christina Haverkamp]], in 1992 on a self-made bamboo raft in order to draw attention to the continuing oppression of the Yanomami people.<ref>{{cite web |author=Haverkamp |first=Christina |title=Bamboo raft trip (1992) |url=http://www.yanomami-hilfe.de/en/campaigns-and-projects/bamboo-raft-trip-1992/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130512223454/https://www.yanomami-hilfe.de/en/campaigns-and-projects/bamboo-raft-trip-1992/ |archive-date=May 12, 2013 |access-date=April 9, 2013 |website=Yanomami-Hilfe e.V. |publisher=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Spreter |first1=Jona |last2=AFP |last3=KNA |first3=KNA Katholische Nachrichten-Agentur |date=April 3, 2020 |title=Abenteurer: Rüdiger Nehberg ist tot |url=https://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/zeitgeschehen/2020-04/abenteurer-ruediger-nehberg-gestorben-menschenrechtsaktivist |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230127000340/https://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/zeitgeschehen/2020-04/abenteurer-ruediger-nehberg-gestorben-menschenrechtsaktivist |archive-date=January 27, 2023 |access-date=2024-04-25 |work=Die Zeit |language=de-DE |issn=0044-2070}}</ref>
The Brazilian-based Yanomami formed their own indigenous organization Hutukara Associação Yanomami and accompanying website.<ref>{{cite web |title=EXPANSÃO DA RADIOFONIA YANOMAMI |trans-title=EXPANSION OF YANOMAMI RADIOPHONIA |url=http://hutukara.org/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240421033612/https://www.hutukara.org/ |archive-date=April 21, 2024 |access-date=April 9, 2013 |website=hutukara.org |language=pt-br}}</ref>
===Comissão Pró-Yanomami (CCPY)===
CCPY (formerly ''Comissão pela Criação do Parque Yanomami'') is a Brazilian NGO focused on improving health care and education for the Yanomami.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wald.org/ccpy/|title=CCPY|website=www.wald.org}}</ref> Established in 1978 by photographer [[Claudia Andujar]], anthropologist Bruce Albert, and Catholic missionary Carlo Zacquini, CCPY has dedicated itself to the defense of Yanomami territorial rights and the preservation of Yanomami culture. CCPY launched an international campaign to publicize the destructive effects of the ''garimpeiro'' invasion and promoted a political movement to designate an area along the Brazil-Venezuela border as the Yanomami Indigenous Area.<ref>[[Dennison Berwick|Berwick, Dennison]]. [http://dennisonberwick.info "Savages, The Life And Killing of the Yanomami"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190926220851/http://dennisonberwick.info/ |date=2019-09-26 }} Macfarlane Walter & Ross (1992) {{ISBN|0921912331}}</ref> This campaign was ultimately successful.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zeuwAAAAQBAJ|title=The Falling Sky|first=Davi|last=Kopenawa|date=November 15, 2013|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=9780674726116|via=Google Books}}</ref>
Following demarcation of the Yanomami Indigenous Area in 1992, CCPY's health programs, in conjunction with the now-defunct NGO URIHI (Yanomami for "forest"), succeeded in reducing the incidence of malaria among the Brazilian Yanomami by educating Yanomami [[community health agent]]s in how to diagnose and treat malaria. Between 1998 and 2001 the incidence of malaria among Brazilian Yanomami Indians dropped by 45%.<ref>{{cite journal| doi=10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.05.025 | pmid=15550304 | volume=60 | issue=3 | title=Aggressive active case detection: a malaria control strategy based on the Brazilian model | year=2005 | journal=Social Science & Medicine | pages=563–573 | last1 = Macauley | first1 = Cameron}}</ref><ref>[http://www.urihi.org.br/resultados.html The work of URIHI in the Yanomami Area, 2000–2004]</ref>
In 2000, CCPY sponsored a project to foster a market for Yanomami-grown fruit trees. This project aimed to help the Yanomami as they transition to an increasingly sedentary lifestyle because of environmental and political pressures.<ref>{{cite book|last=Posey|first=Darrell|title=Human Impacts On Amazonia: The Role Of Traditional Ecological Knowledge In Conservation And Development|year=2006|publisher=Columbia University Press|location=New York|page=241}}</ref>  In a separate venture, the CCPY, per the request of Yanomami leaders, established Yanomami schools that teach Portuguese, aiming to aid the Yanomami in their navigation of Brazilian politics and international arenas in their struggle to defend land rights. Additionally, these village schools teach Yanomami about Brazilian society, including money use, good production,{{what|date=December 2022}} and record-keeping.<ref name="Rabben 2004 103"/>
==In popular culture==
*The Yanomami's reputation for violence was dramatized in [[Ruggero Deodato]]'s controversial film ''[[Cannibal Holocaust]]'', in which natives apparently practiced [[endocannibalism]], and were engaged in tribal warfare against the neighbouring [[Carabayo|Yacumo]] tribe.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cannibalholocaust.net/index3.htm|title=Cannibal Holocaust--The One That Goes All The Way!!!|website=www.cannibalholocaust.net}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://users.rcn.com/salski/No18-19Folder/Endocannibalism.htm |publisher=The Summit Times |title=Endocannibalism of the Yanomami |author=Andrew N. Woznicki}}</ref>
*[[Peter Rose and Anne Conlon]], ''Yanomamo'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.roseconlonmusic.co.uk/spweb/content.php?contentid=322|publisher=Rose-Conlon Music|title=Yanomamo}}</ref> a musical entertainment published by Josef Weinberger, London (1983)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.josef-weinberger.com/music-in-print/music/yanomamo---chorus-book.html|publisher=Josef Weinberger|title=Yanomamo Chorus Book}}</ref>
*The 2008 Christian movie ''Yai Wanonabälewä: The Enemy God'' featured one of the Yanomami in the telling of the history and culture of his people.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pluggedin.com/videos/2008/q2/yaiwanonablewtheenemygod.aspx |publisher=Focus on the family |title=Yai Wanonabälewä review}}</ref>
*In 1979, Chilean video artist [[Juan Downey]] released ''The Laughing Alligator'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.li-ma.nl/lima/catalogue/art/juan-downey/the-laughing-alligator/188|title=The Laughing Alligator &#124; www.li-ma.nl|website=www.li-ma.nl}}</ref> a 27-minute documentary of his two-months stay in the Amazon with the Yanomami.
*Illusionist [[David Blaine]] featured the Yanomami in his 1997 television feature ''Magic Man''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=4537&v=zTtaKtUWQ7I |publisher=YouTube |title=David Blaine - Magic Man (1997)}}</ref>
*In 2021, “The Last Forest” <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://m.imdb.com/title/tt14029622/|title=The Last Forest|website=[[IMDb]] }}</ref>  directed by  [[Luiz Bolognesi]] features the Yanomami in a documentary/drama, depicting their way of life and struggles with gold prospectors. It notably features indigenous activist [[Davi Kopenawa Yanomami]].
==See also==
{{Portal|Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Brazil|Venezuela}}
*[[Tim Asch]]
*[[Visual anthropology]]
*[[Yanomaman languages]]
*''[[Yanomamö: The Fierce People]]''
==References==
{{reflist|30em}}
==Further reading==
{{refbegin|30em}}
*Dawson, Mike. ''Growing Up Yanomam'o: Missionary Adventures in the Amazon Rainforest,'' Grace Acres Press, May 1, 2009. {{ISBN|1602650098}}
*[[Dennison Berwick|Berwick, Dennison]]. [http://dennisonberwick.info "Savages, The Life And Killing of the Yanomami"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190926220851/http://dennisonberwick.info/ |date=2019-09-26 }} Macfarlane Walter & Ross (1992) {{ISBN|0921912331}}
*[[Napoleon Chagnon|Chagnon, Napoleon]]. (1968) ''Ya̧nomamö'' (formerly titled ''Ya̧nomamö: The Fierce People'') Holt McDougal; 3rd edition (December 12, 1984) {{ISBN|0030623286}}
*Good, Kenneth; with Chanoff, David. ''Into The Heart: One Man's Pursuit of Love and Knowledge Among the Yanomami''. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company; (January 17, 1997) {{ISBN|0673982327}}
*Jacob, Frank ''[https://www.academia.edu/3632663/They_Eat_Your_Ash_to_Save_Your_Soul_Yanomami_Death_Culture They Eat your Ash to Save your Soul – Yanomami Death Culture']'.
*[[Jacques Lizot]]. 1985. ''Tales of the Yanomami: Daily Life in the Venezuelan Forest,'' Cambridge Studies in Social Anthropology, Cambridge University Press, Worcester; {{ISBN|0-521406722}}; pp. xiv–xv. Original volume in French: ''Le Cercle des feux: Faits e dits des Indiens yanomami,'' (1976)
*Milliken, William; Albert, Bruce. ''Yanomami: A Forest People''. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (January 15, 1999) {{ISBN|1900347733}}
*Pancorbo, Luis. ''El banquete humano. Una historia cultural del canibalismo''. Siglo XXI de España, Madrid, 2008. {{ISBN|978-84-323-1341-7}}
*Pancorbo, Luis. ''Amazonas, último destino'', Edelvives, Madrid, 1990. {{ISBN|84-263-1739-1}}
*Pancorbo, Luis. ''Plumas y Lanzas''. Lunverg-RTVE, Madrid, 1990. {{ISBN|84-7782-093-7}}
*Peters, John Fred. ''Life Among the Yanomami: The Story of Change Among the Xilixana on the Mucajai River in Brazil''. University of Toronto Press, 1998. {{ISBN|978-1-55111-193-3}}
*Ramalho, Moises (2008). [http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/8/8134/tde-04052009-154152/pt-br.php "Os Yanomami e a morte," Doctoral Thesis, University of Sao Paulo, Dept. of Anthropology.]
*Ramos, Alcida Rita (1995). ''Sanuma Memories: Yanomami Ethnography in Times of Crisis.'' Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. {{ISBN|0299146545}}
*[[Redmond O'Hanlon|O'Hanlon, Redmond]]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=t7Ewi_sq3doC ''In Trouble Again: A Journey Between the Orinoco and the Amazon''.] Penguin Books Limited, 2012. {{ISBN|0241963729}}
*Ritchie, Mark Andrew. [http://www.theenemygod.com/store/spirit-of-the-rainforest-a-yanomamo-shaman%E2%80%99s-story/ ''Spirit of the Rainforest: A Yanomamo Shaman's Story''.] Island Lake Press; (January 1, 2000) {{ISBN|0-9646952-3-5}}
*{{cite journal | last1 = Smiljanic | first1 = Maria Inês | title = Os enviados de Dom Bosco entre os Masiripiwëiteri. O impacto missionário sobre o sistema social e cultural dos Yanomami ocidentais (Amazonas, Brasil.) | journal = Journal de la Société des Américanistes | volume = 2002 | issue = 88| pages = 137–158 | doi = 10.4000/jsa.2763 | date = January 2002 | s2cid = 161453622 | url = http://journals.openedition.org/jsa/2763|ref=none}}
*Tierney, Patrick. ''Darkness in El Dorado: How Scientists and Journalists Devastated the Amazon''. W. W. Norton & Company (January 17, 2002) {{ISBN|0393322750}}
*Valero, Helena. ''[[Yanoama: The Story of Helena Valero, a Girl Kidnapped by Amazonian Indians]]''. An eyewitness account of a captive who came of age in the tribe.
*[[Scott Wallace (photojournalist)|Wallace, Scott]]. [http://scottwallace.com/PDF2010/NGAChagnon.pdf "Napoleon in Exile," National Geographic Adventure, April 2002, pp.&nbsp;52–61, 98–100.]
{{refend}}
==External links==
{{Commons category-inline}}
*[https://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/yanomami Survival International's Yanomami page]
*[https://www.jointhegoodproject.org/ Jointhegoodproject.com, official website of The Good Project]
*[http://www.hutukara.org/ Hutukara.org, official website of the Yanomami Indians and the Hutukara Association]
*[http://pib.socioambiental.org/en/povo/yanomami Indigenous Peoples of Brazil—Yanomami]
*{{cite journal|vauthors=Easton RD, Merriwether DA, Crews DE, Ferrell RE |title=mtDNA variation in the Yanomami: evidence for additional New World founding lineages|journal=Am. J. Hum. Genet.|volume=59|issue=1|pages= 213–225|date=July 1996|pmid=8659527|pmc=1915132|ref=none}}
{{Ethnic groups in Venezuela}}
{{Indigenous peoples of Brazil}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yanomami}}
[[Category:Yanomami| ]]
[[Category:Indigenous peoples in Brazil]]
[[Category:Indigenous peoples in Venezuela]]
[[Category:Uncontacted peoples in the Amazon]]
[[Category:Indigenous peoples of the Guianas]]
[[Category:Indigenous peoples of the Amazon]]