In the Amazonian region was the indigenous tribe, the Yanomami, who thrived within themselves until western visitors came to them. Among these visitors, the first visitor who began to document them was Napoleon Chagnon. Napoleon Chagnon through his interactions with Yanomami, he concluded that the Yanomami go to war because they are “fierce people” as he stated, “the violent and fierce nature of the Yanoama. It is implied that this particular cultural trait is as universally distributed over Yanoama territory as the language, the teri and shabono institutions, and the plantain gardens; it is also implied that it characterizes Yanoama men.” The Yanomami were in essence “savages” and killing is what they did. Furthermore, Chagnon stated this behavior was that men could be “Unokai”, the ones who killed; he states “Becoming an unokai is simply one of a number of male characteristics valued by the Yanomami and an integral component of a more general complex of goals for which ambitious men strive.” Becoming Unokai led to…show more content… Peters differed that from Chagnon’s viewpoint of what caused the Yanomami to go to war. Peters states two causes. The first cause was revenge. The Yanomami went to war to avenge their own as Peters states, “The Yanomami fear revenge from a village which women are stolen, or in which someone has been killed.” The second reason is it is caused by sorcery. Peters supports his reasoning through the observation of a “Raid with the Malaxi Theli,” in which the Malaxi theli were joined by Xilixana went to raid the Maututu, after they killed their people; in retaliation, the Xilixana took an adult body and hacked it and spread it over a large area. This was done to prove they were “taking the act of sorcery very seriously.” Thus, the Yanomami, “use of sorcery exacerbates their fear as well as their power to inflict illness and
