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Napoleon A. Chagnon (/ˈʃæɡnən/ SHAG-nən; born 1938) is an American anthropologist and professor of anthropology at the University of Missouri in Columbia. He is best known for his long-term ethnographic field work among the Yanomamö, a society of indigenous tribal Amazonians, as well as his contributions to evolutionary theory in cultural anthropology, and to the study of warfare. A New York Times reviewer labeled Chagnon the "most controversial anthropologist" in the United States in a New York Times Magazine profile preceding the publication of Chagnon's most recent book, Noble Savages: My Life Among Two Dangerous Tribes—the Yanomamö and the Anthropologists, a scientific memoir. Allegations that he played a role in communal violence and introduced disease prompted his early retirement.

Early life and education

Chagnon was born in Port Austin, Michigan and he was the second of twelve children. He attended the University of Michigan and received a bachelor's degree in 1961, an M.A. in 1963, and a PhD in 1966 under the tutelage of Leslie White.

Career

Chagnon is best known for his long-term ethnographic field work among the Yanomamö, his contributions to evolutionary theory in cultural anthropology, and to the study of warfare. The Yanomamö are a society of indigenous tribal Amazonians that live in the border area between Venezuela and Brazil.

Working primarily in the headwaters of the upper Siapa and upper Mavaca Rivers in Venezuela, Chagnon conducted fieldwork among these people from the mid-1960s until the latter half of 1990s. Because the Yanomamö people could not pronounce his last name, they nicknamed him "Shaki", the closest pronunciation they could approximate, which also seemed appropriate because Chagnon was constantly asking questions, and "Shaki" means "pesky bee". A major focus of his research was the collection of genealogies of the residents of the villages that he visited, and from these he would analyze patterns of relatedness, marriage patterns, cooperation, and settlement pattern histories. Applying this genealogical approach as a basis for investigation, he is one of the early pioneers of the fields of sociobiology and human behavioral ecology.

In addition to investigating genealogical ties between the Yanomamo, Chagnon was also interested in the way politics worked within the Yanomamö society as well as discovering why there was as he describes it "chronic warfare".

Chagnon is well known for his ethnography, Yanomamö: The Fierce People published in 1968, which was published in more than five editions and is commonly used as a text in university-level introductory anthropology classes, making it the all-time bestselling anthropological text. Chagnon was also a pioneer in the field of visual anthropology. He collaborated with ethnographic filmmaker Tim Asch and produced a series of more than twenty ethnographic films documenting Yanomamö life.

Chagnon had earlier taught at the Pennsylvania State University and Northwestern University.

Controversies

Darkness in El Dorado

In 2000, Patrick Tierney in his book Darkness in El Dorado accused Chagnon and his colleague James Neel, among other things, of exacerbating a measles epidemic among the Yanomamö people. Groups of historians, epidemiologists, anthropologists, and filmmakers, who had direct knowledge of the events, investigated Tierney's claims. These groups ultimately rejected the worst allegations concerning the measles epidemic. In its report, which was later rescinded, a task force of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) was critical of certain aspects of Chagnon's work, such as his portrayal of the Yanomamö and his relationships with Venezuelan government officials.

The American Anthropological Association convened the task force in February 2001 to investigate some of the allegations made in Tierney's book. Their report, which was issued by the AAA in May 2002, held that Chagnon had both represented the Yanomamo in harmful ways and failed in some instances to obtain proper consent from both the government and the groups he studied. However, the Task Force stated that there was no support to the claim that Chagnon and Neel began a measles epidemic. In June 2005, however, the AAA voted over two-to-one to rescind the acceptance of the 2002 report, noting that "although the Executive Board's action will not, in all likelihood, end debate on ethical standards for anthropologists, it does seek to repair damage done to the integrity of the discipline in the El Dorado case".

Most of the allegations made in Darkness in El Dorado were publicly rejected by the Provost's office of the University of Michigan in November 2000. For example, the interviews upon which the book was based all came from members of the Salesian Society (an official society of the Roman Catholic Church) which Chagnon had criticized, and thus angered, in his book.

Tierney has since claimed that "Experts I spoke to then had very different opinions than the ones they are expressing now."

Brazilian director José Padilha revisits the Darkness in El Dorado controversy in his documentary Secrets of the Tribe. The film, screened at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize. It includes testimonials from key players.

Alice Dreger, an historian of medicine and science, and an outsider to the debate, concluded after a year of research that Tierney's claims were false and the American Anthropological Association was complicit and irresponsible in helping spread these falsehoods and not protecting "scholars from baseless and sensationalistic charges".

Researcher contamination in Yanomamö findings

Some have argued that the Yanomamö became violent after Chagnon arrived to conduct his research and offered machetes, axes, and shotguns to selected groups to elicit their cooperation.

Written works

• Chagnon, Napoleon A (1966), Yanomamö Warfare, Social Organization and Marriage Alliances (unpublished PhD dissertation), Ann Arbor, MI: Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan

Books

• Chagnon, Napoleon A (1968), Yanomamö: The Fierce People.
• ——— (1974), Studying the Yanomamö, New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
• ——— (1992), Yanomamo – The Last Days of Eden.
• ———; Cronk, Lee; Irons, William (2002), Adaptation and Human Behavior: An Anthropological Perspective.
• ——— (2013), Noble Savages: My Life Among Two Dangerous Tribes – The Yanomamö and the Anthropologists.

Book chapters

• Chagnon, Napoleon A (1986), "Yanomamö social organization and aggression", in FRIED, M (ed.), War; the Anthropology of Armed Conflict and Aggression, New York: Garden City
• ——— (1995), "Chronic Problems in Understanding Tribal Violence and Warfare", in Willey & Chichester (ed.), Genetics of Criminal and Antisocial Behavior, Ciba Foundation Symposium
• ——— (1972), "Tribal social organization and genetic microdifferentiation", in HARRISON, A; BOYCE, A (eds.), Structure of human populations, Oxford
• ——— (1973), "Daily life among the Yanomamo", in ROMNEY, AK; DEVORE, PL (eds.), You and others, Cambridge{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• ——— (1973), "Yanomamo social organization and warfare", in FRIED, M (ed.), Explorations in Anthropology, New York: Crowell
• ——— (1973), "The culture-ecology of shifting (pioneering) cultivation among the Yanomamo Indians", in GROSS, DR (ed.), International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, New York: Garden City
• ——— (1977), "Yanomamo – the fierce people", in GOULD, R (ed.), Man's many ways, New York: Harper & Row
• ——— (1977), "Yanomamo warfare", in COPPENHAVER, D (ed.), Anthropology full circle, New York: Prager
• ——— (1979), "Is Reproductive Success Equal in Egalitarian Societies?", in CHAGNON, N; IRONS, W (eds.), Evolutionary Biology and Human Social Behavior, North Scituate: Duxbury
• ——— (1979), "Mate Competition, Favoring Close kin, and Village Fissioning Among the Yanomamö Indians", in CHAGNON, N; IRONS, W (eds.), Evolutionary biology and human social behavior, North Scituate: Duxbury
• ——— (1982), "Anthropology and the Nature of Things", in WIEGELE, T (ed.), Biology and the Social Sciences, Boulder: Westview
• ——— (1982), "Sociodemographic Attributes of Nepotism in Tribal Populations: Man the Rule-Breaker", in GROUP, KSCS (ed.), Current problems in sociobiology, New York: Cambridge University Press
• ———; Ayers, M; Neel, JV; Weitkamp, L; Gershowitz, H (1975), "The influence of cultural factors on the demography and pattern of gene flow from the Makiritare to the Yanomama indians", in HULSE, FS (ed.), Man and nature: studies in the evolution of the human species, New York: Random House
• ———; Bugos, PE (1979), "Kin selection and conflict: an analysis of a Yanomamö ax fight", in CHAGNON; IRONS, W (eds.), Evolutionary biology and human social behavior, North Scituate: Duxbury Press
• ———; Flinn, MV; Melancon, TF (1979), "Sex-ratio variation among the Yanomamö Indians", in CHAGNON, Napoleon; IRONS, W (eds.), Evolutionary Biology and Human Social Behavior, North Scituate: Duxbury Press

Journal articles

• Chagnon, Napoleon A (1967a), "Yanomamo – the fierce people", Natural History, vol. LXXVII, pp. 22–31
• ——— (1967b), "Yanomamö Social Organization and Warfare", Natural History, vol. LXXVI, pp. 44–48
• ——— (1968a), "The Culture-Ecology of Shifting (Pioneering) Cultivation Among The Yanomamö Indians", International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, vol. 3, pp. 249–55
• ——— (1968b), "The feast", Natural History, vol. LXXVII, pp. 34–41
• ——— (1970), "Ecological and Adaptive Aspects of California Shell Money", Annual Report of the UCLA Archaeological Survey, vol. 12, pp. 1–25
• ——— (1973), "The culture-ecology of shifting (pioneering) cultivation among the Yanomamo Indians", in GROSS, DR (ed.), International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, New York: Garden City
• ——— (1975), "Genealogy, Solidarity and Relatedness: Limits to Local Group Size and Patterns of Fissioning in an Expanding Population", Yearbook of Physical Anthropology, vol. 19, pp. 95–110
• ——— (1976), "Yanomamo, the true people", National Geographic Magazine, vol. 150, pp. 210–23
• ——— (1980), "Highland New Guinea models in the South American lowlands", Working papers on South American Indians, vol. 2, pp. 111–30
• ——— (1981), "Doing fieldwork among the Yanomamo", Contemporary Anthropology, pp. 11–24
• ——— (1988), "Life Histories, Blood Revenge, and Warfare in a Tribal Population", Science, vol. 239, pp. 985–92
• ——— (1989), "Yanomamö survival", Science, vol. 244, p. 11
• ——— (1990), "On Yanomamö violence: reply to Albert", Current Anthropology, vol. 31, pp. 49–53
• ———; Ayres, M; Neel, JV; Weitkamp, L; Gershowitz, H (1970), "The influence of cultural factors on the demography and pattern of gene flow from the Makiritare to the Yanomama indians", American Journal of Physical Anthropology, vol. 32, pp. 339–49
• ———; Hames, RB (1979), "Protein Deficiency and Tribal Warfare in Amazonia: New Data", Science, vol. 203, pp. 910–13
• ———; Le Quesne, P; Cook, JM (1971), "Yanomamö Hallucinogens: Anthropological, Botanical, and Chemical Findings", Current Anthropology, vol. 12, pp. 72–74
• ———; Margolies, L; Gasparini, G; Hames, RB (1982–83), "Parentesco, demografia, patrones de inversion de los padres y el uso social del espacio arquitectonico entre los Shamatari-Yanomamo del TF Amazonas: informe preliminar", Boletin Indigenista Venezolano (in Spanish), vol. 21, VZ, pp. 171–225

Filmography

• The Yanomamo Series, in collaboration with Tim Asch, includes 22 separate films on the Yanomamo culture, such as:
  • The Ax Fight (1975)
  • Children's Magical Death (1974)
  • Magical Death (1988)
  • A Man Called Bee: A Study of the Yanomamo (1974)
  • Yanomamo Of the Orinoco (1987)
• Yanomamo Filmography list, University of California, Santa Barbara

See also

• Visual anthropology
• The Trap (television documentary series); Chagnon features in The Trap, a BBC documentary.

References

1. Though the name Chagnon is French, he uses the American pronunciation.
2. ^ Eakin, Emily (13 February 2013). "How Napoleon Chagnon Became Our Most Controversial Anthropologist". New York Times. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
3. McGee & Warms, p. 247
4. "Napoleon Chagnon, '61, MA'63, PhD'66". Alumni Authors Series. Alumni Association of the University of Michigan. Retrieved 20 February 2013.
5. Silva, Stacey (20 January 1988). "Meeting The Fierce People" (PDF). The Daily Nexus. Retrieved 23 October 2008. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
6. "El Dorado Task Force Papers" (PDF). AAA.
7. "AAA Rescinds Acceptance of the El Dorado Report".
8. "Statement from University of Michigan Provost Nancy Cantor on the book "Darkness in El Dorado"".
9. D'Antonio, Michael (20 January 1988). "Napoleon Chagnon's War of Discovery". LA Times Magazine. UCLA. Retrieved 23 October 2008.
10. Miller, John J. "The Fierce People: The wages of anthropological incorrectness," National Review, 20 November 2000.
11. Lim, Dennis (31 January 2010), "Secrets of the tribe: World Documentary Competition", Sunfiltered (blog), Sundance channel.
12. Dreger, Alice (16 February 2011). "Darkness's Descent on the American Anthropological Association". Human Nature. 22 (3): 225–46. doi:10.1007/s12110-011-9103-y.
13. Brian Ferguson, Yanomami Warfare
14. Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha, Sex at Dawn", Harper, 2010

• Ritchie, Mark Andrew. "Pulling His Eye Down", Spirit of the Rainforest, Island Lake Press, Chicago, 1996.
• McGee, Jon R. & Warms, Richard L. "Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History", Texas State University, San Marcos, 2008. ISBN 0-07-340522-1

External links

• Official faculty website at UCSB
• Brockmann, John. "Edge Special Event feat. Napoleon Chagnon", Edge.org, 6 June 2013.
• Silva, Stacey. "Meeting The Fierce People", Daily Nexus, 20 January 1988.
• D'Antonio, Michael. "Napoleon Chagnon's War of Discovery", LA Times Magazine, 30 January 2000.
• Grossman, Andrew. "Napoleon Chagnon's Waterloo", The Dartmouth Review, 30 October 2000.
• Wallace, Scott. "Napoleon in Exile", National Geographic Adventure Magazine, April 2002.
• Emily Eakin, "How Napoleon Chagnon became our most Controversial Anthropologist", New York Times, 13 February 2013.

Template:Persondata

• Use dmy dates from April 2013
• 1938 births
• University of Michigan alumni
• American anthropologists
• Living people
• University of California, Santa Barbara faculty