Chapter 8 Summary and Analysis

Chagnon cites some of the changes prompted by contact between foreigners and the Yanomamo, such as weapons being among the items offered to the Yanomamo in trade. The most important event that impacts the Yanomamo people is the gold rush. Airstrips to accommodate the need for mining supplies spring up overnight and clashes are inevitable. Despite reports of rape and murder, Brazilian officials ignore the problem. Chagnon estimates that "as many as one thousand, one hundred Brazilian Yanomamo may have died from new sicknesses introduced by miners or from traditional maladies that became epidemic following the influx of so many miners."

Chagnon is absent from Yanomamo culture for several years in the 1970s and 1980s, and returns to discover that Kaobawa remains an important man in his village but that missions are becoming more powerful, recruiting young men "groomed" for leadership...