Economic organisation and the environment in the Yanomamo

Introduction

The economy of the Yanomamo is very much a subsistence economy, this is due to the fact that they have no monetary currency.

Division of labour

• Weapon making, tree felling for gardening, and hunting are the only exclusively male activities.

• Women do most of the weeding, harvesting, food processing, and collecting of fuel and water.

• Nearly all other activities may be done by either sex, although in many, one sex tends to be predominant.

• Both sexes frequently cooperate in gathering and fishing.

Space and place• The living space is a series of individual homes

with a common roof. Construction of the shabono as it is called, is a village-wide endeavor, and results in a large ring of connected homes with an open plaza in the center. The surrounding land is used for gardening, while inside is a sort of common area, where feasts are held.

Systems of production and consumption

• The Yanomamo may be characterized as foraging horticulturists. Crops, mostly plantains and bananas, make up about 75 percent of the diet. Wild resources gained through gathering, hunting, and fishing supply important protein needs.

Exchange systems

• Some trade is the result of differential distribution of primary resources (e.g., hallucinogenic plants) or a temporary surplus of prime domesticates (e.g., cotton or good hunting dogs), but in other instances trade is the exchange of material tokens to symbolize alliances between individuals.

• The Yanomamo have become totally dependent on iron and steel products from other villages, since they cannot produce their own.

Colonialism and post-colonialism• Mid 1970s Garimpeiros settled• Conflict over land lad to Yanomamos being

murded• Mining techniques were destructive• 40 000 Garimpeiros in 1990• 1992 Yanomamo Park was founded by Brazilian

anthropologists• 1993, 16 Yanomamo were massacred just

outside Haximu by Garimpeiros.