Review of Sanumá Memories: Yanomami Ethnography in a Time of Crisis. Alcida Rita Ramos. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1995. xx, 346 pp. (paper).

As I have done considerable research among the Yanomamö,1 it was with anticipation that I received notice of Alcida Ramos\u27 publication of Sanumá Memories. This work is a useful contribution to the large and still expanding research on the Yanomamö, an Amazonian people who have become a classic case study for anthropology and the social sciences. They are probably the most widely read about tribal people in the world, largely a consequence of Napoleon Chagnon\u27s immensely popular ethnography Yanomamö: The Fierce People (first published in 1968 and the most recent edition in 1992). The Yanomamö have become a focal point for theoretical debates concerning the causes of warfare among tribal people, the promise of evolutionary biological theory in the behavioral sciences, and most recently, and lamentably, they are internationally known as victims of grave human rights violations. Ramos\u27 Sanumá Memories was first published in Portuguese in 1990 as an update of her 1972 doctoral dissertation (The Social System of the Sanumá of Northern Brazil, University of Wisconsin) supplemented by several return visits to the Sanumá (as recently as 1992) yielding additional chapters. A number of the chapters have been published as journal articles in both Portuguese and English. Based on the work of Ernesto Migliazza, the Yanomamö are divided into four ethnolinguistic groups: the Sanumá or Sanema with 3,200 speakers in about 100 villages, threequarters of which are in Venezuela; the Yanomamö with 11,700 speakers in 171 villages, with about 80 percent in Venezuela; Yanomam with 5,300 speakers in 64 villages, nearly all of which are in Brazil; and the Ninam (or Yanam), with perhaps as many as 850 speakers equally divided in Brazil and Venezuela. The work under review here is the most systematic account of we have on Sanumá social organization. Other major works on the Sanumá by Kent Taylor and Marcus Colchester focus on ethnobiology, ecology, and economics

Kin Selection

When Hamilton (1964) published his theory of inclusive fitness it had no immediate impact in the social and behavioral sciences, even though ethnographers knew kinship to be a universally fundamental factor in human social organization, especially in egalitarian societies in which humans have spent nearly all their evolutionary history. In many ways, it was a theory that perhaps anthropologists should have devised: Anthropologists knew kinship fundamentally structured cooperation, identity, coalition formation, resource exchange, marriage, and group membership in traditional societies. It was not until 1974 with the publication of Wilson’s Sociobiology (1975) and especially Richard Alexander’s The Evolution of Social Behavior (1974) that evolutionary social scientists began to take note of the potential of kin selection as a powerful theory that could revolutionize the study of human social behavior. Alexander was the first to comprehensively demonstrate that ethnographic and psychological evidence provided strong support that hypotheses drawn from kin selection would be a productive area of investigation. His review of the anthropological literature on kinship, especially of the Human Relations Area Files (HRAF), was elaborated more fully in Darwinism and Human Affairs (1979). For example, Alexander’s prediction that paternity uncertainty would skew nepotism matrilaterally (1974, pp. 373–374; 1979, p. 169) is now well documented. In addition, he provided important preliminary evidence that suggested that kin selection would help us understand food transfers and cooperative economic activities (Alexander, 1979, pp. 144–161), and that kin selection and reciprocal altruism would be closely linked (1979, pp. 52–58)

The Allocation of Parental Care among the Ye\u27kwana

It is well known that human children require more care or parental investment than any other primate species (Lancaster and Lancaster 1983). While this dimension of human behavior is well documented in the psychological literature for Euroamerican populations (Babchuck et al. 1985), it has received scant, quantitative attention by anthropologists working among tribal populations (for exceptions see Whiting and Whiting 1975, Katz and Konner 1981, Hurtado et al. 1985, Hewlett, this volume (Chapter 16), Turke, this volume (Chapter 10)). The role of alloparental care (care of non-offspring children) has received even less quantitative attention by social scientists (for a review see Weisner and Gallimore 1977) although it has been a growing theoretical concern of evolutionary biologists (Skutch 1961, Brown 1978, Reidman 1982, Emlen 1984). The primary goal of this chapter is to describe the allocation of direct care to infants by sub-adults and adults among the Ye\u27kwana and to show that the degree to which an individual engages in caregiving correlates with options an individual has for enhancing his or her inclusive fitness

Monoculture, Polyculture, and Polyvariety in Tropical Forest Swidden Cultivation

A number of researchers have suggested that polyculture is characteristic of native tropical forest swiddens and have adduced theory from community ecology to account for its adaptiveness. Ye’kwana and Yąnomamö swidden cultivation is examined, and it is shown that polyculture is not practiced to any significant degree. Instead, the concept of polyvariety is introduced along with a number of other cultivation practices that more simply account for the adaptiveness of Ye’kwana and Yąnomamö gardening. In addition, comparative data from other parts of the tropical world indicate that polyculture is no more common than monoculture and recent advances in ecological research indicate that the diversity-stability hypothesis that underpins adaptive arguments of polyculture is in need of drastic revision

Cultural and reproductive success and the causes of war: A Yanomamö perspective

Inter-group competition including warfare is posited to be a key force in human evolution (Alexander, 1990; Choi & Bowles, 2007; Wrangham, 1999). Chagnon\u27s research on the Yanomamö is seminal to understanding warfare in the types of societies characteristic of human evolutionary history. Chagnon\u27s empirical analyses of the hypothesis that competition for status or cultural success is linked to reproduction (Irons, 1979) and warfare attracted considerable controversy. Potential causal factors include “blood revenge”, mate competition, resource shortages or inequality, and peace-making institutions (Boehm, 1984; Keeley\u27s (1997); Meggitt, 1977; Wiessner and Pupu, 2012; Wrangham et al., 2006). Here we highlight Chagnon\u27s contributions to the study of human warfare

Review of Sanumá Memories: Yanomami Ethnography in a Time of Crisis. Alcida Rita Ramos. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1995. xx, 346 pp. (paper).

As I have done considerable research among the Yanomamö,1 it was with anticipation that I received notice of Alcida Ramos\u27 publication of Sanumá Memories. This work is a useful contribution to the large and still expanding research on the Yanomamö, an Amazonian people who have become a classic case study for anthropology and the social sciences. They are probably the most widely read about tribal people in the world, largely a consequence of Napoleon Chagnon\u27s immensely popular ethnography Yanomamö: The Fierce People (first published in 1968 and the most recent edition in 1992). The Yanomamö have become a focal point for theoretical debates concerning the causes of warfare among tribal people, the promise of evolutionary biological theory in the behavioral sciences, and most recently, and lamentably, they are internationally known as victims of grave human rights violations. Ramos\u27 Sanumá Memories was first published in Portuguese in 1990 as an update of her 1972 doctoral dissertation (The Social System of the Sanumá of Northern Brazil, University of Wisconsin) supplemented by several return visits to the Sanumá (as recently as 1992) yielding additional chapters. A number of the chapters have been published as journal articles in both Portuguese and English. Based on the work of Ernesto Migliazza, the Yanomamö are divided into four ethnolinguistic groups: the Sanumá or Sanema with 3,200 speakers in about 100 villages, threequarters of which are in Venezuela; the Yanomamö with 11,700 speakers in 171 villages, with about 80 percent in Venezuela; Yanomam with 5,300 speakers in 64 villages, nearly all of which are in Brazil; and the Ninam (or Yanam), with perhaps as many as 850 speakers equally divided in Brazil and Venezuela. The work under review here is the most systematic account of we have on Sanumá social organization. Other major works on the Sanumá by Kent Taylor and Marcus Colchester focus on ethnobiology, ecology, and economics

Is Male Androphilia a Context-Dependent Cross-Cultural Universal?

The cross-cultural ethnographic literature has traditionally used the label male “homosexuality” to describe sexual relationships between biological males without considering whether or not the concept encompasses primary sexual attraction to adult males. Although male androphilia seems to be found in all national populations, its universal existence in tribal populations has been questioned. Our goal is to review previous cross-cultural classifications and surveys of male same sex behavior to present a system that does justice to its varied expressions, especially as it is informed by contemporary sexuality research. Previous comparative research does not effectively distinguish male same sex behavior from male androphilia. Using the standard cross-cultural sample (SCCS) as a sampling frame and the ethnographic sources in the human relations area files and elsewhere, we present distributional data on various forms of male same sex behavior. The SCCS is useful because it is designed to be representative of all historically known social formations and the sample is designed to reduce similarities as a consequence of common descent or historical origin as well as reduce the probability of diffusion of sociocultural practices from one culture to another. Our results show that male same sex behavior as well as male androphilia is much more common than previously estimated in the SCCS. With our findings, we make an argument that male androphilia is a context-dependent cross-cultural universal

A Problematic Test of the Kin Selection Hypothesis Among the Urak-Lawoi of Ko Lipe, Thailand: Commentary on Camperio Ciani, Battaglia, and Liotta (2015)

Camperio Ciani et al. argued that the Urak-Lawoi people of Ko Lipe island live in a ‘‘traditional,’’ ‘‘subsistence primitive society’’ reminiscent of the ‘‘ancestral’’ human past and that their socio-cultural situation is ‘‘remarkably similar’’ to Samoa. On this basis, they asserted that the Ko Lipe Urak-Lawoi are an appropriate population for determining the role that kin selection played in the evolution of male androphilia. The purpose of this commentary is to outline some of our concerns with this characterization and with the statistical analyses conducted by Camperio Ciani et al. in their study of the Urak-Lawoi

A Problematic Test of the Kin Selection Hypothesis Among the Urak-Lawoi of Ko Lipe, Thailand: Commentary on Camperio Ciani, Battaglia, and Liotta (2015)

Camperio Ciani et al. argued that the Urak-Lawoi people of Ko Lipe island live in a ‘‘traditional,’’ ‘‘subsistence primitive society’’ reminiscent of the ‘‘ancestral’’ human past and that their socio-cultural situation is ‘‘remarkably similar’’ to Samoa. On this basis, they asserted that the Ko Lipe Urak-Lawoi are an appropriate population for determining the role that kin selection played in the evolution of male androphilia. The purpose of this commentary is to outline some of our concerns with this characterization and with the statistical analyses conducted by Camperio Ciani et al. in their study of the Urak-Lawoi

Sex differences in spatial abilities: Methodological problems in Hoffman et al.

Hoffman et al. (1) claimed to provide evidence that “nurture” (i.e., residing in a patrilineal vs. matrilineal tribe in India) critically affects sex differences in spatial abilities. Unfortunately, their conclusion is undermined by major problems with their measures of spatial ability and sex equality. The first and biggest problem is with their measure of spatial abilities. “Spatial abilities” are a complex cognitive domain, with facets ranging from location memory (favoring women) to navigation in 3D virtual space (favoring men) (2). The puzzle used by Hoffman et al. (1) is similar to the Object Assembly subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (3); sex differences on this task are extremely small (d = 0.10), at least 10-fold smaller than those found for spatial measures showing the largest sex differences. It is odd that Hoffman et al. (1) chose to investigate sex differences with this kind of sex-insensitive task. The second problem is the lack of a control task. The insensitivity of the task used by Hoffman et al. (1) suggests that their finding that men outperform women in a patrilineal tribe but not a matrilineal tribe is not related to sex differences in spatial abilities per se but to other factors instead. Education, as they noted, is likely one of these. The use of a cognitive control task tapping nonspatial abilities would have allowed for an assessment of the specificity of the effect, but, unfortunately, such a task was not included. Third, defining sex equality as matrilineality is problematic, because cross-cultural studies generally show that equality (a multidimensional construct) is not systematically correlated with descent system (4). From the descriptions of Hoffman et al. (1), it appears that women in the matrilineal Khasi have more economic power and better education, but this ignores other sex equality dimensions, such as positions of political and religious leadership, domestic authority, and autonomy. Without such measures, it is unclear whether the Khasi are, in fact, more sexegalitarian than the Karbi. Furthermore, a recent 53-nation cross-cultural study has shown that sex differences favoring men on validated, reliable, multi-item spatial measures are positively associated with United Nation indices of sex development and empowerment (5), a pattern opposite to that reported by Hoffman et al. (1). For all these reasons, the study by Hoffman et al. (1) failed to support their conclusions