Revenge Killings Within Yanomamo Culture
A writing done referencing the article "Blood Revenge and Warfare in a Tribal Population" by Napolean Chagnon. In present day Western culture, typically the people who kill wrongfully are subject to retribution, being punished in the court of law. If done correctly, the victim's kin should be satisfied and not seek further revenge. The end result is the killer alone receiving punishment. Within Yanomamo society, retribution is achieved via revenge killings. The revenge killings are performed in raids that while targeting the initial killer, can result in any man come across belonging to the killer’s kin group being killed. Among the Yanomamo, when someone in a group is killed, the person’s kin will seek revenge and form a raiding party, primarily to kill the initial killer but usually killing the first targets they see from the killer’s village. To prepare the revenge seeking party, made up of men, the women of the village will drink a portion of the initial vic...