A Man called “Bee”—Studying the Yanomamo

1975 (40 min.)

Filmmaker: Timothy Asch

Anthropologist: Napoleon Chagnon

N. Chagnon, an American anthropologist has been studying the Yanomamo since 1965. Most of his fieldwork has been done alone. In the 1960s, the filmmaker Timothy Asch made a series of films about the Yanomamo. A Man Called “Bee” shows Chagnon doing fieldwork. In the first ten minutes, we see many basic features of fieldwork. The opening shots are especially striking: We have located the Yanomamo on the map of Venezuela, we have seen the rain forest, we have caught a glimpse of the great circular lean-to structure that houses the Yanomamo village of Mishimishimaboeteri. The figure wearing feathers and carrying a bow and arrow struts out to the central plaza and strikes a warrior’s pose. Gradually, as the camera moves in, we realize that he is not Yanomamo but the American anthropologist. (Heider 1997: 38).

Setup Questions:

1. When Chagnon talks Yanomamo, can you tell whether he has an American English accent? Are his movements and gestures American or Yanomamo?

2. How does Chagnon repay the Yanomamo for their help?

3. Why does he elicit people’s genealogies What uses of kinship ties become obvious in the film?

4. Why does he make maps?

5. In what ways does Chagnon act as participant observer?

6. Why do you think Chagnon doesn’t dress like the Yanonmamo men?

7. Why would Chagnon’s Yanomamo friends in one village warn him against traveling to another village?

8. Why doesn’t Yanomamo have a word for thank you? What might that say about their culture?

9. Chagnon says that “no gift is unencumbered.” What could that mean?