Politics and Violence

(1) Hushuwo, a word that can be translated as "anger verging on violence." Warfare and killing amongst divided groups of the Yanomamo is caused by the underlying motivation from revenge, for the individuals lost from previous killings. Essentially the punishment or consequence for killing in this culture is being targeted and killed as an act of retaliation. "Although there are customs and general rules about proper behavior, individuals violate them regularly when it seems in their interests to do so. When conflicts emerge each individual must rely on his own skills and coercive abilities and the support of his close kin" (Chagnon,pgs 1&2). The rules that regard such acts in Western culture are much more different and are firmly established in a civilized form with the addition of a criminal justice system. Most consequences for criminal acts include an ordered sentence followed by probation or limitations. The most common scenario that would involve the death penalty would be the criminal act of committing homicide. Such a decision must be discussed thoroughly whereas in Yanomamo culture this would not involve much second thinking.
(2) Revenge killings in Yanomamo populations are acts of vengeance for previous killings. A counteract like this would be considered advantageous. As a community, revenge killings and swift retaliation benefit a group, reducing the mortality rate and the number of attacks from neighboring groups.
(3) Men who have performed the unokaimou ceremony are referred to as unokai, a status that is known widely within the village but as well as their neighboring groups. This purifying ritual is meant to avert harm that they believe would come from the soul of the victim. It is found that most who have killed have unokaied once and that if an individual has killed that they will have close kin, such as the leaders who are unokaied as well. Benefits of having the status of unokais gives them a close genetic kin with members and a greater reproductive success, appearing attractive as mates over non-unokais. Because they to take part in these actions its believed that they have physically superior skills than the non-unokais. The unokais make up a large percent of the population of descent groups. There are several theorized variables as to why the unokai are presented as a stronger group and they mainly revolve around there actions in killings "that cultural success leads to biological success" (Chagnon, pg 6).
(4) In the Yanomamo culture, conflicts within villages can cause fighting an eventually into the village fissioning and develop differing principles within groups that lead to raids and killings amongst them. Each group is different and some hold a higher status because of their actions in revenge killings and retaliation, it makes them less vulnerable to attacks from their neighboring groups. There's a legitimacy of these violent actions and serve as a form of justice for their deceased kin and representation of a group's strength. All Yanomamo villages have a couple descent groups and members must find their spouses from a different patrilineal descent group. Depending on those groups, marriages can create a close relation among the people and develop into large kin groups which is the case. "If someone in the village is killed, the probability is very high that he or she will have many bereaved close kin, including the village leader or leaders who have more kin than others; the leaders are the very individuals who decide whether killings are revenged" (Chagnon, pg 4). " The higher the kinship density in a local community, the greater is the likelihood that a large number of mutually supportive individuals will take such life-threatening risks and that retaliation will occur if one of the members of the group is killed" (Chagnon, pg 5). As for reproduction its believed that men who take part in warfare or revenge killings have a greater chance of reproduction success.
(5) I believe laws against criminal acts are needed for the maintenance of social order and avoiding brutality that would become the main worry of our everyday lives if we did not have such laws.  The consequences of our actions can be avoided by learning from the punishments that we are given when we do make those unjust decisions. They help establish what we view as the rights and wrongs of life.