Napoleon Chagnon was an American anthropologist known for his long-term fieldwork among the Yanomamo of the Venezuelan and Brazilian Amazon, published most famously in Yanomamo: The Fierce People (1968), which described a society organized substantially around warfare and interpersonal violence and offered a sociobiological argument linking male reproductive success to success in violent conflict. Chagnon's work and methods became the subject of sustained and severe controversy within anthropology, most publicly following the 2000 publication of Patrick Tierney's book Darkness in El Dorado, which accused Chagnon of exacerbating conflict among the Yanomamo through his research practices and of ethical violations in his fieldwork; the American Anthropological Association investigated the allegations and issued a report critical of Chagnon before later rescinding it after further review, leaving Chagnon's legacy sharply and durably contested between defenders who regard him as a rigorous scientist and critics who regard his research as ethically compromised.
Facts
Birth DateSourced to the subject's own account Birth YearSourced to the subject's own account Death DateSourced to the subject's own account Death YearSourced to the subject's own account BirthplaceSourced to the subject's own account Nationality / CultureSourced to the subject's own account Defining ContributionSourced to the subject's own accountConducted long-term ethnographic fieldwork among the Yanomami and argued, using a sociobiological framework, that success in violent conflict increased male reproductive success, a claim that became one of anthropology's most sustained controversies. 1 Notable WorkSourced to the subject's own accountYanomamö: The Fierce People 1 In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Napoleon Chagnon - Wikipedia
Wikipedialead sentence, birth date clause
Napoleon Alphonseau Chagnon (27 August 1938-21 September 2019) was an American cultural anthropologist, professor of sociocultural anthropology at the University of Missouri in Columbia and member of the National Academy of Sciences.
lead sentence, birth year figure
Napoleon Alphonseau Chagnon (27 August 1938-21 September 2019) was an American cultural anthropologist, professor of sociocultural anthropology at the University of Missouri in Columbia and member of the National Academy of Sciences.
lead sentence, death date clause
Napoleon Alphonseau Chagnon (27 August 1938-21 September 2019) was an American cultural anthropologist, professor of sociocultural anthropology at the University of Missouri in Columbia and member of the National Academy of Sciences.
lead sentence, death year figure
Napoleon Alphonseau Chagnon (27 August 1938-21 September 2019) was an American cultural anthropologist, professor of sociocultural anthropology at the University of Missouri in Columbia and member of the National Academy of Sciences.
lead sentence, nationality descriptor
Napoleon Alphonseau Chagnon (27 August 1938-21 September 2019) was an American cultural anthropologist, professor of sociocultural anthropology at the University of Missouri in Columbia and member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Early life and education section, birthplace clause
Chagnon was born in Port Austin, Michigan, and was the second of twelve children.
lead paragraph, ethnography sentence
His 1967 ethnography Yanomamö: The Fierce People became a bestseller and is frequently assigned in introductory anthropology courses.
lead paragraph, sociobiological argument sentence
His work centered on the analysis of violence among tribal peoples, and, using socio-biological analyses, he advanced the argument that violence among the Yanomami is fueled by an evolutionary process in which successful warriors have more offspring.
View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.