PREVIOUS CONTROVERSIES AND CRITICISMS

SURROUNDING NAPOLEON CHAGNON*

1976 Criticisms of Time article as beastialization of Yanomami in sociobiological comparison with baboons (Susan Landes, Gerald Berreman, Kathleen Zaretsky, Micaela de Leonardo, Lawrence L. Michalak, Katherine S. Newman, James S. Boster, Maria Eugenia Villalon, Nancy Scheper-Hughes, Teresa J. Paris, Kathleen Granpierre 1976)

1975-85 Debates over animal protein hypothesis (Stephen Beckerman, William H. Durham, Kenneth R. Good, Daniel Gross, Raymond Hames, Marvin Harris, Jacques Lizot, Eric B. Ross, Jane B. Ross, Leslie Sponsel)

1988-90 Criticisms over Science article, as well as professional ethics (Bruce Albert, M.M. Carneiro da Cuna, R. Brian Ferguson, Kenneth R. Good, Marvin Harris, Jacques Lizot, Alcida Rita Ramos)

1991 Criticized as "the fierce person" (Timothy Asch)

Criticized on many points, but especially that he exaggerated and sensationalized the violence and stigmatized the Yanomami (Kenneth R. Good)

1992-96 At 1994 AAA convention Chagnon "debates" Padre Jose Bortoli over Salesian missions impact on Yanomami morbidity and mortality (E.J. Cappelletti, Teo Marcano, Luise Margolies, Frank Salamone, Greg Sanford, Terry Turner, Cesar Dimanawe and other Yanomami)

1993-94 While trying to investigate Hashimu massacre Chagnon expelled from Yanomami territory and advised to leave Venezuela by government authorities in 1993 (Robin Fox, Magdalena Hurtado, Davi Kopenawa Yanomami, Jacques Lizot, Terence Turner, Eric Wolf). Various articles appeared in the New York Times and AAA Anthropology News.

1994-96 Criticized for sexism (Sharon Tiffany, Kathleen Adams)

1995 Criticized as contributing to factionalism and violence among Yanomami (R. Brian Ferguson)

2000- Explosions in cyberspace, international media, and AAA convention over a multitude of diverse allegations in Patrick Tierney's book Darkness in El Dorado and prior excerpts in article "The Fierce Anthropologist" in the October 9th issue of The New Yorker Magazine, and the ensuing discussions, debates, investigations, and so on in the USA, Brazil, and Venezuela..

2005 Commentary on AAA Referendum authored by Thomas Gregor and Daniel Gross on the AAA and Public Anthropology web sites**

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*For bibliographic references see L.E. Sponsel, 1998, "Yanomami: An Arena of Conflict and Aggression in the Amazon," Aggressive Behavior 24(2):97-122. (A link to an online copy is available in the bibliography on the Douglas Hume web site: http://members.aol.com/archaeodog/index.htm. The bibliography is also available on this homepage).

** AAA http://www.aaanet.org (see documents under Committee on Ethics)

Public Anthropology (Robert Borofsky) http://www.publicanthropology.org