Difference Between Sonqo And Yanomamo

There are many different cultures and groups of people that we don’t know anything about. There are a lot of people in the world trying to close that gap. People like Catherine J. Allen, author of The Hold Life Has and Napoleon A. Chagnon, author of Yanomamo. In each of their respective books, they brought us closer to societies I had never heard of until now. We learned about the different aspects of the lives of the Sonqo (Allen) and the Yanomamo (Chagnon). They brought us insight on certain things like gender differences, family relationships and how where they live affects their lives. In this following essay, I’ll be discussing gender differences in both the Sonqo and Yanomamo societies as well as how each tribe uses kinship, reciprocity

Gender differences go as far back into history as old as history is itself. That is clear from the first two human beings. Adam came first and Eve was made out of one of his body parts. In medieval times, there were plenty of kings who ruled, but only a handful of women in charge. That’s always the case. Men are allowed all the freedom and power in the world while women always come second to them. Tribes like the Sonqo and Yanomamo are no different. Sonqo tribes like many other civilizations in the world, have typical gender roles and differences between the men and women. One of the most logical and obvious differences between the males and females of the Sonqo tribe (along with all the other male and females of the world) is that women carry and rear the children. Of course, a lot of that has to do with biology since men aren’t capable of having children but it’s more than just biological. One example that really jumped out at me, was from Allen’s textbook. Early on in her book, she tells a story about how one of the tribe’s members, Luis, wife had recently passed away. She had died shortly after giving childbirth. It had been the thirteenth time she was pregnant and had given birth to her seventh child. As a mature

What influenced it? Were there certain stipulations, could people move up and down the social ladder or were they stuck in a single spot? To be honest, before I had read these books, I hadn’t even heard of the word “reciprocity”. It sounded like reciprocate and that means to respond or to retaliate so I assumed it had a similar meaning. I couldn’t figure out what it had to do with the social order of the Sonqo or the Yanomamo people, however. It wasn’t until I had begun to read the beginning of Chapter Two (Allen) that I realized what reciprocity meant to the social order of the Sonqo. What I learned is that, unless they have a reason to like you, like for example, you’re family (by either blood or marriage), they won’t want anything to do with you. It’s a lot of give and take. Unless you have something to offer them, they don’t have a use for you. That is how their social order works. If you’re further down the line of poverty and have nothing to offer others, how are you expected to move up your social ranking. In actuality, it really all makes sense and works similarly to our own social caste system in the United States. The richer people are liked more by others because they have more to offer. Whether that be lavish gifts, better meals or if merely being seen with them makes you look better, people are attracted to that. Allen