Yanomamo Depiction Racist

To the editors:

An Associated Press article appearing in the Crimson (Real World, March 17) described an "Amazon Fire out of Control" whose spread was endangering a number of Yanomamo villages. Despite the well-intentioned concern for the Yanomamo voiced in the article, I was truly surprised at the racist assumptions pervading the description of this people. Beginning with a description of the Yanomamo as a "Stone Age tribe," the article concludes with the following: "For centuries, the Yanomami lived in virtual isolation, hunting and fishing with bow and arrows. They have no written language and count only up to two--anything more is 'wahoro,' or many."

The assumptions behind this article go beyond simple word choice to present a distinct worldview. The account places the Yanomamo squarely into an evolutionary view of human societies with "Stone Age tribes" at one end and Euro-American high culture at the other. This is the same worldview that contrasts the confused, pathologically bilingual, overly emotional Latino to the modern, rational Anglo. It is the same worldview that sends pseudo-scientists racing around measuring Negro skulls. Never mind that we are all living at the same point in time and that all human beings and human cultures are equally deserving of respect.

While the specific details mentioned about Yanomamo culture are true, they have been selected in such a way so as to fit the Yanomamo into our notions of the ignorant and primitive (though noble) savage. It goes unmentioned that today's Yanomamo is as likely to be found wearing a T-shirt and jeans as a loincloth. The context of the two-sentence ethnographic sketch is neglected, and we are led to believe that the Yanomamo are both culturally and biologically retarded. Indeed, their brains are so poorly developed that they would not even realize that four ignorant gringos are ever so much worse than three. STANLEY C. WEI '98   March 18, 1998