Abstract
I was one of those who received the anonymously and pseudonymously mailed materials questioning Napoleon Chagnon’s account of the activities of the Salesian Mission a m o n g the Yanomami of Venezuela, against which Eric Wolf and Robin Fox protest in their letters (March 1994 A N , p 2). Like them. I hold no brief for the bizarre and devious way in which these documents were disseminated. The clandestine manner in which the materials were circulated, however, is not the only issue raised by their contents, nor by the s ta tements by Chagnon to which they respond. Above all, I am concerned that this ugly, public mud-slinging contest has had the effect of transforming the tragedy of the Yanomami massacre into a stage for the drama of Chagnon versus the Salesians. and the persecution of Chagnon’s sociobiological theories. Worse, i t threatens to have g rave pract ical consequences for the Yanomami themselves and those who are working to help them.
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