Politics & Violence

1. In general, Western societies have written laws that are extensively backed with credit from past politicians and leaders. There is a justice system with judges and lawyers that settle disputes and legal issues. The Yanomamo people have none of this, and must rely on themselves to settle fights between another individual or group. There is a general understanding to have proper behavior, but it is easy for some to not do so.
2. Revenge killings are raids in which a certain group of a village has separated from another and decides to attack that other due to a killing (there are over 200 individual different political groups in the Yanomamo population). It is most commonly due to women being abducted or killed; and it is advantageous to do these raids because if your group wins you gain a reputation of a fierce group, therefore other groups will be hesitant to attack you. It is also advantageous to the Yanomamo for higher marital and reproductive success.
3. If you kill someone you have to do the unokaimou ceremony, then you become a unokai. It is very beneficial to be one because it draws respect. People know who is unokai and who their victim(s) was/were. If you are not an unokai or have stepped away from doing a raid you can be considered a coward (tehe). People know who the cowards are as well, and it can even lead to other men trying to seduce their wife. If you become an unokai you gain power, it is impossible otherwise.
4. a. Politics is structured very simply. Patas or 'big ones' are the leaders of a village or group of a village. These leaders most of the time only act on selfish reasons. After a long and successful life of raids and killings a leader will usually be polygynous and have many children with several wives.
b. The only people who have say in villages are those who kill. The women and those who do not kill just run the village. Social structures are created when a killing separates a village into two new political groups.
c. Sometimes brothers and cousins and fathers can end up fighting each other due to political issues, but usually one's own kin is the majority of a group. The higher the kinship density, the higher possibility that a mutually supportive group will take life-threatening risks to help revenge raid or fight.
d. Judging by data, it seems those who are unokai have more reproductive success from non-unokai. This is either from forcibly taking them from others, or from marriage arrangements in which the unokai would suit as a better mate than a non-unokai.
5. The want for revenge is intercultural. Even with laws, people will still want some sort of revenge for the death of a close kin even if it was an accident. The Yanomamo is what can happen with a society without laws, people take it into themselves to do the revenge, rather than go through a case.