The truth is a tricky thing.
Did former Northwestern anthropology Prof. Napoleon Chagnon and geneticist James Neel intentionally infect thousands of Yanomamo with measles? Patrick Tierney would like you to believe as much, as it is one of the primary allegations in his book, “Darkness in El Dorado.”
Contradictory reports and uninformed allegations have polarized anthropologists and scholars. On one side are those who believe that Tierney’s charges against Chagnon and Neel are exaggerated or untrue. But there are those who view Tierney as someone who uncovered one of anthropology’s darkest secrets.
The Yanomamo of the Venezuelan Highlands of the Amazon Rainforest are an extensively documented tribe. Living in relative isolation until the 20th century, the tribe fell victim to a tragic measles epidemic in 1968. In “Darkness in El Dorado,” Tierney accuses Chagnon and Neel of exacerbating this epidemic.
But Tierney’s strongest critic is NU anthropology professor, and Chagnon’s longtime friend, William Irons. In his upcoming book, Irons intends to debunk Tierney and his claims.
“The goal of my book is to present evidence demonstrating that Tierney’s book is fraudulent,” Irons said. “Then explore the reasons why people make such false allegations and why some people want to believe them.”
Author of the best-selling “Yanomamo: the Fierce People,” Chagnon has been both the envy and enemy of anthropologists. Although his work has been criticized in the past, the charges published in Tierney’s book take it a step further.
The prevailing view among those familiar with the subject is that Chagnon and Neel are innocent of Tierney’s charges that the two administered a dangerous and obsolete vaccine virtually indistinguishable from measles itself.
The questionable nature of Tierney’s accusations prompted John Tooby and a team of investigators from University of California, Santa Barbara to issue a 142-page report debunking the most substantial allegations. Tooby contends the vaccine, Edmonston B, was neither dangerous nor obsolete. More substantially, Tooby explains that even if some vaccinated reacted negatively, it is impossible for the vaccine to spread in the fashion Tierney claims.
Tierney uses the fact that the date of outbreak closely coincides with the vaccine administration as evidence that it caused the epidemic. However, Tooby contends the outbreak began while Chagnon and Neel were with the tribe, and the pair attempted to contain the disease.
Few are eager to call Chagnon a lily-white bystander, but there is no evidence to support many of Tierney’s claims. Despite the lack of evidence, Tierney’s book stands in the non-fiction section of bookstores and was a 2000 National Book Awards finalist. More unsettling is the fact the book is a required text in courses at the schools like the University of Michigan and was an optional text for an NU course last year.
“Tierney’s book is dangerous because it misrepresents the serious scholarship and dedication of anthropologists,” Timothy Earle, professor of anthropology at NU and Executive Board member of the American Anthropological Association said. “It creates evil stereotypes of field researchers that can feed a general misunderstanding of social science among academics and the general public.”
Sixty-nine pages of references at the end of “Darkness in El Dorado” and footnotes after every couple of lines give the appearance of a well-researched text.
“People look at Tierney’s book, leaf through the pages of footnotes, assume this is an extensively researched work of investigative reporting and take it seriously,” Sarah Hrdy, anthropology professor at University of California, Davis, said. “How are these readers to know that much of the material is distorted or outright fabricated? Who is going to be able to check, or even be motivated enough to try?”
“Darkness in El Dorado” jumped into the anthropology forefront before it was even published, when anthropologists Terence Turner of Cornell University and Leslie Sponsel of the University of Hawaii at Manoa sent a mass e-mail to officers of the American Anthropological Association. Turner and Sponsel, having received advance copies of “Darkness In El Dorado” from its publisher, W.W. Norton, sought to convince Association members that Tierney’s charges were not only accurate but evidence of a scandal “unparalleled in the history of anthropology,” as their e-mail put it.
“Tierney presents convincing evidence that Neel and Chagnon, on their trip to the Yanomami in 1968, greatly exacerbated, and probably started, the epidemic of measles that killed ‘hundreds, perhaps thousands’ of Yanomami,” Turner and Sponsel’s e-mail said.
Under the pressure of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Turner, one of Chagnon’s staunchest critics, later reversed his support of Tierney’s claims.
Tierney is quick to refute criticism.
“The article is filled with inaccuracies and misrepresents my book in various ways,” reads Tierney’s response to Tooby’s investigation, posted on the book publisher’s Web site
