In a study observing the culture and history of the Yanomamo, findings from anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon reveals how violence can create new allies. For decades, the men of the Yanomamo “fought like bands of brothers” as they raided villages and killed. The alliance is created when a pair or party of warriors from different communities frequently meet and kill together; in doing so, the pair or group is more likely to move into the same village later. As a result from working to raid a village together, the benefit for the warriors is the opportunity to marry each others’ sisters and daughters. The Yanomamo culture views true kin as being on the paternal side, whereas maternal relatives are considered to be associated with another group.
