Lecture 8

Question 1

Who generally kills more of the same sex?

Answer 1

Males

Question 2

What is the correlation between status and warriorship?

Answer 2

Warriorship increases as status does

Question 3

At what age are there the most homicides for men?

Answer 3

Late 20s - 325 deaths per million

Question 4

At what age are there the most homicides for women?

Answer 4

Fairly even throughout 20s/30s/40s -peaks at 60/70 deaths per million

Question 5

Why are men more likely to go to war?

Answer 5

No instance of women forming same-sex conditions to go to war
In males, mechanisms exist to evaluate costs/benefits of engaging in aggression
Warfare leads to access to women
Males value bravery, strength and fighting skills

Question 6

What are the 4 requisites of war?

Answer 6

Gain in reproductive resources must be large enough to outweigh reproductive costs of engaging in warfare
Members of the coalition must believe that their group will emerge victorious
Individual risk must translate into benefits
Warriors must be ignorant about who will live or die in battle

Question 7

What is not the same as warfare?

Answer 7

Militarism

Question 8

What are the differences?

Answer 8

Although same conditions unconsciously recreated, basic unit of organisation, small number who train, live and fight together
Members commonly report fighting for each other, rather than the cause
And that intense bonds are formed with other members of the group

Question 9

What are the men from the first world war known as?

Answer 9

The lost generation

Question 10

Who was the largest number of men killed?

Answer 10

Although a large proportion of ordinary soldiers were killed, proportionally larger numbers of officers were killed

Question 11

In one battalion of 1000 men, how many remained?

Answer 11

8

Question 12

Which species has onboard weaponry and inbuilt cut off signals to stop them from killing another of the same species?

Answer 12

Hawks

Question 13

Which species does not have onboard weaponry and inbuilt cut off signals to stop them from killing another of the same species?

Answer 13

Doves - they will peck another of their species to death

Question 14

Do you humans have cut off signals?

Answer 14

No, therefore constraints on behaviour are cultural

Question 15

What does culture do?

Answer 15

Outlaws and so inhibits incest, theft, rape, murder which enables humans to concentrate on problems of survival in a harsh environment, rather than simply seeking to protect ourselves from each other.

Question 16

What happens when cultural constraints fail?

Answer 16

Women, particularly mothers, keep it going. They tell male children stories of what happened and therefore implant the idea of revenge in them.

Question 17

Who is Rolf Kuschel?

Answer 17

He was born 1939
Professor of social psychology at Uni of Copenhagen
He worked on studying the Bellonese taboo system.
He analysed 600 years bloodshed among the local people
Vengeance is their reply - published and also the English-Rennellese/Bellonese dictionary

Question 18

Where is Bellona and Rennell?

Answer 18

They are the southernmost and smallest provinces in Melanesian nation Soloman islands but are inhabited by Polynesians

Question 19

What is the combined land area of Bellona and Rennell?

Answer 19

1, 154.5 square kilometres and are 24 km apart

Question 20

How wide/long/high is Bellona?

Answer 20

10 km long and 2.5 km wide and 55 metres high (17 square miles)

Question 21

When did Bellona (and Renell) receive christianity?

Answer 21

1938, about 150 years later than most islands in the Pacific - a lot of cultural knowledge has been retained

Question 22

How is history passed down?

Answer 22

Oral tradition

Question 23

How many people can Bellona support?

Answer 23

1000-1200 people

Question 24

Oral tradition revealed that…

Answer 24

over 24 generations, it never supported more than 500-600 people

Question 25

Why did it not support many people?

Answer 25

Because of the effects of blood feuds

Question 26

What is the first example of blood feuds?

Answer 26

Almost 600 years ago, some Bellonese men invited friends over from Rennell.
After the festival, one of the Renellese men went to the beach with some Bellonese men.
When the Renellese man passed by brackish water (used during periods of drought) he pissed in them
As a result, the Bellonese men tickled him to death
A few years later, a well equipped canoe fleet reached Bellona - the attackers arrived to revenge their slain relative
They killed all men, women, children of the slayer’s kin - only one family member survived.
Took almost 175 years before the offspring of the surviving member could launch an act of revenge
Went on for 300 years

Question 27

What is the second example of a blood feud?

Answer 27

200 years ago, a man forgot to tell his relative, from whom he had borrowed a decoy pigeon, that a hawk had clawed and killed it.
When the owner of the decoy found this out, he was so upset that he did not leave his hut for 7 days
Afterwards, he went down to the beach and destroyed the canoe of the relative who hadn’t told him about the decoy.
Wa the onset of a prolonged blood feud that went on for 150 years. 29 problems and 34 deaths.

Question 28

In 1984, what was the homicide rate in the UK?

Answer 28

1.4 per 100,000

Question 29

In 1415-1888, what was the homicide rate in Bellona?

Answer 29

62.2 per 100,000

Question 30

In 1889-1938, what was the homicide rate in Bellona?

Answer 30

295.5 per 100,000

Question 31

What are the underlying causes of killing and their percentages?

Answer 31

Vengeance (53.2%) 
Theft or destruction of property (20.5%)
Humiliating behaviour (17.4%)
Other behaviour (4.2%) 
Unknown (4.7%)

Question 32

What are the reasons for refraining from acts of vengeance?

Answer 32

Killing of low status people (18 - 26.8%)
Few survivors in decent group (11 - 17.9%)
Killing of close kin (8 - 11.9%)
No survivors in a descent group (7 - 14.9%)
Killer not identified (5 - 7.5%)
Killing of notorious thieves (2 - 3%)
Other reasons (5 - 7.5%)
Unknown (2 - 3%)

Question 33

Is there one factor to explain occurrence and maintenance of bloodshed on Bellona

Answer 33

No - combination of factors mostly linked with social structures

Question 34

What did the collective reasons cause in Bellona?

Answer 34

For the Bellonese to be locked into an action pattern requiring continuous cloodshed

Question 35

What can aggression be?

Answer 35

Maladaptive as well as adaptive

Question 36

In what year was there a Christmas truce?

Answer 36

1914