Abstract
The news media link anthropological discovery and the communications discipline. In this study, press stories about the Yanomami Indians of northern Brazil and neighboring Venezuela have been studied and narratively analyzed according to Narrative Paradigm Theory. While not an audience study, plausible interpretations of ideal audience member values and insights into the question of human identity are presented. It is argued that the media are storytellers who tell the audience about itself by telling it about others recursively.
Press coverage of the Yanomami is divided into eight general categories. These include the environment, effects of "civilization," warfare/violence, massacre, gold miners, politics and reservation, Davi and religion, and adventures and art. Accounts within these topics are further divided into subthemes. Analysis of the subthemes, which ofttimes includes information from sources other than newspaper stories, demonstrates the structural, material and characterological coherence of the Yanomami story, as told by the press.
Each category speaks, through narrative, to members of the ideal audience. Values of the ideal audience suggested to be represented through the Yanomami story include a preference for simplicity, creation of identity, awareness of and power to control aggression. the "defender" / "protector" image, dangers of greed, a place of one's own, the complexity of society, and enjoyment of life with a desire to receive attention.
This study thoroughly addresses the news media's story of the Yanomami and how that narrative reveals insights into the identity of the ideal audience. It is suggested that further analysis be done to determine how the Yanomami would tell their own story.
Degree
MA
College and Department
Fine Arts and Communications; Communications
Rights
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BYU ScholarsArchive Citation
Cantrell, Tania H., "How the News Media Tell the Story of the Yanomami: A Qualitative Study of Narrative Coherence and the Ideal Audience" (2000). Theses and Dissertations. 11059.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/11059
Date Submitted
2000-4
Document Type
Thesis
Keywords
media narratives of Yanomami, ideal audience values, anthropology–communication intersection
Language
English