The World of Cannibalism
One of the most misunderstood subjects that is hardly ever discussed
THE HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE EATERS
CANNIBALISM HOLDS A MORBID FASCINATION FOR THE WESTERN WORLD
CANNIBALISM HOLDS A MORBID FASCINATION FOR THE WESTERN WORLD
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The World of Cannibalism is an unsettling scrutiny of this behaviour through history and throughout the world today which finds that far from being an extraordinary and deviant aberration, the eating of people by people is a common human theme that crosses all ages and cultures....
Cannibalism holds a morbid fascination for the Western World. From Victorian tales of the 'missionary in the pot' to the iconic status of modern cinema's cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter, people who eat other people have always shocked and appalled society. But is this ancient abhorrent taboo as strange and unfamiliar to us as we suppose?
Cannibalism in Brazil in 1557 as alleged by Hans Staden.
Cannibalism (from Spanish caníbal, in connection with alleged cannibalism among the Caribs), also called anthropophagy (from Greek anthropos "man" and phagein "to eat") is the act or practice of humans eating other humans. In zoology, the term cannibalism is extended to refer to any species eating members of its own kind. Care should be taken to distinguish between ritual cannibalism sanctioned by a cultural code, cannibalism by necessity occurring in extreme situations of famine, and cannibalism by mentally disturbed persons.
The World of Cannibalism places these chilling tales alongside no less strange happenings from our own culture - the eating of afterbirth, most controversially by a celebrity chef on UK Television, the Christian church's ritualised eating of the body pf Christ, and the real life Hannibal Lecters of our time from Jeffrey Dahmer to Issei Sagawa, the Japanese cannibal, now a free man and regular contributor of erotic cannibalistic stories to adult magazines.
Origin of the term
The word cannibal comes from Spanish Caníbal (used first in plural Caníbales), derived from Caniba, Christopher Columbus's name for the Carib or Galibi people[1], which constitutes a verbal confluence: Columbus originally assumed the natives of Cuba were subjects of the Great Khan of China or 'Kannibals'.[citation needed] Prepared to meet the Great Khan, he had aboard Arabic and Hebrew speakers to translate. Then thinking he heard Caniba or Canima, he thought that these were the dog-headed men (cane-bal) described in Mandeville. The Caribs called themselves Kalinago which, according to some scholars, meant 'valiant man'.[2] Richard Hakluyt's Voyages introduced the word to English. Shakespeare transposed it, anagram-fashion, to name his monster servant in The Tempest 'Caliban'.
Overview
The Carib tribe acquired a longstanding reputation as cannibals following the recording of their legends by Fr. Breton in the 17th century. There is some controversy[citation needed] about the accuracy of these records and the prevalence of actual cannibalism in the culture. According to a decree by Queen Isabella of Castile and also later under British colonial rule, slavery was considered to be illegal unless the people involved were so depraved that their conditions as slaves would be better than as free men. Demonstrations of cannibalistic tendencies were considered evidence of such depravity, and hence reports of cannibalism became widespread.[3] This legal requirement might have led to conquerors exaggerating the extent of cannibalistic practices, or inventing them altogether. The Korowai tribe of southeastern Papua is one of the last surviving tribes in the world engaging in cannibalism. In many wars in Africa, cannibalism is said to occur commonly, although in peacetime it does not appear to happen except for isolated cases involving traditional medicine. Marvin Harris has analysed cannibalism and other food taboos. He argued that it was common when humans lived in small bands, but disappeared in the transition to states, the Aztecs being an exception. A well known case of mortuary cannibalism is that of the Foré tribe in New Guinea which resulted in the spread of the disease Kuru. It is well documented and not seriously questioned by modern anthropologists, except by those scholars arguing that although post-mortem dismemberment was the practice during funeral rites, cannibalism was not. Marvin Harris theorizes that it happened during a famine period coincident with the arrival of Europeans and was rationalized as a religious rite. In pre-modern medicine, an explanation for cannibalism stated that it came about within a black acrimonious humour, which, being lodged in the linings of the ventricle, produced the voracity for human flesh.
The word cannibal comes from Spanish Caníbal (used first in plural Caníbales), derived from Caniba, Christopher Columbus's name for the Carib or Galibi people[1], which constitutes a verbal confluence: Columbus originally assumed the natives of Cuba were subjects of the Great Khan of China or 'Kannibals'.[citation needed] Prepared to meet the Great Khan, he had aboard Arabic and Hebrew speakers to translate. Then thinking he heard Caniba or Canima, he thought that these were the dog-headed men (cane-bal) described in Mandeville. The Caribs called themselves Kalinago which, according to some scholars, meant 'valiant man'.[2] Richard Hakluyt's Voyages introduced the word to English. Shakespeare transposed it, anagram-fashion, to name his monster servant in The Tempest 'Caliban'.
Overview
The Carib tribe acquired a longstanding reputation as cannibals following the recording of their legends by Fr. Breton in the 17th century. There is some controversy[citation needed] about the accuracy of these records and the prevalence of actual cannibalism in the culture. According to a decree by Queen Isabella of Castile and also later under British colonial rule, slavery was considered to be illegal unless the people involved were so depraved that their conditions as slaves would be better than as free men. Demonstrations of cannibalistic tendencies were considered evidence of such depravity, and hence reports of cannibalism became widespread.[3] This legal requirement might have led to conquerors exaggerating the extent of cannibalistic practices, or inventing them altogether. The Korowai tribe of southeastern Papua is one of the last surviving tribes in the world engaging in cannibalism. In many wars in Africa, cannibalism is said to occur commonly, although in peacetime it does not appear to happen except for isolated cases involving traditional medicine. Marvin Harris has analysed cannibalism and other food taboos. He argued that it was common when humans lived in small bands, but disappeared in the transition to states, the Aztecs being an exception. A well known case of mortuary cannibalism is that of the Foré tribe in New Guinea which resulted in the spread of the disease Kuru. It is well documented and not seriously questioned by modern anthropologists, except by those scholars arguing that although post-mortem dismemberment was the practice during funeral rites, cannibalism was not. Marvin Harris theorizes that it happened during a famine period coincident with the arrival of Europeans and was rationalized as a religious rite. In pre-modern medicine, an explanation for cannibalism stated that it came about within a black acrimonious humour, which, being lodged in the linings of the ventricle, produced the voracity for human flesh.