Historians have claimed that the practice of humans eating other humans has been around for the last five hundred thousand years, yet only recently was a name conjured up for the behavior. The origin of the word cannibalism came from the Spanish word Carib or Cañibales, which was the name of the warlike West Indian tribe whose members ate human flesh. Many accounts of horrific human cannibalism have been reported all around the world throughout time; there are even some passages in the bible that tell cases of anthropophagy. For instance, “I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh” (Cannibalism 1). There are several terms which fall under the category of cannibalism: exocannibalism, endocannibalism, emergency cannibalism, and criminal cannibalism. In many cultures, ex

b. Designated parts of the body could be “wasted.” (Henslin 244)

Even though the group survived the horrific tragedy, their family and friends met them with hatred and disgust. It wasn’t bad enough that they had to live with the memories of eating human flesh, but to be excommunicated from their relatives and companions was a far greater depressing aspect.

a. Everyone who wished to could eat, and

At the beginning of the exploration era, a diverse collection of tribes located in the tropical lowlands of South America and the farthest regions of Australia practiced cannibalism in one form or another. Since Western society was disgusted by this “primitive” behavior, it provided a ploy to attack and conquer. Most tribes, like the Tupinamba (an ethnic group in Brazil), would invade other tribes due to a disagreement concerning land rights and then feast on their enemy’s corpses if they were victorious. Researchers have drawn the conclusion that the Tupinamba resorted to cannibalism because it was “an expression of fierceness that elevated the status of the warrior and struck fear into his enemies.” In a different implication, cannibalism is thought to symbolize “reverence for the dead, an incorporation of the spirit of the dead into the living descendants, or a means of insuring the separation of the soul from the body.” (Dow) The reasons for eating human flesh vary from area to area, yet the need to sacrifice and get revenge can be found in all territories of Australia. One such account of cannibalism is recalled by Dr. McKinley, who explained, “In hard summers, the newborn children were all eaten by the Kaura tribe in the neighborhood of Adelaide” (Here be Cannibals 1). In addition, Dr. McKinley described another tribe, the Wotjobaluk, that if “a couple already had a child, they might kill their newborn and feed its muscle-flesh to the other one to make it strong” (Here be Cannibals 1). Also, there was an essential belief held by some (like the Liverpool River natives) that through eating a dead relative or enemy who had a unique and desirable quality (great wisdom or clever hunter), the consumers would gain their attributes; “If they killed a fast runner, they ate part of his legs, hoping thereby to acquire his speed” (Here be Cannibals 2). Although some might have ate human flesh as a sign of respect, the social ethics of the rest of the world didn’t feel the same way.

4. Meat was distributed according to an orderly system, namely

Some topics in this essay:
Mountains October, Beth Conklin, West Indian, South America, Liverpool River, Christianize Wari’, Women Children, Jeffrey Dahmer, Nevada Mountains, Western World, human flesh, criminal cannibalism, cannibalism 2, eating humans, conklin 68, eating human, eating human flesh, social structure, humans eating humans, outside rationing system, humans eating, outside rationing, rituals cannibalism, eat human flesh, ate human flesh,