Cannibalism

CANNIBALISM

ABSTRACT :

Cannibalism , or anthropophagy, is the ingestion of human flesh by humans. The fact that humans eat other humans is understandable whenever and wherever people have formed societies. The thought of it frightenes us. No dog eats other dogs, no lion eats other lions, then why do humans do it? We can find such practices taking place at the very remote places of this world. According to cannibals, it’s their tradition or culture which makes them do it. But is that true? Or is it just pleasure that they get from eating other humans?

INTRODUCTION :-

In some tribal societies, cannibalism is a tradition. According to them, cannibalism is a grieving process or a way of guiding the souls of the dead into the bodies of living descendants. When a person is consumed within the same society, it is known as endocannibalism. When a person is consumed from outside the community, its called exocannibalism. Exocannibalism is usually celebrated as a victory against a rival tribe. It’s believed by them that by eating the deceased person’s flesh or internal organs , they will endow some characteristics of the deceased.

Cannibal representations are part of the universal stock of imaginative creations that foster obedience and conformity. Psychologists thus argue that anthropophagy is unaffected by cultural relativism and is perhaps a reflection of childhood psychodynamic processes.

Although there is no accepted consensus on the various types of cannibalism encountered by researchers, the literature differentiates generally among a few types.

SURVIVAL CANNIBALISM It’s a type of cannibalism which is performed in extreme situations such as starvation.

The cross-cultural evidence for cannibalism among societies in Papua New Guinea, such as the Gimi, Hua, Daribi and Bimin-Kuskusmin, suggest it is linked to the expression of cultural values about life, reproduction and regeneration. Flesh is consumed as a form of life-generating food and as a...