Cannibalism

Cannibalism, also called anthropophagy, is the human act of eating parts of the human body, including, but not limited to, flesh, muscles, and blood. The origins of the word are a result of a conversational misunderstanding between Christopher Columbus and a guide referring to a group of barbaric people in the West Indies who ate human flesh. While the natives referred to them as Caribs, Columbus called them Canibales by mistake. This idea of savage cannibalism became more popular with the voyages of Captain James Cook in the Pacific Ocean and his ship's many dialogues and encounters with the Ma–oris, Polynesians, and Tahitians. Reports of cannibalism exist throughout the world, with the first records dating back 500,000 years. These reports have usually focused on groups of people whom the people of the Western world have considered to be barbarians, savages, or others.

Falsified literary reports issued by various governments to spread the rumor of cannibalism in countries such as Russia, Poland, and Ireland in times of crises and war as a means of propaganda have been documented. This is not to say, however, that cannibalism is a complete falsification. Social scientists view societies that practice cannibalism and incidents involving cannibalism in one of three separate ways: psychogenic cannibalism, a means of satisfying mythic and overarching psychosexual fantasies and desires; utilitarian/adaptive cannibalism, an adaptation of hunger or other material deficiency; or hypothetico-deductive cannibalism, part of the overall universal order and a normative function in society.

Within these analytical frameworks of understanding cannibalism, there are also five different categories for various acts of cannibalism. Exocannibalism is the cannibalism of war and the eating of the “other” who is not a member of one's tribe, whereas endocannibalism is the cannibalism of those who are either in, or related to, one's tribe. Survival or emergency cannibalism is the consumption of a human for purposes of nourishment and protein deficiency, and chaotic cannibalism is associated with a power or force that is believed must be eaten to be destroyed. The last type, lunatic-fringe cannibalism, is often dramatically reported; its most important benefit is the reinforcement of the stereotype of cannibalism.

The cannibal ritual of the literal eating of the flesh and blood of a fellow human has been hard to definitely establish because the majority of early accounts with supposed cannibals were based off an ethnocentric colonial point of view. The sparsely populated country of Papua New Guinea has long been spoken of as having an interior populated by cannibals. Tribal groups such as the Fore, the Huli, the Kutubu, the Strickland-Bosavi, the Duna, and the Mianman have allegedly practiced cannibalism. However, the sources for these acts of cannibalism tend to be unreliable as they usually arise as one tribe's commentary on their neighboring, and often enemy, tribe.

There are, however, two strands of evidence that legitimatize cannibalism more so than unreliable neighboring accounts. The outbreak of Kuru, which is a disease of the nervous system studied by Nobel Prize recipient Daniel Gajdusek in the Fore people, tied the degeneration of the cells of the brain to being passed from person to person by cannibalism. Another source that accounts for an accurate depiction of cannibalism is a detailed description of the Miamman raid on the Owininga people of Papua New Guinea, where cases of cannibalism occurred. The police account of the report, which was backed up by witnesses and defendants, cited that the bodies of the victims were cut up and later eaten with a side of taro.

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