Abstract Using historical evidence of cannibalism existence, this paper identifies different forms and practices, and explains the motives for such behaviors.
From the Paper "For millions of years, the majority of humans and their ancestors around the world have eaten meat, derived from a countless number of animals. However, the majority of these people have avoided one particular kind of meat: human flesh. For a human to knowingly eat the flesh of his own kind has been taboo to the most extreme definition of the term. Even the thought of it provokes a deep-rooted, enculturated repulsiveness that is so powerful it has actually prevented modern humans from eating remains of dead people for the sole purpose of survival (Barker, Hulme, and Iversen 1998:37). In other words, they would rather die than eat the meat of another person. The general practice of eating human flesh, anthropophagy, commonly referred to as cannibalism, has always been a subject full of controversy and debate. Hundreds of scientific studies have been published on the subject, but few have focused on the anthropological reasons for its supposed occurrence. In order to understand the true nature of cannibalism, it is necessary to examine it from a number of different perspectives. First, the historical evidence indicating that it took place must be carefully analyzed and interpreted. Second, the different forms of cannibalism must be identified and defined, and examples of their historical presence must be cited. Lastly, the motives of each type need to be explained, detailing the various tendencies of cannibalistic peoples and their practices. Only then will the appropriate significance of cannibalism and its existence become clear."
Abstract This paper discusses the evidence for cannibalism among homo erectus and other Late Pleistocene hominids. The paper reviews Chinese and Spanish sites in detail in order to weigh the evidence for cannibalism. The author concludes that they do in fact prove that it happened.
From the Paper "Everything we know about ourselves ends in mystery. Of course we are intimately familiar with the circumstances of our daily lives as individual human beings. We know our faces, bodies, activities, friends and family ..."
Abstract This three-page undergraduate-level paper discusses cannibalism in 1846 along the Oregon Trail. The experience of the Donner Party is examined in order to resolve the issue of whether or not cannibalism is ever justified.
Abstract The essay "Of Cannibals" is a narrative prose by 16th Century French writer, Michel de Montaigne, describing the culture of a South American tribe (Native Americans). In it, Montaigne compares the Native American tribe's society and culture with that of Western society. This paper discusses and enumerates these comparisons between the two societies, as well as describes in detail the different social customs and lifestyles of the cannibalistic group. A comparison and analysis of the differences between the two societies in Montaigne's point of view is made for further understanding of the author's objective, that is, to criticize Western society of its conservative and strict compliance to dogmatic beliefs that continually plague the people from Western societies. Thus, Montaigne analyzes "barbarism" and "civilization" in context of the two societies.
From the Paper "The act of war and cannibalism in this tribe is one important comparison of Montaigne to the Europeans. The author justifies the tribe's barbarism and cannibalism through several explanations. According to him, barbarism, or the act of war popular among tribes people, is one of the two important articles taught in their society, that is, valor towards their enemies or "resolution in war." Cannibalism is said to be done not "for nourishment", because cannibalism for the tribes people is an "extreme form of vengeance." Montaigne justifies this "barbarous horror of so cruel an action" by comparing the tribe's cannibalism with that of "cannibalism" in Western society. For him, the tribe's cannibalism is much more honorable and just, since the prisoner is killed first and only eaten when he was already dead. The Western society, on the other hand, practices a more "barbarous" act of cannibalism because, as Montaigne had described, "[I] conceive there is more barbarity in eating a man alive, than when he is dead... in tearing a body limb from limb by racks and torments... among neighbors and fellow-citizens... under color of piety and religion...""
Tags: skepticism, humanist, movement, Antarctic, France, Polygamy
An examination of how William Shakespeare's play, "The Tempest" is a direct criticism of the perspectives of Michal de Montaigne in his essay, "Of Cannibals."
Abstract This paper compares William Shakespeare's play, "The Tempest" and Michal de Montaigne's essay, "Of Cannibals," in which they explore the barbaric man in his natural environment and the detrimental effects the moral man's artificially civilized society has upon it. The paper shows how Shakespeare's play is a direct criticism of the perspectives of Montaigne in his essay.
From the Paper "The contrast between the priorities of the natural world and civilization brings out the weak characteristics of nature. Caliban's actions are guided by his innate practicality to emphasize on necessity, whereas the moral man is theoretically driven more so by moral concerns. This notion is apparent when Caliban attempts to "rape" Miranda. Prospero accuses Caliban when he says: "...Thou didst seek to violate the honor of my child." Caliban rebuts Prospero's accusation by stating: "O ho, O ho! Would't have been done!/ Thou didst prevent me; I had peopled else/ This isle with Calibans. (I.ii. 347-349) Caliban justifies his actions with the imperative need to proliferate his race, which is part of his nature. However, Prospero and Miranda perceive this brutish act as savage and immoral. And in doing so, validate their superiority and exploitation of Caliban."
Abstract This paper stresses that, even when speaking of the natural processes, it has been difficult to determine whether alterations to bone were by burning and heating, which would indicate cannibalism for nutrition, or by natural processes. The author points out that whether homo sapiens practiced cannibalism, the American Association for the Advancement of Science has come in on the side of the cannibalism debate, at least as far as our ancestor Neanderthals go. The paper indicates that the research on cut marks on bone is divided into prehistoric sites, early historic sites, and sites where there is a generally reliable linguistic record.
Table of Contents
The Beginning of the Debate
The Debate Filters Out of Academia
International Debate
Pro-cannibalism Evidence
The Oldest Part of the Debate Continues Under Investigation
Violence and Death, Without Cannibalism Modern Cannibalism Modern Deaths and Cut Marks
From the Paper "While the controversy about cannibalism vis a vis cut marks originated in Asian sites, it has become a hot topic vis a vis U.S. sites in the southwest as well, and not only concerning the Anasazi. Billman, Lambert and Leonard grappled with it in excavating 5MT10010, a small early Pueblo III habitation site in southwestern Colorado. They examined battered, broken bones from seven individuals in two adjacent pithouses there, including mixed and incomplete remains of four adults and an adolescent, and the remains of two subadults."
Abstract This paper takes a look at the Donner Party, one of the great survival stories in the expansive history of the American taming of the West. According to the paper, the Donner Party resorted to cannibalism as a means of survival. The paper discusses how research has shown that these stories of cannibalism, which have caused a painful black mark on the Donner family name, may be completely false as they pertain to the Donners themselves.
Outline:
Donner: The Name of Tragedy
A Media Firestorm Erupts
Cannibalism Accepted as Fact
Conclusion
From the Paper "For a century and a half, the American public has essentially labeled the Donner Party, and, by extension the Donner family, as cannibals. The sensationalized media reports that first emerged after the rescue of the Donner Party became widely accepted with time, although they were based mostly on unreliable first-person reports and gossip (Donner cannibalism, 2006). In fact, Eliza Poor Donner Houghton, a member of the party, recalls how Donner Party members would read supposed first-person accounts in newspapers and become shocked with how remarkably accurate information was interspersed with wild fabrications and innuendo (Houghton, 1911). "
Abstract This paper describes the eating of human flesh by several killers including the infamous Albert Fish, Joachim Kroll and Jeffrey Dahmer. The paper conjures that the answer to this detestable and violent act lies somewhere in the depraved and sick minds of these individuals that themselves were brutalized by child rape, physical battery and outright torture by relatives or even their own parents.
Table of Contents:
Overview
Albert Fish--Cannibal of Brooklyn
Joachim Kroll--German Cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer--Cannibal Extraordinaire
Final Thoughts
From the Paper "In the early 1930s, when President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal was helping to stabilize the American economy as a result of the Great Depression, Albert Hamilton Fish, a serial killer and cannibal known as the Gray Man, the Werewolf of Wysteria and the Brooklyn Vampire, was under arrest in New York City for the kidnapping and brutal murder of twelve-year-old Grace Budd. In 1928, Mr. Fish, who had assumed the name of Mr. Howard, became a close friend of the Budd family and was allowed to take Grace to a birthday party."
Abstract This paper explains that vengeful acts, especially in Renaissance drama, are often countered by a more heinous act of violence as seen in the climatic scene of William Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus" in which a mother is forced into cannibalizing her children. The author demonstrates that the mode of this final vengeance is inevitable because every act of revenge within this play involves consumption and cannibalism either through its language or through a connection to the play's parent story in Ovid's "Metamorphoses". For example, the bloody head of a son being returned to father in "Titus Andronicus" is extremely reminiscent of Ovid's "Metamorphoses". The paper concludes that the theme of both plays is that one ill cannot cure another.
From the Paper "While Itys is not personally responsible for the dishonor caused to his mother and her family, he reminds his mother enough of his father that she justifies her killing of him. This is then reminiscent of Lavinia's treatment by the Goths. In a similar way, Lavinia seems to be "the scapegoat for Andronici violence," while also playing a role in the cyclic revenge of the play due to her "intrinsically polluted condition" as a woman. With Lavinia's rape (rather the panning thereof), there too is the characteristic language of consumption that is present in all the play's acts of revenge."
Tags: marked mother hunger, cyclic actions, language
Evaluates archaeological evidence for cannibalism among American Southwest people. Looks at the functions & significance of death-related rituals, research findings, methods & interpretations.
3,600 words (approx. 14.4 pages), 15 sources, 1999, $ 127.95
From the Paper "Evidence for the practice of cannibalism by the Anasazi people of the American Southwest has been growing during the last three decades. As archaeologists have excavated new sites and re-examined findings from previously explored locations, the taphonomic and forensic analysis of human skeletal remains has led to a hypothesis of cannibalism at as many as 28 Anasazi sites. Though the first suggestion of cannibalism was made in 1902, the absence of any sign of such a practice in the ethnographic literature may have mitigated against thorough investigation of the notion. But with the systematic application of the methods of physical anthropology archaeologists have steadily produced a body of cases in which cannibalism seems the most likely explanation of anomalous states and dispositions of human remains. The reasons behind the practice--whether it was.."
Abstract Jonathan Swift ("A Modest Proposal"), Michel de Montaigne ("Of Cannibals"), and Thomas Hobbes (Leviathan) offer comparable views on the darker side of human nature.
From the Paper "Jonathan Swift ("A Modest Proposal"), Michel de Montaigne ("Of Cannibals"), and Thomas Hobbes (Leviathan) offer comparable views on the darker side of human nature. Their views reflect patterns of the world in which we live as that world slips into an increasingly self-centered, frightened, materialistic and God-less reality.
Swift satirically presents a terrifying solution to the problem of overpopulation, specifically, from the British perspective, the overpopulation of poor Irish who were seen to be having too many children and who would inevitably require British aid to care for those children. Swift suggests a solution: the children should be eaten:
I have been assured by a very knowing American . . . that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old ..."
This paper discusses Aztec cannibalism in Mesoamerica now part of Mexico: Human sacrifice and eating of remains, causes, theories and religious aspects.
2,475 words (approx. 9.9 pages), 8 sources, 1991, $ 87.95
From the Paper "The Aztec Empire existed in a region of Mesoamerica which is now part of Mexico. In the early sixteenth century, Spanish conquistadors, led by Hernan Cortes, conquered the Aztec people and destroyed their culture as it existed at the time. One of the most shocking aspects of that culture to the Spaniards was the fact that the Aztecs practiced human sacrifice on a massive scale. The invaders were further shocked when they realized that the Aztec Indians also routinely engaged in cannibalism with the remains from their human sacrifices. In addition to the eyewitness accounts of the Spanish conquistadors, there is evidence of both human sacrifice and cannibalism to be found in the ancient writings of the Aztec people themselves. These writings show that the Aztecs had a religious motive in undertaking human sacrifices. They believed that if their gods were not periodically ... "
This study analyzes George Fitzhugh's 1857 book "Cannibals All! or Slaves Without Masters" that presents specious evidence arguing for the legitimacy of slavery.
1,350 words (approx. 5.4 pages), 1 source, 1994, $ 47.95
From the Paper "This study will analyze George Fitzhugh's "Cannibals All! or Slaves Without Masters". The study will consider the ways the author supports his arguments in favor of slavery, the evidence he uses and how he uses it, and to what extent the evidence is unconvincing.
As the book's editor points out, Fitzhugh himself admits that he is not trying to convince the reader of the truth of his thesis by using objective arguments based on well-documented and clearly presented evidence. To the contrary, Fitzhugh argues that the enemy---those who would outlaw slavery---are split into many camps and therefore "we are compelled to vary our mode of attack from regular cannonade to bushfighting, to suit the occasion"
In other words, the issue of slavery is so essential to the ... "
Abstract The paper discusses how anthropologists have studied violence in prehistoric cultures using skeletal evidence from human remains. By studying the physical evidence of warfare they are able to devise conclusions about how and why the violence occurred. The paper discusses the debate over the definition of warfare and violence. It shows how prehistoric cultures left evidence of many kinds of violence that we have interpreted as things such as, sacrifices, cannibalism, human trophy pieces, scalping and so on.
From the Paper "Some anthropologists try to look at our prehistory past to find the causation of modern crimes, and are also in search of a more peaceful way of living. Looking for causation patterns in the past seems like a good idea but it does not account for all. Walker believes that "battered child syndrome" did not result from past conduct since it most often arises from "lack of surveillance and weakened social control". He concludes that in large kin groups there would be no privacy and therefore strengthened social control over such behavior. The notion of looking to the past for ideas of living more peacefully, would not be a worthy concept since all ?peaceful periods have always been punctuated by episodes of warfare and violence.? (Walker, 2001) In addition, LeBlanc agrees that there is no reason to believe in a purely peaceful society, but he also points out that there was no reason to believe in showing warfare."
Abstract This paper discusses the significance of human sacrifice and ritual cannibalism in such contexts as the Bible, Roman mythology, and actual tribes currently and previously found throughout the world.
From the Paper "Human sacrifice has been a part of human nature and human history since before written records. The act of killing another human to appease a deity or another higher power is written about in some of the oldest religious documents and oral stories. Human sacrifice is one of the most powerful religious accounts in culture, in which a life is taken in order to please a god. "In every sacrifice an object passes from the common into the religious domain; it is consecrated" (Beattie, p29). This ceremonial execution happens everywhere around the world today. In this paper I will discuss human sacrifice from the past, in written history and fables, and in today's modern world."
