"Tribal Cannibalism: How Prevalent Today?" Topic

I know. This is a gruesome subject . . .

QUESTION:

Are there still lots of tribes in Africa, Papua New Guinea and elsewhere that make a habit of eating other humans (either hunting down enemies or eating their own dead)?

Or is it just exagerated rumors of only a very few extremely isolated tribes that still do it?

If so, it would not be so unrealistic to game modern day scenarios that involve populations with that practice.

I am talking entire tribes practicing it, and not talking about the occasional psycho.

Thanks.

PS. Hopefully Judas Iscariot will chime in and give us some insight on this.

CC
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It never was widespread, at least as a means of sustenance.

True, some cultures may eat a heart or so but usually for some sort of ritual, and not the whole person for dinner as many are lead to believe that is what cannibalism is.

Many of these rumors were told to foreign explorers to freighten them away from rival tribes. And since cannibalism, as well as incest, is a universal human taboo, it usually worked.

I believe there are at least a couple tribes in the Amazon that still "reportedly" practice it.

Although, not the height fashion, I perfer cauliflower ears wrapped in bacon and grilled. Served with a Peppercorn-Parmesan Cream Sauce.

you do mean among HUMANS…right?

(I assume NON-humans CONSUMING humans isn't really 'cannabalism'….more like 'Darwinan evolution/survival of the fittest/running or SLISHING faster than the Hobbit behind you???')

don't go all SPECIES chauvanistic here folks…remember to the REST of the GALAXY…humanity is 'the food of the gods'….(or at least the preferred 'appetizer')

Slishfully,
Sgt DWW-btod

Evil Bobs: "True, some cultures may eat a heart or so but usually for some sort of ritual, and not the whole person for dinner as many are lead to believe that is what cannibalism is."

I don't know but, if a psycho was just eating hearts or other "choice bits" as his own personal ritual, he would still be considered a cannibal. :)

CC

I was once told that an Egyptian football team, after defeating a local African national team, disappeared and were never heard from again. My information was that they were eaten by disgruntled local fans.

Of course I could be misinformed.

LOL!

Reminds me of a joke about a harem that had a cannibal girl, but you did not know which one it was.

CC

Wasn't there a report that something more than killing went on between the Tutsi and Hutu tribes?

Please do not read it you want a peaceful nights sleep

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I think that it is also a technique used to brutalise the child soldiers in Africa

Modern cases of cannibalism are known from some parts of Africa. In the D. R. of Congo, Liberia, and Sierra Leone there were widespread reports of cannibalism amongs militia units during the civil wars. I'm not sure how much was substantiated, but it was supposed to serve a ritual purpose and also as a form of terror.

Other cases in Africa involve 'witchcraft' and the eating of body parts of some unfortunate to cure illness, etc. Recently there have been murders on albinos for this purpose.

Some groups in New Guinea may still practice funerary cannibalism where mourners eat parts of dead relatives.

In the case of reported cannibalism and whether it is exaggerated or not, the evidence for cannibalism among certain tribes in the Americas is overwhelming-Iroquois, Aztecs, Anastasi, etc.
Most of this cannibalism was not to obtain protein, but for ritual purposes. Killing and eating parts of enemies to gain spiritual power or something was the main motive.

I was recently researching T'ang China, and ran across a number of reports of cannibalism. One weird case involved an official that was executed through the machinations of a rival, and the official's sons took revenge by killing the rival and cooking and eating him in public! Another was during a time of famine when a general allowed his troops to capture and eat peasants to supplement their rations.

I'm too lazy to find links or book titles, but one of the sources on China was called "daily life in Tang China" or "Everyday Life in Tang China" or something similar. It is the most recent work on this subject that I could find, but I have since returned it to the university library so I don't remember the title. The works on Native American cannibalism includes the exhaustive "Man Corn" by Turner and "Cannibalism, Headhunting and Human Sacrifice in North America: A History Forgotten" by Feldman.

Sorry about the long digression away from the 21st Century!!

Very, very interesting stuff there. Food for thought. :)

Thanks for all the info. I'll have to track down the works.

CC

As for Papua/New Guinea, there is even a disease associated with ritual cannibalism – Kuru or 'Laughing Sickness'. It is a degenerative disease of the nervous system caused by 'prions' – those nasty fragmentary protein thingies that accumulate in human brains particularly and also are associated with medical treatments where hormones etc. are derived from human tissue. The main thing with all those diseases is that they can take 20>30 years to emerge. BSE or 'Mad Cow' disease is also a prion-based disease which is unusual in that it 'works' across quite dis-similar species (sheep scrapie > BSE > human BSE).

And for those of you who are feeling smug, according to some reports, up to half the European derived population has an ancient mutation that specifically targets human derived prions and stops them causing problems – the perfect cannibal mutation.

I knew an aid worker (a Doctor) who saw human body parts sold and eaten in Sierra Leone. It was pointedly referred to as bush meat, and those who partook chose to regard it as such. He said it doesn't take anatomy training to recognise a human leg, for example. It was during a time when the war brought about starvation. One could argue that this was an case of bending the rules for survival, like the example in China, rather than it being ritualistic. That may have also been happening amongst the militia, but if that were that the climate anyway, and life had become that cheap, then the ritualised cannabilism was a smaller step.

bsrlee,

Thanks for reminding me about the prions. I stumbled across the same info. There are a couple of prehistoric sites where cannibalism is suspected due to the condition of the skeletal material found there: bones split for marrow, cut marks, 'pot polish', and disarticulated human bones mixed with animal bones in refuse pits, etc.

he he remember those red-headed cannibals in 'Quest for Fire'?

MrDodo,

Now you have me looking up what happened in Sierra Leone:

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Bsrlee, and also about the possibility of many Europeans descended from cannibals:

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CC

Hopefully Judas Iscariot will chime in and give us some insight on this.

I think he's still banned. None of the current posters have his "voice", so I suspect he hasn't snuck in under a pseudonym (to post, anyway).

"I believe there are at least a couple tribes in the Amazon that still "reportedly" practice it."

Pfft, in the company I work for it's practiced all the time.;)

bsrlee

Very good book about which you speak.

Deadly Feasts by Richard Rhodes

Cheers,

Glynn

Found that old cannibal joke . . .

A Russian diplomat is visiting an Arab country where the receiving diplomat wanted to show the Russian his take on Russian Roulette.

He takes the Russian into this large circular room filled with pillows. Lying about are 6 unbelievably hot harem girls. "Each of the girls represents a chamber in the pistol," the Arab explains. "Each girl will give you a ******* if asked. That is the equivalent of the trigger being pulled."

"I like it!" exclaimed the Russian. "But there's one thing I don't understand: where's the 'bullet?'"

"Ah, my friend," replies the Arab. "One of them is a cannibal."

Dan
PS. Here's another version of that joke:
humorsphere.com/j/336.html

Heheh. That reminds me of this:

Did you hear the one about the cannibal who passed a missionary in the woods?

(My teacher told that one to the class waaaay back in 9th grade, and I was the only one who got it immediately. I think some of them may have figured it out much later…)

BTW: Back on the topic of your original post, here's some info on a particularly disturbing cannibalistic ritual allegedly practiced to this day in South America:

whyfiles.org/164cannibal/4.html

I once had several links to more in-depth articles about it, but have unfortunately misplaced them.

Try to find a copy of "Charlemain's <sp> table cloth" for some data on the subject.

Zenwired on 04 May 2010 7:33 a.m. PST said;

<Heheh. That reminds me of this:

Did you hear the one about the cannibal who passed a missionary in the woods?

(My teacher told that one to the class waaaay back in 9th grade, and I was the only one who got it immediately. I think some of them may have figured it out much later…)>

Are there cannibals in Africa?
Is a bear Catholic?
Does the Pope….

Ummm…what were we talking about?

Oh this takes me back to my days in anthropology class. I remember one of my professors telling me about ovens the size of humans he saw in the Caribbean that were used to cook "long pig," but the locals assured him that they had not been used in a long time.

You can add Maoris to the list (not current, as far as I know). Last big case of cannibalism was 1834 or so, when they wiped out the Moriori and ate a few in the process. They were (at the time) quite matter of fact about it too. It was their custom, as they said.

Ever been to northern Wisconsin?

Apparently the Hawaiians are now a bit embarrassed about the fact they ate Captain Cook

Ed Gein…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Gein
Not sure it its tribal…

Better to rest in peace in the warm body of a friend than in the cold ground …

Check out this book by Tim Curran, its worth the read;
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