Does Cannibalism still exist?
Cannibalism is feeding on one's own species. Anthropophagy is the technical term for cannibalism. It is often considered a psychosexual or fetish disorder. This is basically because anthropophagy is often included among the sexual disorders. The term cannibalism derives from the name of the West Indian Carib tribe, first documented by the explorer Christopher Columbus. The Carib tribe was alleged to eat others, as where the Aztecs who practiced exocannibalism or the ritual religious sacrifice and eating of war captives, strangers, and enemies.
The Celts and Aboriginal Australians are believed to have practiced a different kind of cannibalism - endocannibalism - the consumption of friends and relatives as part of releasing the soul of the dead. New research points to the fact that early man practiced cannibalism. Genetic markers commonly found in modern humans all over the world could be evidence that our earliest ancestors were cannibals, according to new research. Scientists suggest that today some people carry a gene that evolved as protection against brain diseases that can be spread by consuming human flesh
The existence of cannibalism has been a widely disputed topic in academia. However, the evidence supporting its existence is abundant and is represented in every medium imaginable, including stories, symbols, legends, writings, archeological evidence and first hand accounts. Cannibalism is a practice that reaches across centuries and cultures. In many cultures, it is considered atrocious and sacrilegious, whereas in another culture it is a sacred and revered custom. Cannibalism is an undeniable occurrence rooted in antiquity and branching forth to the present-day.
In the early historical era Cannibalism was documented in Egypt during a famine caused by the failure of the Nile to flood for eight years (AD 1064-1072). In the middle ages In Europe during the Great Famine of 1315-1317, at a time when Dante was writing one of the most significant pieces of literature in western history and the Renaissance was just beginning, there were widespread reports of cannibalism throughout Europe. However, many historians have since dismissed these reports as fanciful and ambiguous.
Cannibalism was reported in Mexico, the flower wars of the Aztec Empire being considered as the most massive manifestation of cannibalism, but the Aztec accounts, written after the conquest, reported that human flesh was considered by itself to be of no value, and usually thrown away and replaced with turkey.There have been quite a few accounts of cannibalism in the early modern era as well. Captain James Cook, the famous navigator, was killed in Hawai'i in 1779; it is strongly alleged that his body was ritually consumed. The survivors of the sinking of the French ship Medusa in 1816 resorted to cannibalism after four days adrift on a raft.
Those who think that Cannibalism is a thing of the past are wrongly mistaken. There have been numerous instances of Cannibalistic behaviour in the modern era. A well-documented case occurred in Chichijima in 1945, when Japanese soldiers killed and ate eight downed American airmen. This case was investigated in 1947 in a war-crimes trial, and of 30 Japanese soldiers prosecuted, five (Maj. Matoba, Gen. Tachibana, Adm. Mori, Capt. Yoshii and Dr. Teraki) were found guilty and hanged. Cannibalism was reported by at least one reliable witness, the journalist Neil Davis during the South East Asian wars of the 1960s and 1970s. Davis reported that Khmer (Cambodian) troops ritually ate portions of the slain enemy, typically the liver.
Cannibalism has been reported in several recent African conflicts, including the Second Congo War, and the civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Typically, this is apparently done in desperation, as during peacetime cannibalism is much less frequent. Even so, it is sometimes directed at certain groups believed to be relatively helpless, such as Congo Pygmies.
There are quite a few reasons that have been given for this unusual behaviour. Cannibalism is sometimes practiced as a last resort by people suffering from famine. In the US, it is known that the group of settlers known as the Donner party resorted to cannibalism while snowbound in the mountains for the winter.
Unsubstantiated reports of cannibalism disproportionately relate cases of cannibalism among cultures that are already otherwise despised, feared, or are little known. The wide use of the Internet has highlighted that thousands of people harbor sexualized cannibalistic fantasies. Discussion forums and user groups exist for the exchange of pictures and stories of such fantasies. Typically, people in such forums fantasize about eating or being eaten by members of their sexually preferred gender.
The topic was stirred up in India recently when on December 29, a ghastly tale of blood and lust unfolded, when police found skulls and bones of children in the drain behind a house in Noida. The house owner, industrialist Moninder Singh Pandher and his domestic help Surendra are alleged to have committed the crime and are now under arrest. This is one of the most macabre tales of child cannibalism. Surendra Koli confessed to killing and eating 17 persons, including children. Whatever may be the reason behind committing this act , the fact remains that a civilised society can not tolerate or ignore such things. But finding the reasons behind cannibalism could hold the key as society can come together to nullify them and prevent a recurrence of such acts in the future.
Purnima Gogna
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