New respect for the haughty cannibals.
Representations of the Western cannibal have metamorphosed since Herodotus first recorded the practice of anthropophagy. These images of the cannibal have been intefrtwined with philosophical, religious and metaphorical representations, far removed from the indigenous interpretations of ritual anthr...
| Published in: | Mortality Vol. 31; no. 2; pp. 527 - 541 |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Article |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
May2026
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=193251819&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 193251819 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 13576275 MIY jtl: Mortality issn: 13576275 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: May2026 vid: 31 iid: 2 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 193251819 10.1080/13576275.2025.2545854 ppf: 527 ppct: 14 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T db: hlh ui: 193251819 – @attributes: type: P db: hlh ui: 193251819 tig: atl: New respect for the haughty cannibals. aug: au: Whitfield, Jerome T. Alpers, Michael P. affil: MRC Prion Unit at UCL, UCL Institute of Prion Diseases, London, UK Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research, Goroka, Papua new Guinea Division of Health Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Australia su: Papua New Guinea Attitudes toward death Death Interviewing Ethnology Cultural values Rites & ceremonies Food habits Medicine Research funding Religion & medicine Funeral industry Descriptive statistics sug: subj: Attitudes toward death Death Interviewing Ethnology Cultural values Rites & ceremonies Food habits Medicine Papua New Guinea Funeral Homes and Funeral Services Research funding Religion & medicine Funeral industry Descriptive statistics keyword: anthropophagy Cannibalism Fore transubstantiation transumption anthropophagy Cannibalism Fore transubstantiation transumption ab: Representations of the Western cannibal have metamorphosed since Herodotus first recorded the practice of anthropophagy. These images of the cannibal have been intefrtwined with philosophical, religious and metaphorical representations, far removed from the indigenous interpretations of ritual anthropophagic practices. In this paper, we examine the imaginary cannibal of Western discourse and then compare Western medicinal cannibalism and the Catholic Eucharist with the mortuary anthropophagy of the South Fore people of Papua New Guinea. This comparison revealed underlying similarities in their beliefs of immortal essences which could be transferred from the dead to the living to ward off the inevitability of death. These findings removed long-established racist boundaries between indigenous anthropophagi and Western observers. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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