Consuming Grief : Compassionate Cannibalism in an Amazonian Society

by Conklin, Beth A.

• ISBN13: 9780292712362
• ISBN10: 0292712367
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-07-01
• Publisher: Univ of Texas Pr

Summary

"This is probably the most significant ethnography of cannibalism. Period. . . . I expect this book to become a classic, an ethnography of exceptional depth and clarity by an anthropologist whose sensitivity and insight are apparent on every page." --Donald Pollock, Associate Professor of Anthropology, SUNY Buffalo Mourning the death of loved ones and recovering from their loss are universal human experiences, yet the grieving process is as different between cultures as it is among individuals. As late as the 1960s, the Wari' Indians of the western Amazonian rainforest ate the roasted flesh of their dead as an expression of compassion for the deceased and for his or her close relatives. By removing and transforming the corpse, which embodied ties between the living and the dead and was a focus of grief for the family of the deceased, Wari' death rites helped the bereaved kin accept their loss and go on with their lives. Drawing on the recollections of Wari' elders who participated in consuming the dead, this book presents one of the richest, most authoritative ethnographic accounts of funerary cannibalism ever recorded. Beth Conklin explores Wari' conceptions of person, body, and spirit, as well as indigenous understandings of memory and emotion, to explain why the Wari' felt that corpses must be destroyed and why they preferred cannibalism over cremation. Her findings challenge many commonly held beliefs about cannibalism and show why, in Wari' terms, it was considered the most honorable and compassionate way of treating the dead.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
About the Artist and Illustrations	xiii
A Note on Orthography	xiv
Introduction	xv
PART I: CONTEXTS	1	(62)
Cannibal Epistemologies	3	(21)
Wari' Worlds	24	(23)
Cultural Collisions	47	(16)
PART II: MOTIFS AND MOTIVES	63	(46)
Funerals	65	(22)
Explanations of Eating	87	(22)
PART III: BODILY CONNECTIONS	109	(70)
Social Anatomy	111	(21)
Embodied Identities	132	(25)
Burning Sorrow	157	(22)
PART IV: EAT AND BE EATEN	179	(62)
Predator and Prey	181	(24)
Hunting the Ancestors	205	(19)
Transforming Grief	224	(17)
Afterword	241	(1)
Appendix A: The Story of Mortuary Cannibalism's Origin	242	(5)
Appendix B: The Story of Hujin and Orotapan	247	(5)
Notes	252	(11)
References	263	(14)
Index	277