What Is Cannibalism?

“Nothing more strongly arouses our disgust than cannibalism, yet we make the same impression on Buddhists and vegetarians, for we feed on babies, though not our own.” (Stevenson). Cannibalism, despite its place in man’s deepest nightmares, is not always so and should not be looked down upon simply due to misunderstanding of this ancient practice. Cannibalism has its medical downfalls, however, it also has positive aspects that transcends multiple cultures.
Before talking about the positive aspects of cannibalism, it first needs to be understood what cannibalism is and the different types of cannibalism. Cannibalism is defined as the consumption of the flesh or organs of a member of the same species as yourself. Endocannibalism is the consumption of the flesh of a person who is a member of the consumer's kin group, which is often an expression of respect for the dead or as a means to absorb an appealing quality of the deceased, such as wisdom or their hunting abilities (Clark). Exocannibalism is based on the consumption of flesh as a means to terrify another group, steal another's life force or even simply to eat. (Clark). Survival cannibalism is eating another’s flesh in order to survive an event that the deceased did not (Clark). Despite human’s disgust towards cannibalism, …show more content…
These causes are cultural, war, and psychological. Cannibalism, often endocannibalism, has a cultural cause to it, this being their way of respect and their grieving process (Schurman-Kauflin, 2011), the complete opposite of the manner in which human society often thinks of cannibalism. Another common cause of cannibalism is war. In war, a tribe may eat their opponents as a means to terrify their enemy and/or gain the enemy’s strength for battle (Schurman-Kauflin, 2011). This practice may seem “barbaric”, however, it was simply used as a scare tactic, something humans still utilize in today’s