"Man, a domesticated animal still extensively raised, one wonders why, since it is rarely eaten nowadays", said Waverley Root, from his book Food (p. 107). Cannibalism refers to a range of behaviors in which one human consumes another or parts of another for survival, dietary or ritual across centuries and cultures states K.
Kris Hrist, archeologist. 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. So, in this essay, causes of cannibalism which are cultural norm, starvation, and mental-illness will be examined.
One of the main causes of cannibalism is that, it is practiced as cultural norm by certain population as a part of their ritual (Deboriya Bose, 2011; Laurence R. Goldman, n. d; Rachael Bell, n. d).
Deboriya Bose(2011) found that certain tribes’ belief that eating their loved ones’ remains is a more fitting funeral rite than burning or burying them.This is an act of ancient culture, known as necro-cannibalism. According to Laurence R. Goldman and Aubry Caroline(2002), endocannibalism is a kind of cannibalism where the tribes are well known to consume the parts of their deceased relatives as an act of veneration, whereas Rachael Bell defined exocannibalism as an act of eating members from different tribes, especially the defeated enemies with the aim of gaining their abilities or to emphasize one’s superiority over the vanquished, practiced as a part of sanction.Besides, cannibalism has been occasionally practiced as a last resort of people suffering from famine according to Kerry Kubilius(2007) and Deboriya Bose(2011).
After food supplies were diminished, people began to dig up corps for food as there were no other options. They started killing and eating human beings to survive. It was disputed that parents of starving children cook and serve the bodies of strangers, neighbours, or relatives who had died for survival Kerry Kubilius(2007).Furthermore, mental illness of the person results to the act of cannibalism. This illness is known as sexual cannibalism.
According to Rachael Bell(n. d), sexual cannibalism is considered to be a psychosexual disorder where the cannibalist associates with the act of necrophilia, sex with corpses. Peggy Reeves Sanday (p. 3) stated in her book, Divine Hunger: Cannibalism As a Cultural System, sexual cannibalism occurs in order to fulfill the satisfaction of the psychosexual needs.
In an article written by Clara Bruce (1999) titled Chew On This: You’re What’s for Dinner, anthropophagites compared eating human flesh with having an orgasm. The experience was believed to cause a sense euphoria comparable in taking mescaline. In conclusion, people resort to cannibalism due to cultural norm, starvation and mental illness. However, there are many other theories that explains cannibalism as well. Therefore, more research is crucial in understanding the causes that lead to criminal cannibalism.
