# Cannibalism (Study): Refining Sources



## Abishai100 (May 27, 2016)

Cannibalism is the practice of using humans using human flesh as food.  Other animals who eat members of their own species are generally not referred to as cannibals but rather as being 'cannibalistic.'

When man was first evolving away from the species line of monkeys, he was short in stature and ate only fruits and vegetables.  When he developed the interest in honing competitive skills and learning language and tool-use, he began to hunt animals for food.  When man started eating meat, he grew in size (and arguably prowess).

Multiple human civilizations have engaged in the practice of cannibalism including the Aztecs of Mexico.  Human groups have engaged in cannibalism for survival purposes too, such as the famous survivors of the South American rugby team stranded in the Andes Mountains in 1972 after a plane crash.

Cannibalism is the subject of the provocative Antonia Bird film _Ravenous_ starring Guy Pearce and Robert Carlyle, which presents the story of a timid U.S. army soldier named Boyd who is stationed in an isolated fort in California during the Mexican-American War after obtaining dubious honors during a controversial siege created by suspicious courage; at the fort, Boyd meets a sly U.S. army-man named Ives who turns out to be a cannibal and relays to Boyd his plan of hunting migrants and pioneers and using them as food sources in a gesture of Machiavellian evolution.

To understand the historic treatment and study of cannibalism in the classroom, we need to evaluate how perspectives on cannibalism raise discussions about evolution.

Then, we can use society-colored sources such as Antonia Bird's film as windows into customs study.





:-k

Cannibalism (Wikipedia)


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## escorial (Jun 6, 2016)

a subject matter that will always be a difficult read..the shortness worked because at the end i was feeling uncomfortable and i think that may have been the aim of the piece..


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## Terry D (Jun 6, 2016)

Abishai100 said:


> Cannibalism is the practice of using humans using human flesh as food.  Other animals who eat members of their own species are generally not referred to as cannibals but rather as being 'cannibalistic.'
> 
> When man was first evolving away from the species line of monkeys, he was short in stature and ate only fruits and vegetables.  When he developed the interest in honing competitive skills and learning language and tool-use, he began to hunt animals for food.  When man started eating meat, he grew in size (and arguably prowess).



There are some inaccuracies here. Humans did not evolve away from the "species line" of monkeys. First, there's no such thing as a species line, a species (including sub-species) is the smallest taxonomic group and doesn't represent a 'line' of anything. Second, humans did not evolve from monkeys; we do, however share common ancestors with the great apes (which are not monkeys). Also, there are many meat eating monkeys (Baboons are known to eat birds and small mammals, Capuchin eat rodents and birds also), and our closer evolutionary relatives chimpanzees also eat meat. Scientists have even found chimpanzee and antelope DNA in gorilla feces, suggesting that those big fellas also have the occasional taste for meat.

I'd also suggest, for a study in cannibalism, that you not rely too heavily on a fictional source like the movie you mention unless your intention is to study the depiction of cannibalism in film. If not a film study, I think you would be better served to stick with actual historic accounts or scholarly works.


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## Bard_Daniel (Jun 6, 2016)

I've seen the movie. Pretty intense stuff. I watched it as a child for some reason. :S

I think Terry D was quite accurate in pointing out the inaccuracies. I also would add that the piece needs to decide what it is. Is it focusing on the film or is it focusing on cannibalism in history? You draw on a lot of different material here but I think you need to decide what this piece needs to be and then head in that direction.

Just my two cents!


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## Latimeri (Sep 25, 2017)

Anyway, very interesting theme to write about. We who have settled down in our civilized and steady life, we hardly could imagine where situated the final limits of our cultural and moral behaviour.
Some time ago I saw old photos taken from the event, in which a man was eaten up by his company, they were soldiers and were lost in the northern forest.These photos showed the up eaten man's skin being hunger up between two three and there seen a human skull and some other remains on the sledge. 
The cannibalism among the animal? There occur cannibalism, for example, the rats' easts each other in the certain circumstances. But, I never heard a  cow or a horse been eating each other. So, are we then more rats than some other animal of nature?


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## H.Brown (Sep 25, 2017)

Aso do not forget that writers can also be one to use cannabolism aka the zombie character in writing, tv and film. These are also humans that eat other humans, which opens up another avenue for research. I agree with the others that there are some inaccuracies within this piece that need to be addressed andI would also stay clear of using Wikipedia as a source as it can be edited by anyone so I'd do further research in finding accurate sources to draw from. 

I hope this helps.


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## Galen (Sep 25, 2017)

Terry D said:


> There are some inaccuracies here. Humans did not evolve away from the "species line" of monkeys. First, there's no such thing as a species line, a species (including sub-species) is the smallest taxonomic group and doesn't represent a 'line' of anything. Second, humans did not evolve from monkeys; we do, however share common ancestors with the great apes (which are not monkeys). Also, there are many meat eating monkeys (Baboons are known to eat birds and small mammals, Capuchin eat rodents and birds also), and our closer evolutionary relatives chimpanzees also eat meat. Scientists have even found chimpanzee and antelope DNA in gorilla feces, suggesting that those big fellas also have the occasional taste for meat.
> 
> I'd also suggest, for a study in cannibalism, that you not rely too heavily on a fictional source like the movie you mention unless your intention is to study the depiction of cannibalism in film. If not a film study, I think you would be better served to stick with actual historic accounts or scholarly works.



Your suggestion about seeking other sources, made me curious. I can not afford to pay for various database memberships including online news. Plus, where I live, the libraries do not have adequate reference materials on the shelves or online. Any suggestions how non-fiction writers can find source materials.


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## Kevin (Sep 25, 2017)

Do they have google where you live? "Cannibalism in prehistory "  in the bar should give you some free reading material. Echoing Terry I see some assumptive reasoning here. If human ancestors only got larger from eating meat how is it that gorillas are so large? They primarily eat plants...


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## H.Brown (Sep 25, 2017)

Galen said:


> Your suggestion about seeking other sources, made me curious. I can not afford to pay for various database memberships including online news. Plus, where I live, the libraries do not have adequate reference materials on the shelves or online. Any suggestions how non-fiction writers can find source materials.



I can only suggest looking online as that is where I myself have found different sources when being a skint student. I hope this helps. Does your library not offer inter library loans?


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## Galen (Sep 25, 2017)

Kevin said:


> Do they have google where you live? "Cannibalism in prehistory "  in the bar should give you some free reading material. Echoing Terry I see some assumptive reasoning here. If human ancestors only got larger from eating meat how is it that gorillas are so large? They primarily eat plants...



google is not adequate for my research


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## Galen (Sep 25, 2017)

H.Brown said:


> I can only suggest looking online as that is where I myself have found different sources when being a skint student. I hope this helps. Does your library not offer inter library loans?



I live in Mexico, most books are in Spanish.


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## H.Brown (Sep 25, 2017)

Galen said:


> I live in Mexico, most books are in Spanish.



Yeah I can see how that would make things difficult. Hmmmm...


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## Jack Dammit (Sep 25, 2017)

I watched a documentary (Pacific Warriors, 2015) on the rise of Pacific Islanders (specifically from Tonga, Samoa and Fiji) in international rugby. A native expert stated matter-of-factly that the reason their athletes are so large and strong was because their societies were originally cannibalistic and the bigger folks ate the smaller folks. I can't give you any more than that, but it's something to work from.


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## Terry D (Sep 26, 2017)

Galen said:


> Your suggestion about seeking other sources, made me curious. I can not afford to pay for various database memberships including online news. Plus, where I live, the libraries do not have adequate reference materials on the shelves or online. Any suggestions how non-fiction writers can find source materials.



As long as you have access to the internet you can use most any search engine to find scholarly articles on just about any topic. Many universities publish a wide array of research for free.


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## TheWonderingNovice (Sep 26, 2017)

Try Google Scholar. Its free and you can find articles and other scholarly works from reliable sources.


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## SystemCheck (Oct 6, 2017)

Abishai100 said:


> Multiple human civilizations have engaged in the practice of cannibalism including the Aztecs of Mexico. Human groups have engaged in cannibalism for survival purposes too, such as the famous survivors of the South American rugby team stranded in the Andes Mountains in 1972 after a plane crash.



As you refer to Ravenous I take it the rugby team came to your attention via movies too, Alive (1993). There are, after all, countless situations of cannibalism all around the world. The Aghori are known to be cannibalistic. There was cannibalism during the American colonization; Jamestown, stranded wagon runs (Donner Party), etc.

As Terry D suggested a better reference would be factual information & not fictional sources. Reality can be, in many ways, far more frightening & unsettling than simple fantasy.


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