> >Yoshie said:
> >
> >>While Conklin takes the Wari' stories of "the old
> days when the
> >>others ate the body" at their face value, i.e., as
> reliable evidence
> >>of former practice voluntarily provided by native
> informants, I think
> >>that it is very likely that the stories of ritual
> cannibalism are a
> >>mix of:
> >
> >>(A) a symbolic way of saying that what existed
> before "three out of
> >>every five" Wari' died of infectious diseases
> brought by soldiers,
> >>missionaries, civil servants, & (very likely)
> anthropologists was
> >>better than what they have now;
> >
> >>and (B) a performance that the Wari' -- now
> dependent upon "aid
> >>provided by Protestant missionaries, employees of
> the government
> >>Indian agency, and Catholic priests," as well as
> upon a never-ending
> >>stream of anthropologists who come with grant
> monies to study them --
> >>(consciously or unconsciously) put on, exchanging
> stories of ritual
> >>cannibalism for means of survival, basically
> giving outsiders what
> >>they want.
> >
> >What makes you suspect the Wari' are BSing the
> author?
> >
> >Todd
>
> Check out the work of Alessandro Portelli (a review
> of his work is
> available at
> <http://nuance.dhs.org/lbo-talk/0103/0882.html>).
Yes, home is so sad.
By the time you read this it will be too late.
Alec
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