Les funérailles charognardes. Homicide, cannibalisme et sacrifice humain pour les Yurakaré (Amazonie bolivienne)

Abstract

In the indigenous societies of the South American Lowlands, the relationship between the homicidal warrior and his victim has been interpreted mainly as an expression of a « cannibalistic logic » of incorporation of the enemy’s point of view. On the basis of Yurakaré materials and other data from the Andean foothills, this article offers an alternative to this now traditional model. The Yurakaré approach to homicide focuses on the palingenesis of the victim as a carrion bird that eats its own corpse, a circularity which can be linked in the last resort to a historically grounded representation of a powerful Andean sovereign (particularly the Inca) executing his rebellious subjects. This study reveals a transformation of the Amazonian cannibalism which is also a Foothill critique of this kind of human sacrifice and is intended to contribute to a general theory of war, cannibalism and sacrifice in South America, beyond the academic frontier dividing highlands and lowlands.

Keywords

• war
• cannibalism
• homicide
• human sacrifice