Avaliação: Sacrifice or penalty? Reflections on human sacrifice, execution and anthropophagy Mesoamerica and Brazil from image to text –

Cultures that practiced human sacrifice and anthropophagy have received attention from ancient scholars and modern researchers; they are themes that flooded European imaginary, reaching its universe as a unit, from 1492 on, once reports on human sacrifice, anthropophagy, and manipulation of human body parts in the New World, although speculative, were made by Christopher Columbus.
The second expedition to the Brazilian coast, in 1501, ordered by King D. Manuel of Portugal, resulted in letters written by Amerigo Vespucci, shortly thereafter. He described anthropophagic rituals of the Indians of Brazil, which were preceded by the execution or – according to some sources – sacrifice of their enemies. Years later, between 1519 and 1521, the first reports of human sacrifice and display of body parts in present day Mexico appear, in writings by Hernan Cortés and some of his men.
Historically, from the European and Christian standpoint, anthropophagic and sacrificial rituals, characterize certain Amerindian cultures since the sixteenth century on, and this nexus has persisted to this day. Contemporary scholarship is positioned to believe Amerindian cultures practiced human sacrifice and anthropophagy in sequences culminating in the processing of the human body. But, are human sacrifice, and anthropophagy necessarily interconnected? How is the display of body parts linked to either practice, and are they all not too practices related to punitive or funerary practices?
What does it mean to sacrifice? Is there a universal conception about what a sacrificial act is and how it is represented? Is this equivalent to an execution in Ancient Amerindian thought? The proposal expects papers problematizing concepts related to human sacrifice, penalty, funerary practices, trophy taking, and anthropophagy as performed in the socio-cultural context of Ancient Mesoamerica and in Brazilian territory but is open to proposals touching on other American cultural areas.

• sacrifice, anthropophagy, penalty, funerary ri