A cosmovisão antropofágica dos Tupinambá

Abstract

This research opens an investigation, in the scope of the indigenist philosophy, on the anthropophagic ritual practiced in the culture of the Tupinambá society and, therefore, the intrinsic relation of this ritual with war. By deconstructing the image of savagery and regression associated with these native Brazilians by the Europeans, the intention is to demystify the Eurocentric and Christianized vision that was intentionally established to despise the customs and religion of these indigenous peoples. Decolonizing the Eurocentric vision about these peoples is important to show that such labeling benefited the Portuguese colonization, in the process of catechizing the natives not only in Brazil but in the Latin American continent. And this is because anthropophagy has always been treated as a completely barbaric act, since the act of eating the flesh of someone of the same species is inconceivable for so-called civilized societies; in this sense, such an act is incomprehensible to a so-called rational being. In this study, we also intend to analyze anthropophagy from a cultural and philosophical perspective, that is, not only in the religious sense, as an anthropophagic rite. However, considering the nature of the object of study and the limited amount of literature available on this subject, it was necessary to seek theoretical support in the areas of Brazilian anthropology, sociology and history, as well as in the philosophy of Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592), since he was the first and only philosopher of his time to focus on this chosen theme, and also commentators and the literature produced by the indigenous people in the area of philosophy.