The Tupi that eat and those that are "food": Anthropophagy and feminine representations in chronicles of centuries XVI and XVII

Abstract

Based upon the historical experiences of women from the Tupi people involving anthropophagy, the present paper came to light as a result of a research on representations developed between the Sixteenth and (early) Seventeenth Centuries; on records made by chronicler settlers and travelers, laymen and church members. They all wrote about the indigenous women who dwelt in the strip of land placed between the Ilhéus captaincy and the Maranhão island. During the making of this article, it was noticed that such women were not only depicted practicing the act of cannibalism; there are reasons to believe that a few of these native women were also destined to be devoured. Once found, the records regarding the indigenous female population as a portion of the group liable to such penalty (made by the chronicles), it was perceived that this fact alone would lead researchers to a major change on the most commonly accepted views on the meaning (better yet, “meanings”) of “eating the other”. Key-words: anthropophagy, Tupi women, chronicles.