Thursday, January 18, 2007

Shocking Sawi


  • What concepts in the Sawi culture intregued / reviled / saddened / angered / surprised you?

It was fascinating to view a whole new culture not based on modern development. As I had modest or else no information or knowledge on a tribe based on cannibalism, it was truly a mesmerizing experience to view a different world. Most of all, I believed that headhunting was mainly for food rather than a symbol of strength and opportunity of climbing the ladder of hierarchy. In opposition of my belief, these people enjoyed the betrayal and the fear created to the victim rather than the actual slaughter. They praised betrayal as a sacred tradition form the fore fathers and thought this to be a great factor of their society. Another fact that surprised me was that in fact, the Sawi were normal human beings too. In the story, there is a part where the Sawi are portrayed amidst their first introduction to human flesh. It is said that the children of Sawi never forget the fear of eating human flesh for the first time. This in turn suggests that the Sawi are no different from us. They too have the nature and instinct that it is not right to eat the same genus. Rather, they ignore instinct and practice it in so many trials that the body is able to suppress instinct and later on behave with no feeling. This was shocking because I believed that those who practiced cannibalism actually had a liking for the ‘flesh’ they were eating. Apparently, I was proved wrong. They headhunted not for food for the glory in which is placed by the society and tradition of their culture.

1 comment:

African Globe Trotters. said...

I agree it is really hard to understand headhunting and just the words hunting in relation to humans reviles me too. Mrs.Mc.