Warfare, cannibalism and colonial vengance: the Mocoví and Guaraní cases

Abstract

Mocoví as Guaraní indians of the colonial period were considered to be extremely violent groups of the south region of the American continent. War occupied an important place in these social dynamics´ groups and was linked to other practices such as the consumption of the adversary´s meat and the gain of the enemies’ trophy’s head. Among these practices, that represented cannibalism modalities, revenge occupied a central role. The present paper aims to analyze the relations between cannibalism, war and revenge, comparing bothsocieties in the colonial period. These topics will be approached from an etnohistoric perspective and will be reconstructed using different historical sources, according to the cases.