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HUMAN SACRIFICE FOR CARGO
Author(s) -
BurtonBradley B. G.
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1972.tb103449.x
Subject(s) - sacrifice , hostility , interpersonal relationship , new guinea , psychology , criminology , psychoanalysis , environmental ethics , social psychology , medicine , sociology , history , ethnology , philosophy , archaeology
Human sacrifice is designed primarily to establish fruitful interpersonal relationships between man and alleged supernatural beings. By its practice, it is hoped to secure favours and reduce hostility. Reported instances in Papua New Guinea are rare, although there is some evidence to suggest that they may not be so rare in actuality. Quite unique is the case of human sacrifice for cargo reported here, in which the sacrificer suffered a mental illness defined as such both by his own people and by the alien medical system.