Hans Staden

Hans Staden (c. 1525 in Homberg (Efze) — c. 1579 Wolfhagen or Korbach) was a German soldier and mariner who made two voyages to South America in Spanish or Portuguese ships. On his second voyage, he was captured by the Tupinambá people of Brazil.

After his return to Europe in 1555, the support of Dr. Johann Dryander in Marburg enabled Staden to publish an account of his captivity, entitled "Warhaftige Historia und beschreibung eyner Landtschafft der Wilden Nacketen, Grimmigen Menschfresser-Leuthen in der Newenwelt America gelegen" ("True Story and Description of a Country of Wild, Naked, Grim, Man-eating People in the New World, America") (1557). [ [http://www.athenapub.com/staden1.htm Hans Staden and the Tupinamba in southeast Brazil] - URL retrieved September 14, 2006] . The book became an international bestseller and was translated into Latin and many other European languages, reaching a total of 76 editions.

Cannibalism

The "Warhaftige Historia" provided detailed descriptions of Tupinambá life and customs, illustrated by woodcuts. However, the aspect of the book that received the most attention, from the time of publication up to the present, was cannibalism. Staden claimed that the Tupinambá were cannibals, gave vivid eyewitness accounts of the killing, preparing and eating of war captives, and wrote that his captors would have eaten him as well, had he not escaped. According to one anecdote, the Indians at one point gave him a delicious soup; after finishing his dinner, he found in the bottom of the cauldron some small skulls, which he later found out to be those of the children in his choir.

Some scholars have challenged the book's reliability, arguing that Staden invented its sensational accounts of cannibalism. [William Arens, "The Man-Eating Myth: Anthropology & Anthropophagy" (Oxford University Press, 1979), 22-31; Michaela Schmolz-Haberlein and Mark Haberlein, “Hans Staden, Neil L. Whitehead, and the Cultural Politics of Scholarly Publishing,” "Hispanic American Historical Review" 81, no. 3-4 (2001): 745-751.] Others defend the book as an important and reliable ethnohistorical source. [Donald W. Forsyth, “Three Cheers for Hans Staden: The Case for Brazilian Cannibalism,” "Ethnohistory" 32, no. 1 (1985): 17-36; Neil L. Whitehead, “Hans Staden and the Cultural Politics of Cannibalism,” "Hispanic American Historical Review" 80, no. 4 (2000): 721-751.]

Cultural references

*"Hans Staden - Lá Vem Nossa Comida Pulando" ( [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166635/ Hans Staden - There He Comes, Our Food Jumping] ), a 1999 film, directed by Luis Alberto Pereira), spoken in the Tupi indigenous language (with subtitles in Portuguese, English, French and Spanish) explores his adventures while being held captive by the Tupinamba. [( [http://www.dvdbrazil.com/comersus/store/comersus_viewitem.asp?idproduct=612 DVD Hans Staden] - URL September 14, 2006]

*"Como Era Gostoso o meu Francês" ( [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066936/ How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman] ), a 1970 film, was based on Staden's stories (but did not include him as a character) and adds a subplot about the main character's love affair with a young native woman.

References

External links

* [http://www.dukeupress.edu/books.php3?isbn=978-0-8223-4231-1 Staden, Hans. "Hans Staden's True History: An Account of Cannibal Captivity in Brazil". Edited and translated by Neil L. Whitehead and Michael Harbsmeier. Duke University Press, 2008.]
*de icon [http://www.regionalmuseum-wolfhager-land.de/hans_staden.htm Hans Staden in Wolfhagen] - [http://www.regionalmuseum-wolfhager-land.de/pdf/tagungsprogramm.pdf 2007 conference agenda]
*de icon [http://regiowiki.hna.de/Hans_Staden:_Wahrhaftige_Historia speech about Hans Staden]
*de icon [http://regiowiki.hna.de/Hans_Staden:_Wahrhaftige_Historia Hans Staden: Wahrhaftige Historia]
* [http://www.lehigh.edu/~ejg1/natimag/Harry.html Harry J. Brown, 'Hans Staden among the Tupinambas.']
* [http://www.athenapub.com/staden1.htm Short Review of Staden's Book, with Woodcuts]
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166635/ The movie in IMDb]