Cannibalism

Having never researched PNG before, I had not been familiar with much of anything to do with the PNG culture. At some point I cannot recall, however, I had learned that PNG was one of the last cannibalistic cultures on earth. Basically this was the only thing I had ever known about PNG up until my research began for this blog (hence my interest in the area). Therefore, I decided to look into the validity of my previously held assumption.
As it turns out, cannibalism is still found to be a practice performed by a handful of indigenous tribal communities, the most well known being that of the Korowai tribe of southwestern PNG.
Before researching, in my mind's eye, I invisoned those whom were cannibals to be of a very savage and animalistic nature: mercilessly scowering the jungles of PNG for another unsuspecting human, killing and eating him, then moving on. The best way I can equate this image is to that of a zombie in a cheesy horror movie. In looking at the Korowai, this is shown to be a significant falsehood.
Cannibalism is performed in the Korowai in the event of an unexplained death of a tribesman due to illness. On their deathbed, the dying man may whisper the name of someone else in the tribe whom he is certain is the cause of his death. This signifies that the dying man has identified a khakhua - an evil sorcerer disguised in human form. A khakhua is believed to, while the victim is sleeping, eat out their guts and replace them with ash, thus leading to an fatal disease. Once the man dies, the family and friends of the deceased hunt down the owner of the whispered name. Regardless of the age, sex, or relation to the tribe, the khakhua is tied up and shot with arrows until dead, dismembered, and cooked over a fire. Aside from bone, teeth, hair, finger/toe nails, and penis, the cooked body is eaten in full by all members of the tribe, except pregnant women and children. In consuming the flesh, the spirit of the khakhua is driven away from the tribe.
The most telling aspect of this ritual for me is that for the people of Korowai, they do not consider themselves to be cannibals: They aren't eating humans, they are eating the khakhua. Unlike my previous misconceptions, these people are not bloodthirsty savages taking the human lives of their fellow man, but rather they are merely doing what is necessary to protect the health of the rest of the tribe.
In learning this, I am pushed to understand what it is that leads people of the western world to automatically equate cannibalism with the savage image I had in first researching. Most likely it is because the idea of eating human flesh is so highly stigmatized among those of civilized societies. Thus, when learning of a culture that holds such practices, I can see why our society is inclined to consider such a culture to be not only uncivilized, but also as inhumane as humanly possible.