Final answer:
Cultural anthropologists study the practice of cannibalism among the Wari' people, analyzing the social and symbolic aspects of their mortuary customs, which include endocannibalism as part of mourning and exocannibalism towards non-community members.
Step-by-step explanation:
The subject of cannibalism and the Wari' people falls under the field of anthropology, specifically, cultural anthropology. The practice of cannibalism by the Wari', an indigenous group in western Amazonia, Brazil, has been studied by cultural anthropologists like Beth Conklin and Aparecida Vilaça. The Wari' engaged in endocannibalism as part of their mourning process and as a means of honoring the deceased, where the relatives would consume the body, transforming the deceased from humans into spirits. This is seen as an act of respect, and the remains were considered to be incorporated into the living bodies of other Wari'. Conversely, exocannibalism was the eating of those outside their community, who were not seen as fully human, thus not considered cannibalism in their perspective.
In Conklin's study, 'Thus Are Our Bodies, Thus Was Our Custom': Mortuary Cannibalism in an Amazonian Society,' the interrelation between humans and animals through food and rituals like cannibalism is a focal point, illustrating an intricate belief system and set of social practices. Cannibalism among the Wari' and other societies is a topic that has drawn scholarly debates, but nonetheless, reveals the diversity of human traditions and the ways in which cultures perceive and practice similar acts differently.