!"#$%&’(#)%"* #,- "%"./01(- %2 3)0&-$"-44 [T]he barbarian … was one of the sylvestres homines, the wild men of the literary imagination, those crea- tures who were thought to live in the woods and the mountains far from the activities of rational men, which always took place on the open spaces and on the plains (Pagden 1982: 21). It is only our families which came out in the open, and which became our ancestors to us, Wayana. Upului, Opakwana revealed themselves, Kuwalak- walïyana, Alakwayana, real Wayana, Kumalawai, all have been revealing themselves until the present day. What was their desire? They wanted meat because they were hungry! They had had enough of bad hocco ! [bush turkey]! ... [T]hey could not stand [forest] mosquitoes anymore … this is why gradu- ally they came out of the forest. They had become fearful and did not want to be killed anymore: ‘Let’s go, I don’t want to be covered in blood anymore! I do not want blood anymore; I do not want to be like the forefathers anymore!’ [Afterwards] our families came up here (The wars of the past, in Chapuis and Rivière 2003: 578-581, our translation, veg/mb). In this article, based on recent ethnographic and archival research, we explore the ramifications of an Amerindian perspective on contemporary savagery. We contend that the cannibalistic wajiarikure (‘wild people’) encapsulate powerful parallels with the wild man of the western imagination. The above passage is Etnofoor, Imitation, volume 22, issue 2, 2010, pp. 51-70 The Other’s Other Nurturing the Bodies of ‘Wild’ People among the Trio of Southern Suriname Vanessa Elisa Grotti Oxford University Marc Brightman Oxford University