Its argument is that
Brazil's history of "cannibalizing" other cultures is its greatest strength, while playing on the
modernists'
primitivist interest in cannibalism as an alleged tribal rite. Cannibalism becomes a way for Brazil to assert itself against European post-colonial cultural domination. The Manifesto's iconic line is "Tupi or not Tupi: that is the question." The line is simultaneously a celebration of the
Tupi, who practiced certain forms of ritual cannibalism (as detailed in the 16th century writings of
André Thévet,
Hans Staden, and
Jean de Léry), and a metaphorical instance of cannibalism: it eats
Shakespeare.
