Cannibalism - Part 2: Debates

Is cannibalism super rare–or crossculturally quite common? It depends on who you ask. From historical reports of cannibalism during colonial conquest all the way up to contemporary trends of placenta encapsulation, what counts as cannibalism and who is seen as a cannibal is shaped by, and shapes, discourses about self and other. In this video, anthropologist Robert Lemelson digs into meaty debates about cannibalism and the way they reveal ethnocentric and racist biases. Along the way we’ll address Marvin Harris’s protein deficiency hypothesis, Maggie Kilgour’s idea of the cultural cannibalism of colonialism, The Man Eating Myth, and Francis Nyamnjoh’s reading of societal cannibalism.

Watch the full episode:

Resources:

Birx, H.J. (Ed.) (2006) Cults. In Encyclopedia of Anthropology(Vol. 5, pp. 624-625). New York: SAGE Publications, Inc.

Lalich, J.A. (2004) Bounded Choice: True Believes and Charismatic Cults. Oakland: UC Press.

Lindstrom, L. (2018) Cargo Cults. In The Open Encyclopedia of Anthropology.

Singer, M.T. (2003) Cults in Our Midst: The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Malinowski, B. (1945) The Dynamics of Culture Change. New Haven: Yale University Press.