Word: cannibalisme
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Naturally enough, Harris, like other anthropologists, takes issue with Arens. Says he: "There are all kinds of eyewitness accounts of cannibalism, from castaways, Jesuit missionaries and others. Arens is pushing skepticism to the point of producing nothing but total ignorance about the world."
Arens thinks many of these reports are similar to tales of witches. Often the explorer or traveler simply misinterprets the unfamiliar tribal language. Plagiarism, and the marketability of savage tales from the wilds have also helped establish the existence of cannibalism, says Arens. One example: 16th century accounts of cannibalism...
Arens says Columbus passed on tales of cannibalism to his Spanish masters to help establish a slave trade. In one report he wrote of the Caribs: "The welfare of said cannibals. . . has raised the thought the more that may be sent over [to Spain] the better." Afterward, on one Caribbean...
Most scholars think Aztec cannibalism is firmly documented. Arens disagrees. He says the Spanish and the Aztecs accused one another of cannibalism -a common result of the collision of two cultures-but the Spanish got to write the history books. According to the author, the Spanish were stunned by the...
To Arens, the idea of cannibalism is "a crucial boundary marker" between cultures: those who consider themselves civilized always manage to see cannibalism among those they consider uncivilized. "On this issue, despite other accomplishments," he writes, "anthropologists have emerged as little more than erudite purveyors of a pedestrian myth about...