Editing Human cannibalism (section)

==Scepticism==
William Arens, author of ''[[The Man-Eating Myth|The Man-Eating Myth: Anthropology and Anthropophagy]]'',{{sfn|Arens|1979}} questions the credibility of reports of cannibalism and argues that the description by one group of people of another people as cannibals is a consistent and demonstrable ideological and rhetorical device to establish perceived [[Cultural imperialism|cultural superiority]]. Arens bases his thesis on a detailed analysis of various "classic" cases of cannibalism reported by explorers, missionaries, and anthropologists. He claims that all of them were steeped in racism, unsubstantiated, or based on second-hand or hearsay evidence. Though widely discussed, Arens's book generally failed to convince the academic community. [[Claude Lévi-Strauss]] observes that, in spite of his "brilliant but superficial book ... [n]o serious ethnologist disputes the reality of cannibalism".<ref name="Lévi-Strauss-p87"/> Shirley Lindenbaum notes that, while after "Arens['s] ... provocative suggestion ... many anthropologists ... reevaluated their data", the outcome was an improved and "more nuanced" understanding of where, why and under which circumstances cannibalism took place rather than a confirmation of his claims: "Anthropologists working in the Americas, Africa, and Melanesia now acknowledge that institutionalized cannibalism occurred in some places at some times. Archaeologists and evolutionary biologists are taking cannibalism seriously."{{sfn|Lindenbaum|2004|pp=475–476, 491}}

Lindenbaum and others point out that Arens displays a "strong [[ethnocentrism]]".{{sfn|Lindenbaum|2004|p=476}} His refusal to admit that institutionalized cannibalism ever existed seems to be motivated by the implied idea "that cannibalism is the worst thing of all" – worse than any other behaviour people engaged in, and therefore uniquely suited to vilifying others. Kajsa Ekholm Friedman calls this "a remarkable opinion in a culture [the European/American one] that has been capable of the most extreme cruelty and destructive behavior, both at home and in other parts of the world."<ref name=Ekholm-Friedman-p220>{{cite book |last1=Ekholm Friedman |first1=Kajsa |title=Catastrophe and Creation: The Transformation of an African Culture |date=1991 |publisher=Harwood |location=Amsterdam |page=220}}</ref>

She observes that, contrary to European values and expectations, "in many parts of the [[Congo Basin|Congo region]] there was no negative evaluation of cannibalism. On the contrary, people expressed their strong appreciation of this very special meat and could not understand the hysterical reactions from the white man's side."{{sfn|Ekholm Friedman|1991|p=221}} And why indeed, she goes on to ask, should they have had the same negative reactions to cannibalism as Arens and his contemporaries? Implicitly he assumes that everybody throughout human history must have shared the strong taboo placed by his own culture on cannibalism, but he never attempts to explain why this should be so, and "neither logic nor historical evidence justifies" this viewpoint, as Christian Siefkes commented.{{sfn|Siefkes|2022|p=294}}

{{See also|The Man-Eating Myth#Reception}}

Some have argued that it is the taboo against cannibalism, rather than its practice, that needs to be explained. [[Hubert Murray]], the Lieutenant-Governor of [[Territory of Papua|Papua]] in the early 20th century, admitted that "I have never been able to give a convincing answer to a native who says to me, 'Why should I not eat human flesh?{{' "}}{{sfn|Hogg|1958|p=130}} After observing that the [[Orokaiva people]] in New Guinea explained their cannibal customs as due to "a simple desire for good food", the Australian anthropologist [[F. E. Williams]] commented: "Anthropologically speaking the fact that we ourselves should persist in a superstitious, or at least sentimental, prejudice against human flesh is more puzzling than the fact that the Orokaiva, a born hunter, should see fit to enjoy perfectly good meat when he gets it."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=F. E. |author-link1=F. E. Williams |title=Orokaiva Society |date=1969 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |page=171 |url=https://archive.org/details/orokaivasociety0000unse}}</ref>{{sfn|Hogg|1958|p=130}}

Accusations of cannibalism could be used to characterize indigenous peoples as "uncivilized", "primitive", or even "inhuman."<ref>[[Rebecca Earle]], ''The Body of the Conquistador: Food, race, and the Colonial Experience in Spanish America, 1492–1700''. New York: Cambridge University Press 2012, pp. 123–124. {{ISBN?}}</ref> While this means that the reliability of reports of cannibal practices must be carefully evaluated especially if their wording suggests such a context, many actual accounts do not fit this pattern. The earliest firsthand account of cannibal customs in the [[Caribbean]] comes from [[Diego Álvarez Chanca]], who accompanied [[Christopher Columbus]] on his second voyage. His description of the customs of the [[Kalinago|Caribs]] of [[Guadeloupe]] includes their cannibalism (men killed or captured in war were eaten, while captured boys were "castrated [and used as] servants until they gr[e]w up, when they [were] slaughtered" for consumption), but he nevertheless notes "that these people are more civilized than the other islanders" (who did not practice cannibalism).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Delgado-Gómez |first1=Angel |editor1-last=Williams |editor1-first=Jerry M. |editor2-last=Lewis |editor2-first=Robert E. |title=Early Images of the Americas: Transfer and Invention |date=1993 |publisher=University of Arizona Press |location=Tucson |page=8 |chapter=The Earliest European Views of the New World Natives}}</ref> Nor was he an exception. Among the earliest reports of cannibalism in the Caribbean and the Americas, there are some (like those of [[Amerigo Vespucci]]) that seem to mostly consist of hearsay and "gross exaggerations", but others (by Chanca, Columbus himself, and other early travellers) show "genuine interest and respect for the natives" and include "numerous cases of sincere praise".{{sfn|Delgado-Gómez|1993|pp=13, 16}}

Reports of cannibalism from other continents follow similar patterns. Condescending remarks can be found, but many Europeans who described cannibal customs in [[Central Africa]] wrote about those who practised them in quite positive terms, calling them "splendid" and "the finest people" and not rarely, like Chanca, actually considering them as "far in advance of" and "intellectually and morally superior" to the non-cannibals around them.{{sfn|Siefkes|2022|pp=296–297}} Writing from [[Melanesia]], the missionary [[George Brown (missionary)|George Brown]] explicitly rejects the European prejudice of picturing cannibals as "particularly ferocious and repulsive", noting instead that many cannibals he met were "no more ferocious than" others and "indeed ... very nice people".{{sfn|Siefkes|2022|p=296}}

Reports or assertions of cannibal practices could nevertheless be used to promote the use of military force as a means of "civilizing" and "pacifying" the "savages". During the [[Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire]] and its earlier conquests in the Caribbean there were widespread reports of cannibalism, and cannibals became exempted from [[Isabella I of Castile|Queen Isabella]]'s prohibition on enslaving the indigenous.<ref>Earle, ''The Body of the Conquistador'', p. 123. {{ISBN?}}</ref> Another example of the [[sensationalism]] of cannibalism and its connection to [[imperialism]] occurred during [[Japanese invasion of Taiwan (1874)|Japan's 1874 expedition to Taiwan]]. As Robert Eskildsen describes, Japan's popular media "exaggerated the [[Taiwanese indigenous peoples|aborigines]]' violent nature", in some cases by wrongly accusing them of cannibalism.<ref>{{cite journal
 | last = Eskildsen | first =  Robert
 | year = 2002
 | title = Of Civilization and Savages: The Mimetic Imperialism of Japan's 1874 Expedition to Taiwan
 | journal = The American Historical Review
 | volume = 107 | issue = 2 | pages = 399–402
 | doi=10.1086/532291
}}</ref>

''[[This Horrid Practice|This Horrid Practice: The Myth and Reality of Traditional Maori Cannibalism]]'' (2008) by New Zealand historian [[Paul Moon]] received a hostile reception by some [[Māori people|Māori]], who felt the book tarnished their whole people. However, the factual accuracy of the book was not seriously disputed and even critics such as [[Margaret Mutu]] grant that cannibalism was "definitely" practised and that it was "part of our [Māori] culture."<ref name="Stuff.co.nz_565552">{{cite news |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/archived-stuff-sections/archived-national-sections/korero/565552 |title=Tales of Maori cannibalism told in new book |date=August 5, 2008 |agency=[[NZPA]] |work=[[Stuff.co.nz]] |access-date=April 21, 2023}}</ref>