Graduation Term
Fall 2024
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Department of History
Committee Chair
Andrew Hartman
Committee Member
Lindsay Stallones Marshall
Abstract
Anthropophagy means people-eating, as does cannibal, but the terms are not synonymous. After Europeans landed in the Americas, Christopher Columbus coined the word cannibal. Despite the two terms having similar base definitions, there are additional connotations associated with cannibal. The way in which cannibalism has been thought about by Western cultures is not about the act of people-eating, but the constructed character of the cannibal as a “savage” Other created through colonization. In addition to the term's associated meaning being cemented during this time, colonizers used the term as a tool to Other Native peoples and aid in colonization. It did not matter whether or not people actually were anthropophagous or what their reasoning for doing so was; once they were labeled as cannibals, that became all they were known as in the eyes of Europeans.
Access Type
Thesis-Open Access
Recommended Citation
Dubrovich, Hannah, "Food for Thought: Fabricating the Cannibal in Colonization" (2024). Theses and Dissertations. 2006.
https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/etd/2006