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

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