I'm kinda cheating by using one of your questions, but I am deeply curious: why did colonial invaders go out of their way to accuse women of cannibalism? And did those accusations focus on just a particular type of cannibalism? Thanks!

Reposting of /u/GargantuaBob's question from the announcement thread:

Hello Dr Herrmann,

I've had some dealing with the Inuit; they have fantastic tales about cannibalism. What perhaps fascinates me most about the things they told me was that they had rules about who got eaten and who got spared when those hard times struck.

I'm wondering if rules about who to eat (or not) are something that gradually forms in societies which recurrently have to resort to cannibalism, or whether such rules emerge rapidly among people without prior exposure. Is this a rare occurrence or the norm? I would also want to hear about how collaboration works out between those doing the eating those being eaten.

Thank you.

Hello Dr. Herrmann! I have always been curious about this. How do you distinguish between authentic accounts of canibalism and lies, with regards to European accounts of native american cannibalism?

Thank you so much for doing this AMA on such a fascinating topic! I realize I'm making a few assumptions with this question, but my understanding and the impression I get from the above is that accusations of cannibalism among various indigenous populations by European invaders were generally overblown at best, but the image was obviously a very enduring one. How much of this was due to ignorance of practices and how much can we ascribe to intentionally playing up this image to paint 'cannibal peoples' as a greater "Other" and "savage"?

Is it physically possible to survive through cannibalism? Or would you run into some sort of disease? How long could it be pulled off as a man source of substenance?

For those forced into it by circumstance (UAF 571, survivors of the whaling ship Essex, etc.), what is the long-term psychological impact of not only having to resort to cannibalism but of eating one's companions? What is the response by their family and social circles upon return to civilization?

Repost from the announcement thread

I have always heard that cannibalism occurs only in two circumstances, ceremonies and famine. Are there any societies which used humans as a genuine food source?

Reposting of /u/CalmCalibre1's question from the announcement thread:

Dr. Hermann and Dr. Watson, I have two questions for you:

1st question: What is the first recorded instance of the Spanish Conquistadors encountering cannibalism and how did they react to it? If I recall correctly, the Aztecs practiced human sacrifice, but I cannot recall anything about cannibalism.

2nd question: What particular instance or story about cannibalism stands out to you and why?

Reposting of /u/GrumpyWendigo's question from the announcement thread:

How prevalent was cannibalism amongst the CHerokee, Algonquin, Delaware, Iroquois, etc: Eastern Native American groups? I know there is a term "wendigo psychosis" in which there seemed to exist a preferential cannibalism with certain individuals.

Are vampire and/or wendigo myths a way to "explain away" cannibalism (or the effects of a prion disease)?

There was an incident in my country, when unpaid labourers cannibalised their boss in a fit of rage. What leads humans to partake in such activities? Has history provided any clues to that?

​ Thank you Dr. Herrmann and Dr. Watson for doing this AMA! As someone researching early modern Spanish America I'm looking forward to very interesting discussions here. I have two more general questions:

• The traditional focus seems to be on how Europeans wielded claims of cannibalism against others. How did native American (or other non-European) groups resist such accusations? Or even turn them around as a way to reclaim agency?

• In his essay Of Cannibals, Michel de Montaigne compares the cannibalism of the Brazilian Tupinambá people to the "barbarianism" of 16th-century Europe. Montaigne's views are sometimes described as quite singular. Still, did other European scholars draw similar parallels between foreign cannibalism and their own societies?

Dr. Herrmann - Were stories (falsified, exaggerated, or accurate) of cannibalism in the Americas used to justify or motivate the imposition of Christianity on indigenous Americans? How did colonizers and the public in their countries of origin handle the tension between a cannibalistic symbol like the Eucharist and the cannibalistic symbology in some indigenous religions? Please expand on this as appropriate re: the religious domination of enslaved Africans.

Dr. Watson - Can you briefly explain the connection between gender, sex, and cannibalism alluded to in the title of your essay? Are there similarities between myths or accounts of cannibalistic women in Europe and the stories colonizers told about cannibalistic women in the Americas?

Thank you both for your time! I look forward to reading To Feast on Us as Their Prey.

All right, everyone. I've just finished my lunch and I'm ready to talk about eating man-flesh (In case you were wondering, I am a vegetarian . . . )! As Rachel mentioned in her intro, my work on cannibalism has focused on the intersections between sex, gender, empire and accusations of anthropophagy (or man-eating). My book Insatiable Appetites: Imperial Encounters with Cannibals in the North Atlantic World looks at how and why Europeans accused Native Americans of cannibalism between 1492 and 1763 in the Caribbean, Mexico, New France, and the English colonies. I also devote a chapter to classical and medieval discourses about cannibalism that informed European conquerers.

Growing up in Canada one of this history tidbits you often heard was about Etienne Brûlé, the French Explorer who spent much of his life with the Huron and for one reason or another (depending on the stories) got eaten by his former friends.

Do we know much about that? What really happened? Was this an actual, known ritual from the Huron or more likely made up after the fact?

So this might be dark but was there any like recipe books oral tradition or written ? How did people know when the "meat" was cooked enough ? Also were victims seasoned?

Very interesting topic I've been wondering about cannibalism for a while but it's not really proper dinner conversation... most of the time

Dr. Herrmann, Prof. Watson, I have several questions on this fascinating topic!

First, to what degree is cannibalism known to actually have been practiced, as opposed to being an accusation or a fantastical rumor?

Second, in Deadly Feasts Richard Rhodes documents the Prion disease Kuru which resulted from cannibalism in New Guinea, more specifically, it is spread from consumption of human brain tissue.

In the cases of actual cannibalism you've studied, is the brain consumed?

In areas where the brain is consumed have you discovered any evidence about a kuru analog, or any other ill health effects resulting from cannibalism?

Or in the scenarios of cannibalism you've researched, were people who resorted to cannibalism more concerned with not dying from starvation?

Thank you so much for your time!

Hi, and thank you for this AMA! Can one draw a distinction between "Cannibalism" as a reported phenomenon attached to preconceptions about populations said to engage in it, and the act of consuming human flesh as a cultural/ritual practice? If so, what are some important distinctions?

(I hope this question makes sense...)

Reposting of /u/logatwork's question from the announcement thread:

How was Hans Staden book about his time in 16c Brazil received in Europe, specially regarding his reports of cannibalism?

Did you come across instances of utilizing cannibalism as a form of medicine/medical treatment?

250 years passed between Jamestown and the Donners but I cannot help but draw several parallels between the groups. Both seem to me foreigners starving in a strange land in which they'd hoped to find a better life. Were the motives of the Jamestown settlers similar to the Donners? Did the Jamestown settlers perceive an irony in their search for a better place/civilizing mission resulting in the ultimate depravity? For that matter, did the Jamestown settlers perceive their cannibalism as the ultimate depravity? Do you perceive a difference in attitudes towards cannibalism, group sacrifice, etc between the groups of people?

My memory is that the majority of those who died and were eaten as the Donner party starved were adult men and unrelated to the people who consumed them. It occurs to me that the colonist population of Jamestown was probably a higher proportion adult men than the Donner party. If the information is available, did the demographics of who died in Jamestown mimic the demographics of who died in the Donner party? Were the weak preyed on more often in Jamestown than among the Donners? If there were differences, do you think the family unit had some sort of effect?

​

​

This is outside the time period of the book, but I was wondering if either of you could comment on continuities with how news covered famous incidents of frontier cannabalism, e.g., Alferd Packer or, I suppose more famously, the Donner Party.

I’m curious if you’ve come across any sources that speak to the health benefits of cannibalizing particular body parts? I’ve always been struck by the description of Magellan’s crew cannibalizing intestines as a means to cure scurvy and wondered if that belief was wide held or where it came from as Pigafetta doesn’t explain more in his account of the voyage.

Okay, all. I’m going to take a break for the night, and have to teach tomorrow. I’ll check in Wednesday afternoon GMT to try to respond to additional questions. Thanks for giving my brain a nice workout!

This is a subject that has always fascinated me, thank you for doing this!

1. Is cannibalism a global thing? Is there evidence of it everywhere when resources become short and civilization is collapsing?

2. How long do you think it would take for 'modern' people to resort to cannibalism in the event of societal collapse? Do you think our current reliance on grocery stores, convenience foods, lack of knowledge of farming would make us more prone to it quickly, or would the taboo and the mental disconnect from living beings having to be killed for meat make us slower to start using humans as meat?

The starving time in Jamestown is, as you say, one of the most famous cannibalism narratives in North American colonial history.

I know that cannibalism has been confirmed based on recovered remains in modern times, but how much was actually written at the time about this, either by participants or else outsiders, even if just pursuing rumor?

This leads to my second question, which only really make sense depending on the first but what nevertheless interests me a bit more. Cannibalism was used as a way to depict the "savage" populations encountered in the Americas. So given their own 'indulgence' how did the Jamestown colonists, and other European commentators, contextualize something like the Starving Time against the supposed cannibalistic 'savagery' of the natives?

Is there any kind of "index of American cannibalism" that documents all known and suspected incidences?

The doomed Franklin Expedition reportedly ended with some cannibalism. Are there other examples of explorations to the Americas that ended with cannibalism?

I'm late with my question, I know, but I'll post it anyway.

My question is a little more meta. I noticed while in undergrad in the early 2010s that interest in Atlantic history as a distinct area of study seemed to be growing, and that trend certainly seems to have continued. Why do you think working historians like yourself have become interested in the Atlantic world, and particularly in seeing it as a "zone", in a way that their predecessors seem not to have?

Was there a sense of levity in homo-cannabilistic cultures (cultures that ate their own dead) about eating their own? Was it necessity or ritual?

Also, how closely linked are sex and cannabilism? Some serial killers, notably Jeffrey Dahmer, would cannabalize some victims in part. Is this a linking of basic needs like eating and reproduction or something else?

Thanks!

Was cannibalism associated with drug use in the Americas? If so, were drugs used to mitigate feelings of guilt, or were they part of the culture that endorsed cannibalism?

In some of the reports of the Jumonville incident that started the 7 Years War, it was mentioned that Tanacharison smashed open Jumonville's head and ate his brains.

How much is known about this particular ritual; was it common as a "war declaration" amongst pre-Colombian or pre-colonial North America?

Thank you for your time!

My question concerns South America, though still on the Atlantic Ocean side. I’m descended from a tribe in northern Brazil (Pernambuco area), and our oral history claims our ancestors were cannibals. I now live in a different country so I’m a bit cut off from it all, and would really like to find out more about the tribe and its history, but it’s very hard to find any info. So much was lost before, and nowadays there’s more respect for native cultures but paradoxically it feels like there’s also a lot of white-washing and denial when it comes to such taboo topics.

Sorry if it’s off topic to your focus, but would you be able to point me in the direction of books or resources I could use to find out more about tribes of this particular area?

I hope I haven't missed the window of time here -- this sounds like a fantastic volume and I'll be sure to pick it up! Have you encountered any interesting intersections between the way narratives of cannibalism are constructed (in terms of ideas of difference, colonial imposition, etc.) and narratives surrounding homosexuality/sexual and gender difference?

Do you know of any evidence of cannibalism during the Irish famines of the 19th century?

I recently read Adam Shoalts’ A History if Canada in 10 Maps and he briefly discusses that among Indigenous tribes, and later among the Canadiens who interacted with them, there occurrences of an psychosis were individuals would suddenly have the desire to eat human flesh. IIRC, this was in a chapter describing the fur trade during its push further west.

This wasn’t an obsession that formed in desperate times where it was eat your dead companions or die yourself; rather, individuals would start to vocalize their desire to eat flesh well in advance and would tell anyone who would listen. They were often murdered by their friends and family as the psychosis persisted and it was naturally interpreted as possession by demons/malevolent spirits.

Where might I find more in-depth examinations of this particular phenomena?

This seems to be a form of psychosis that plays out entirely through accepted cultural scripts — individuals who could no longer handle the stress of living life on the plains took to fantasizing about eating the flesh of those close to them and describing their obsession until these people killed them. What’s not clear from Shoalt’s telling is if there were attempts to exorcise the spirits in this case — Indigenous tribes and (presumably Catholic) Canadiens would both have access to exorcism rituals to rid themselves of the supposed spirits. At the very least, these rituals represent a counter-script to move one past these unhealthy desires back into health. Is there an explanation why rituals which might have been seen as effective when faced with other situations of apparent possession would have been ineffective when faced with this particular obsession? Why would this one form of possession be resistant to exorcism; why would this script not be overwritten by the culturally appropriate remedies?

Since many colonists saw the crossing of the Atlantic as a metaphor for the Israelians crossing the Red Sea, I always regarded the cannibalist myths as a confirmation bias to fit Native Americans into the Christian image of Canaanites. Is there any historical evidence for this?

My memory might be hazy, but I recall reading a book on the Franklin Expedition wherein the natives were surprised at how inept and unprepared the crew were at survival in the Arctic. They reported that they witnessed cannibalism, and, I seem to recall, that some of the found remains support their observations. The natives were also surprised that the Europeans made no efforts to ask for help. IIRC, it was because the British looked down on the Inuit. How much influence did a "superiority complex" affect the lack of food knowledge in a new environment and the failure to ask for help?

Are there any cultural factors that help predict when a group resorts to cannibalism in times of famine, and is this a universal or extremely rare survival go-to? Does cannibalism ever become an us-vs-them practice of preying on “others”?

Daniel Dafoe has cannibalistic natives as a plot point in Robinson Crusoe. Was the cannibalism of natives in the Caribean commonly assumed among his readers, or was this a shock? More generally, how did the trope of cannibal tribes evolve in adventure fiction, and to what degree did readers regard it as realistic?

I know this is outside the scope, but I was curious about the Chichi Jima case in WWII. Did Japan have any sort of history or promotion/condemnation of cannibalism? Torture and mutilation were common, but that incident certainly feels very out of place.

How should we morally judge past societies who practiced cannibalism for unjust reasons like believing they could assume the power from the person they ate.

Was there any cases of cultural cannibalism in America that weren't caused by starvation?

Do you think eating "human" meat would still be loaded with negative connotations even if it was grown in a lab and therefore couldn't be associated with any particular person/life? Do you think that there is so much historical and cultural weight that that - the negative connotations - would always remain in place?

Hello Drs Herrmann & Watson. I know this may be a bit outside of your purview. However, are there any documented instances of cannibalistic practices in the American Southwest? If so, were there any distinct differences either in purpose or manner compared to the Native Americans of the North American Southeast & Northeast?

Can parallels be drawn between cannibalization stories regarding natives in the Americas and older legends like Sawney Bean and Christie Cleek? Dehumanizing groups of people to claim moral superiority is common, so I’d like to know more about the origin of these stories as a sort of political theater.

More of a personal inquiry, but what exactly interested you in this particular subject matter?

Have you any insight to share on the abortive colonisation of Sable Island (Nova Scotia) by the French in the 1500s? My understanding is that, after funding fell through the colonists were abandoned, with no recourse but to eat one another.

Does cannibalism generally have a religious or ritual function? Also is there any class or status element in it in societies where it is accepted? I've heard people arguing that human sacrifice was somehow critical in the emergence of the first states. Is there any similar factor in cannibalism?

Hi Dr. Herrmann, I’m Canadian and come from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Our history revolves around the British, French, and Aboriginal settlements that paved the way for modern Halifax. In your knowledge, there were apparently rumours at the time by the British that the Aboriginals would eat their enemies or dead. Can you verify if this was common practice? Thanks again!

Hi Dr. Herrmann!

Across my studies in abolitionist thought, I have constantly seen slavers referred as "merchants of human flesh" and other connotations to cannibalism when talking about the slave trade. It has always intrigued me very much but I was never able to trace the genealogy of this metaphor. Have you come across it? Would you have any insights on it? Thank you very much for your time!

Did explorers cannibalize people in Jamaica or Haiti? I’ve heard rumours in the last few years, was always curious if there was any truth to that?

Hi Dr Heeemann. My main curiosity is the difference between “irrational” cannibalism, like the wendigo, or starvation and other desperate acts, and the more “civilised” cannibalism among whole communities.

Is there cultural background the latter which makes it more justifiable, or did it usually begin with the first and morph into the second?

Hi Dr. Herrmann, your work is very interesting and I appreciate the answers you've given so far.

I have a question for you regarding the indigenous populations described in your works. What has your time consulting with the relevant indigenous nations been like? What insight have you been able to gleam from them?

Cheers!

Do any recipes survive?