Edible People

The Historical Consumption of Slaves and Foreigners and the Cannibalistic Trade in Human Flesh

Christian Siefkes

• Publisher: Berghahn Books
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781800736139
• eBook ISBN: 9781800736146
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Agricultural Public Policy
• Index: Politics & International Relations

While human cannibalism has attracted considerable notice and controversy, certain aspects of the practice have received scant attention. These include the connection between cannibalism and xenophobia: the capture and consumption of unwanted strangers. Likewise ignored is the connection to slavery: the fact that in some societies slaves and persons captured in slave raids could be, and were, killed and eaten. This book explores these largely forgotten practices and ignored connections while making explicit the links between cannibal acts, imperialist influences and the role of capitalist trading practices. These are highly important for the history of the slave trade and for understanding the colonialist history of Africa.

Table of contents

• EDIBLE PEOPLE
• Contents
• Illustrations
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 — A Taxonomy of Cannibal Practices
• Chapter 2 — Slave Eating in New Zealand
• Chapter 3 — Slave Eating in the Bismarck Archipelago and Sumatra
• Chapter 4 — Ivory, Slavery, and Slave Eating in the Congo Basin
• Chapter 5 — The Roles of Arab-Swahili Merchants and the Congo Free State
• Chapter 6 — Understanding Congolese Slave Eating
• Chapter 7 — Commercial and Economic Aspects of Congolese Cannibalism
• Chapter 8 — Exploitation and Patriarchy in the Congo
• Chapter 9 — The Jameson Affair
• Chapter 10 — The Question of European Influences and the Obeyesekere Conjecture
• Chapter 11 — Foreignor Poaching in New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago
• Chapter 12 — Foreigner Poaching in Fiji and Central Africa
• Chapter 13 — The Trade in Human Flesh and in “Edible” Corpses
• Chapter 14 — Famine and Commercial Cannibalism in China
• Chapter 15 — Warfare and Culinary Cannibalism in China
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index