Divine hunger
Subtitle: cannibalism as a cultural system
By: Peggy Reeves Sanday.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1986
Place of publication: Cambridge [Cambridgeshire]; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 266
Subjects: Cannibalism -- Cross-cultural studies.
Description: The practice of cannibalism is in certain cultures rejected as evil, while in others it plays a central part in the ritual order. Anthropologists have offered various explanations for the existence of cannibalism, none of which, Peggy Sanday claims, is adequate. In this book she presents a new approach to understanding the phenomenon. Through a detailed examination of ritual cannibalism in selected tribal societies, and a comparison of those cases with others in which the practice is absent, she shows that cannibalism is closely linked to people's orientation to the world, and that it serves as a concrete device for distinguishing the "cultural self" from the "natural other."
Notes: Bibliography: p. 253-259.
Includes index.