The Interpretation of Violent Worldviews: Cannibalism and Other Violent Images of the Caribbean
Compares attitudes toward Caribbean cannibalism & African American slave religions to explore how stereotypical images of culturally legitimate violence continue to influence attitudes toward Caribbean cultural concepts. An overview of the history of Caribbean cannibalism indicates that these acts were considered legitimate because they almost always fulfilled a social function for the community. Concepts of Caribbean cannibalism in colonial discourse led to the negative stereotyping of a culture in which cannibalistic acts were an important facet of religion & a core aspect of the symbolic universe. Colonial stereotypes affected European behavior/attitudes toward African slaves, who were considered dangerous/savage because of their religions, especially Jamaican Obeah & Haitian Vodou, which incorporated violent practices & violent images, respectively. It is argued that European notions of cannibalism not only became a key factor in the encounter between different cultural systems, & a symbol in perceptions of "Others," but generated an atmosphere of violence in colonial discourse that suggested all non-Christian ideas/practices were nonhuman & should be eliminated. 34 References. J. Lindroth