昨年11月にEast Asia Anthropologists' discussionメイリング・リストに投稿されたChristian Siefkes氏*1のメッセージ；
I would like to announce my new book "Edible People: The Historical
Consumption of Slaves and Foreigners and the Cannibalistic Trade in Human
Flesh"*2, published by Berghahn Books. The introduction can be read here:
https://www.berghahnbooks.com/downloads/intros/SiefkesEdible_intro.pdf
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.Two chapters are dedicated to commercial and culinary aspects of cannibalism
in China, where human flesh repeatedly appeared on marketplaces during times
of famine and warfare, and where it was occasionally eaten even outside such
times of hardship, sometimes due to culinary choice. Historical evidence
shows that cannibalism emerged over millennia during times of desperate
famine, allowing some to survive at the cost of the lives of others. The
victims were often children who were either kidnapped or exchanged or sold
by their own families. Famine cannibalism often had a commercial side, with
human flesh appearing on marketplaces – even at times when animal meat and
other provisions were still available, but had become very expensive.In warfare, on the other hand, cannibalism was driven not by desperation,
but by convenience and a desire to humiliate and utterly destroy the enemy.
Especially during the Mongol Yuan dynasty, the consumption of human flesh
seems to have been quite widely accepted in military circles, sometimes
linked with a sadistic desire to rape and torture civilians. Various reports
from this as well as from earlier times also indicate that cannibalism could
have a decidedly culinary side, with human flesh cherished by some as an
exotic novelty food. In other cases, cannibal acts could be motivated by
revenge or health concerns.The historian Paul Moon (Auckland University of Technology) says about the
book: "Christian Siefkes' work on cannibalism explores areas of the
phenomenon that are still little understood, and makes an important and
significant addition to the existing literature on the topic. His research
is broad-ranging, and his perspectives are particularly insightful."The anthropologist Paul Collinson (Oxford Brookes University) calls it "a
remarkable book [that as] a historical archive detailing the extent of
cannibalism in various parts of the world ... is largely unmatched and
breaks new ground in the sheer volume of material presented."
(,,,)
