Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History

Throughout Cannibalism, Schutt is critical of the longstanding issues anthropology has faced due to colonialist and Eurocentric ideas. As a discipline that emerged during the height of European imperialism in the 19th century, anthropology is often criticized for its early biases, many of which persist in subtle forms today. Early anthropologists frequently framed non-European cultures through a lens of Western superiority, reinforcing colonial narratives and justifying exploitative policies. This legacy is central to Schutt’s treatment of cannibalism, a topic historically sensationalized to portray colonized peoples as inferior.

The discipline’s colonial foundations shaped its early practices and assumptions. Anthropologists, often funded by imperial governments, documented non-European cultures with the goal of classifying them according to Western scientific and moral hierarchies. Prominent figures such as Lewis Henry Morgan, Edward Burnett Tylor, and James Frazer advanced theories of social evolutionism, which posited that all human societies progressed from “savagery” to “civilization.” European societies were placed at the top of this hierarchy, with Indigenous cultures labeled as “primitive.” This framing provided ideological justification for colonization and played a major role in shaping public and academic understandings of non-Western peoples.

Another major issue in anthropology’s history is the objectification of Indigenous peoples, who were often studied as exotic “others” rather than as fully realized human beings. Ethnographic research frequently depicted these communities as timeless and unchanging, denying them historical agency and internal complexity. One of the most disturbing examples of this objectification was the practice of staging ethnographic exhibitions—or “human zoos”—where Indigenous people were displayed for public entertainment in the US and Europe. These events were marketed as educational but reinforced racial hierarchies and cultural stereotypes.

The collection and exploitation of human remains also reflects the discipline’s unethical roots. Institutions like the Smithsonian and other museums around the world amassed thousands of skulls and skeletons, many of them taken without consent from colonized peoples. Such practices illustrate how anthropology’s pursuit of knowledge often intersected with violence and dehumanization.

In response to the discipline’s problematic past, modern anthropologists have increasingly called for the decolonization of the discipline—a movement aimed at addressing past injustices, challenging Eurocentric narratives, and prioritizing Indigenous and non-Western voices. In Cannibalism, Schutt participates in this larger project by exposing the ways anthropological claims about cannibalism have historically reinforced colonial power structures. For instance, he interrogates the sensational accounts of cannibalism that European explorers and missionaries used to justify conquest, demonstrating how these stories were often exaggerated or fabricated. By unpacking the history of how Western scholars have weaponized the idea of cannibalism, Schutt encourages readers to question both scientific authority and popular assumptions about other cultures.