Peggy Reeves Sanday, "Divine Hunger:Cannibalism as a Cultural System" (Book Note)

 

In her work, Divine Hunger, inspired by Ricoeur's "Symbolism of Evil" and incorporating Freud's instinct concept and Jung's idea of symbols channeling psychological energy, Sanday explores the symbolic power of cannibalism. While Ricoeur's analysis focuses on Western, Greek, and Judeo-Christian myths, Sanday extends this examination to familiar contexts in New Guinea and North America. By emphasizing ritual cannibalism, psychic symbolism, and oppositions, she shifts attention from Ricoeur's concerns about defilement, guilt, and ethical evolution.

 

Cannibalism has been explained in various psychological, biological, and cultural contexts, including aggression, survival tactics during famine, protein needs, revenge, victimization of enemies, reincarnation, human sacrifice, and political insult. Sanday concentrates on ritual cannibalism to test different interpretations. She begins with a cross-cultural review and tabulation, noting its presence in North, Central, and South America, Africa, and Oceania, and its rarity in the Mediterranean and absence in East Eurasia. However, the distribution and selection of cases are not discussed.

 

Cannibalism is linked to small-scale community political organization, male aggression, postpartum sex taboos (indicating maternal dependency), and food stress. Sanday challenges views from Sagan, Arens, Harner, and Harris, opting for a symbolic exegesis that excludes the evolutionary cultural formula and the bio-nutritional approach. The book presents case studies, with a focus on Gimi, Hua, Bimin-Kuskusmin, Northern Algonkian, Athapaskan, Kwakiutl, Iroquois, Fiji, and Aztec societies. The selection is based on reliability and detail, but some may find it overweighted on Melanesia and North America, with the absence of Maori, South American, and African examples relying on non-English language sources.

 

The cases and general interpretation are two steps removed from native reality, represented by Sanday from observers, recorders, or anthropologists and guided by her understanding of Ricoeur. Sanday concludes that cannibalism, like evil, is a primordial concept, supported by the polarity of symbols in cannibalism related to life substances, chaos, and order. Despite documenting the breadth and applicability of this interpretation, she also analyzes noncannibalistic cultural concepts, exploring their displacement, substitution, and alternative ritual paradigms. Examples include Trobriands cooperation and Goodenough Island food exchange. Lastly, she contrasts symbols and themes from noncannibalistic societies that emphasize order and life, such as the wind soul of Navaho and the forest of Mbuti.