Hamatsa: The Enigma of Cannibalism on the Pacific Northwest Coast
Author(s): Jim McDowell
Synopsis: In a comprehensive, interdisciplinary investigation, historian Jim McDowell takes a fresh look all the evidence. Beginning with the early explorers and traders, McDowell analyzes the reliability of their man-eating accounts, and shows how their observations were often clouded by a “cannibal complex.” But McDowell also finds convincing evidence of the importance of ritual cannibalism among Pacific Northwest Coast Natives. In a detailed study of the hamatsa ceremony – the most secret and profound of all the winter ceremonies – McDowell reveals how Native spirituality was rooted in ritual cannibalism. The volume concludes by discussing the relevance of the hamatsa ritual in today’s world for a society that appears to be losing its moral and ethical bearings.
ISBN: 0-921870-47-7