Cannibalism in Cross Cultural Perspective

Book excerpt: The central purpose of this book is to show that cannibalism has been practiced under certain conditions in a variety of cultures throughout the world. Twenty-five different cultures are presented in this book. The types of cannibalism covered include: exo-cannibalism, judicial, survival, endocannibalism, human sacrifice, biting, infanticide, funeral, slave, and Windigo and cannibalism. The origins and philosophy of cannibalism as well as cannibalism's relationship with food taboos and religion are also discussed. David A. Ezzo has been involved with the study of Native American Indian history and culture for over twenty-five years. His interest in the subject matter frist began when he earned his Indian Lore merit badge from Mr. Ronald P. Koch when he was 15 years old. His interest in the topic continued when he served as an Indian Lore counselor at Camp Turner for four summers in 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1983. David began his academic study of Native Americans when he earned a BA degree in Anthropology from SUNY Fredonia in 1985. While at Fredonia he wrote two published articles and co-wrote a third article with one of his professors, Dr. Alvin H. Morrison. This article was presented at the 16th Algonquian Conference and was published a year later in 1986. David earned his MA in Anthropology from the University of Oklahoma in 1987. During his time at the University of Oklahoma he presented several papers including one at a Frontier Conference at OU in 1986 and also a paper at the Algonquian Conference. His MA thesis was also written on a Native American topic. The title of his thesis "Female Status in Northeastern North America" was a historical survey of the roles of Native American women in a number of Algonquian societies. During subsequent years David continued to attend and publish papers at Algonquian Conferences. He also continued to serve as a BSA Indian Merit badge counselor. In June of 2005 David earned his Ph.D. in Anthropology from Richardson University. Also in August of 2005 he was appointed as an Adjunct Professor of Anthropology at Erie Community College (North Campus). In July of 2007 David published his first book "Papers on Historical Algonquian and Iroquois Topics" which he co-authored with Michael H. Moskowitz. This book was also published by Dog Ear Publishing.