Cannibal Culture: Art, Appropriation and Commodification of Differences - Book Report/Review Example

Book Cannibal Culture Book Root, Deborah Publication: 1996 Publisher: Westview Press Reviewer: Introduction The cannibal at the heart of culture and society remains a unique and actual part of our behavior even though it has in part, been ignored and vociferously denied, both in cultural anesthetization, and in the adjuration of our consumptive attitudes towards cultural differences. States have been defined and treated, perhaps as barbaric, despotic and dictatorial because of their consumptive tendencies. The old Aztec kingdom of Mexico was and still is the purest representation of pagan barbarism by our western civilization largely because of its mass sacrifice of human, and maybe, its occult cannibalism, yet the contrast it draws with the Spaniards who destroyed it is relative to the imperial glory of the western power and the mass killing that ultimately marked the demise of the Aztec at the hands of the colonial powers. The same was true in Europe in the first and Second World War. Cannibal power is an integral part of culture and society. Power must be organized; the cannibal forces of Hitler had to be confronted by an equally potent force of cannibalism from the rest of the west. If that had not happened, the inevitable consumption of a culture we have all come to call civilization would have been the reality today in Europe and maybe America. The anesthetization of the way of life in the west has also been balanced by the consumptive invasion of the Iraqis and the Libyans by our own military (always in defense of our culture). This book tries to connect the thread between wealth and death, power and destruction. Wealth and security in the west could perhaps mean death in the vast desert region of Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, and other regions such as Congo and Nigeria in Africa. The true nature of power would be simple to understand only if we looked into the smoking mirror the Aztecs called Tezcatlipoca. When we look in the mirror we see the violence and destructive consumption that are immanent to power and balance in society. What this book does best is the surreal relation it draws with cultural anthropology. The essence of power as is related in this book is to preserve the society, create wealth, and give dignity. It is hidden behind the mirror of our traditions and ways of life here in the west, but it is reflected if we dare look in the mirror and behold the absolute display of its cannibal might in land where our military and diplomats fight for interest inherent to the sustenance of our traditions and ways of life. Power demands death and suffering for it to survive, and even though it has been continually disavowed and elided within our society, our western civilization is in reality no different from the Aztec Mexican culture that celebrated violence and consumption of flesh. The colonial power who later exercised monopoly right over lands, arts and aesthetics of cultural and religious importance to local communities were not different from the Aztecs who exercised tribute right over people in place to which their kingdom had expanded even though they obviously had not displayed their cannibal power as explicitly as the Aztecs did. This argument could not have been made better by this author. The authenticity and persuasiveness of this author’s approach is inherent in the fact that the research field of this book was not confined to the museums, art galleries, libraries and institutions of western malls, but was stretched far beyond the Duffer in malls in Toronto, among native Canadians to the streets in Mexico City and Kahn awake. It is evident in this book how the author has tried to relate the similarity between the Aztec Mexicans and western culture. This is perhaps, a work in cultural anthropology at its best. Chapter One Chapter one begins with the story of two brothers but it juxtaposes the gruesomeness of death and flesh consumption of Aztec Mexico with the anesthetization of death and violence of western culture. It posits that the ultimate demand of society and power is the consumption of human flesh. The cannibal culture of the Aztec Mexican may have been celebrated but is no different from violence and death that have wasted across the lands to which the imperial power of the west has been put to use. The morbidity of western consumptive tendencies might be hidden behind the aesthetics of civilized culture but a gaze in the “mirror that smokes” would reveal the actual behavior of the western society. It is the same power that creates wealth and security that inflicts untold suffering. It is the same power that bestows dignity that also consumes flesh. Cannibal power is driven by the same goals; imperial and aristocratic dreams. It held true with the Aztecs. It held true with the colonial power that ultimately conquered them. It hold true today with the endless pursuit of interest needed for the security of western culture in other lands. Chapter two Chapter two begins with the Butterfly Madam and goes on to elucidate an issue in cultural anthropology which lays bare the share potency of cultural cannibalism. The west, in making cultures that are different commodities sellable in market, is actually acting true to the Aztec Mexican culture of cultural and economic dominance, and though it may not be as explicit as the mass sacrifice of foreigners by the Aztecs for their cultural and religious demand, is nevertheless just as consumptive. The use of stereotypes and tropes in this regard have helped attained a greater level of success than the Aztecs could ever have dreamed possible. Chapter Three Chapter three shows quite succinctly that the general tradition of conquest and appropriation that was well known with the Aztec king has and is still being followed through by the west. This point of similarity is seen in the colonial appropriation of culture for commercial gains. Imagery and traditions are packaged and sold in a predetermined market, the natives, or perhaps the authentic owners left out of the process. Authenticity is stolen or faked, the intent being to present native culture as something that continues to live, yet is firmly anchored in the past, for the prospect of creating wealth. But the market itself operate because the capitalist market through movies and other media have presented, as seen in the third chapter of this book, some aspects of cultural differences, not only as exotic but also, as presented in this chapter, as clearly authentic. Chapter Four In chapter four, artifact is taken out of its intended context and treated purely as an aesthetic object of trophies emphasizing colonial superiority and conquest of land, people and culture. In the Aztec kingdom, people subject to cannibal economies were subjected to tribute and later sacrificed on the pyramid as victims of cult cannibalism. In the same way, conquered land had its people subjected to forced labor by the colonial lord. Possession, some of which belonged to individuals, and association and communities seized and brought to the west and displayed in museums where they are manipulated and brought back to life. The explicit cannibal nature of the colonial lord’s control over life and death is brought to display at ethnographic museums where the bone and skeletal remains of the colonized people are made into collection meant to be studied and used as a neutralizing factor in the discourse of the living. Colonialism is, perhaps, related to be in perfect alignment with the expansionist drive of the Aztec Mexicans in this book. Chapter Five The concept of terra nullius is related beautifully in this book by the author as a means through which the colonial lord skillfully backed their invasion and annexation of lands in Canada and West Africa. Land were seized because they had not been put to proper use as laid out in the notion of laws written by church lawyers for the adjudication of land in Europe. Without their consent, people in the distant land of South America, South Asia, Africa and Arabia were made subject to laws they neither understood or cared about. Like Tezcatlipoca, the colonial imperial kingdom was expanded and built on a ruse. Chapter Six In chapter six, we are brought back to the Aztec god-brothers where the book first began. The Aztec knew that the act of gazing unto the mirror was perhaps, the root, foundation of human sacrifice and militarism. This is more apparent in the life of Huitzicatlipoca and his sister’s army whom he defeated and had their possession, finery, adornment and destinies appropriated and made his own. He wore and made them his emblem. Huitzicatlipoca’s victory was re-enacted on the pyramid and bears a striking similarity to modern day museum where bone and skeletons of the dead defeated dead are brought back to life. It is also worth noting that all the Aztec priests kept special temples in Tenochititlan that contain representation of the gods of conquered people. Ethnographic museums did not begin with the European after all. Anthropological terms used Actual behavior refers the real nature of things people do in their lives. It is most of the time often found to be different from what they believe they are doing, or believe they should do. It is beautifully illustrated in this book by the author’s attempt to describe the Metecuzoma’s reaction to his true image in the smoking mirror. Commodity refers to an economic good and is used often in this book to relate the packaging of culture for sale in the market. Culture is the learned pattern of behavior people or groups need to possess so they can adapt to their surroundings. It is used in this book to refer to the learned pattern of behavior, or representation of it either consumed or commodified. Colonialism describes a state where change is forced on a culture, society or nation by another who exercises dominance. It is used to describe the imperial expansion of the west to other part of the world in this book. Ethnographic Present describes a culture as it was before contact. In this book, it is presented as ethnographic museums where old artifacts taken from colonized territories are re-enact and brought back to life. It is compared to special temples kept by Aztec priests for gods of conquered people. Conclusion This book does not only show the inherent link between the expansionist kingdom of the past with modern day colonialism, it addresses the commodification of cultural differences and artifacts by the colonizers. It has changed my perception of travel and tourism. This is perhaps, a good thing for anthropology and could change our concept of western civilization and third world barbarism. Read More