Hamatsa [Paperback]

Jim McDowell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 16, 1997

The first book-length study of whether cannibalism existed on the Pacific Northwest coast. McDowell shows how a "cannibal complex" among Westerners coloured many early accounts of "man-eating," and how this perception obscured the importance of ritual cannibalism in the secret Hamatsa ceremony—a crucial feature of Native spirituality.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jim McDowell is the author of several books, including Peace Conspiracy the Story of Warrior Businessman Yoshiro Fujimura. His study of the Spanish-Mexican mariner, Jose Narvaez, will appear in 1997. McDowell lives in Gibson, BC.

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Ronsdale Press; First edition (March 16, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0921870477
• ISBN-13: 978-0921870470
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,176,533 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Historical approach to Cannibalism, November 18, 2000

By 

Angela (Ottawa, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hamatsa (Paperback)

A good book, I've just recently read it for a class I'm taking in religious anthropology at the University of Ottawa. The book gives a good account of the historical European aproach to cannibalism on the West Coast. It is primarily concerned with the findings of ethnographer Franz Boas and it seeks to refute some of the claims made by Arens and his theories on the man-eating myth. The book details the Hamatsa ceremony and talks about the stigma surrounding cannibalism. The book is not an ethnography, but is more of a critical review of other ethnographic and historical accounts. At the end of the book, McDowell writes of how the ideas of the Hamatsa ceremony can serve our Western culture.