Hamatsa: The Enigma of Cannibalism on the Pacific NW Coast

by Jim McDowell

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781553800880
Publisher:	Ronsdale Press
Publication date:	03/01/1997
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	300
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Jim McDowell is a veteran British Columbia historian. His first career was teaching, which took him into classrooms from northern California to Seattle, New York City, and Vancouver. He taught elementary school in California and Washington, worked as an inner-city education consultant in Harlem and Brooklyn, and educated teachers at Simon Fraser University. McDowell also worked for 20 years as a freelance writer and independent reporter; he wrote hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles for Canadian and U.S. publications.