Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History

Claire Rembis is the owner and founder of Your Placenta, a “one-stop center for all of your placenta-related needs” (229). She appears in Chapter 16 of Cannibalism as the proponent of one of the few modern examples of culturally-accepted cannibalism. Rembis runs a business which helps people who are interested in consuming placentas. This is, Schutt points out, cannibalism. Yet Rembis is not treated with the disdain or horror which accompanies many media portrayals of cannibalism. She is not framed as a serial killer in newspaper articles, for example, nor compared to Hannibal Lecter or Norman Bates. Schutt extends this framing; his meeting with Rembis leans heavily on the domestic. He situates her in a loving family environment, surrounded by her husband and children. This is far removed from the horror and violence which media portrayals associate with cannibalism, but also far removed from the abstracted, scientific discussions of cannibalism which are found elsewhere in the book or in anthropological research. In effect, Rembis is the acceptable face of cannibalism. By portraying her in this fashion, Schutt is working to untangle the taboo which surrounds the subject and show that cannibalism does not necessarily need to be associated with violence and horror.

Schutt gives Rembis a voice. He centralizes her beliefs in the discussions about the consumption of the human placenta. Rembis voices her belief that the process is natural, then elaborates on the subject by framing it more as a process of presentation than ethics. Rembis has many different options for placenta consumption, aided by her chef husband. She can cook and offer the placenta in many ways, turning the discussion about ethics into the contents of a cookbook. Schutt allows himself to be convinced. While he may not rhetorically vouch for Rembis in an explicit way—he does not say exactly whether he agrees or disagrees with her—his framing and his actions suggest an endorsement. He centralizes Rembis’s voice, for example, giving her a platform which allows her views to be shared directly with the audience. More explicitly, he joins her in the consumption of human meat. Through Rembis, Schutt engages in an act of cannibalism. He may not endorse Rembis or her business explicitly, but he does so implicitly by eating placenta alongside her.

Diego Álvarez Chanca was a Spanish physician and writer best known for accompanying Christopher Columbus on his second voyage to the Americas in 1493. Born in the late 15th century in Spain, Chanca served as a physician to the Spanish royal court, gaining recognition for his medical expertise. He was selected to be the expedition’s chief physician, responsible for maintaining the health of the crew and settlers as they ventured into unfamiliar lands. During the expedition, Chanca documented his observations of the Indigenous peoples, their customs, and the natural environment of the Caribbean. In Cannibalism, he plays an important role. Schutt uses Chanca’s spurious assertions to illustrate the way in which sensationalized reports can cause significant violence.

The particular focus of Schutt’s criticism is the depiction of what came to be known as the “cannibal hut” (115). Chanca claimed to have seen a firsthand account of the Indigenous Carib people engaging in cannibalism. This account became a part of the published stories of Columbus’s voyage, even though Chanca was not a part of the landing party who visited the habitation in question. Chanca was relaying information that he had not verified, information which was then sent back across the Atlantic Ocean and used to demonize an entire people. Chanca’s misreporting of reality became one of the key justifications for the brutal colonization of the Americas, with the local people depicted as cannibals in contrast to the Christian colonizers who sought to put an end to the practice. Chanca was not alone in the way in which he misreported, exaggerated, or misinterpreted the Indigenous cultures. In Cannibalism, however, he becomes the representative of this ill-fated practice and the embodiment of the way in which colonizing Europeans used false reports of cannibalism as a justification for their violence.