This dissertation analyses the discursive trope of cannibalism as a recurrent mode of representation of New World indigenous peoples in early modern travel accounts and other documents related to the first stages of the exploration and colonization of the Americas (1493-97). Firstly, drawing on the original documents of the Columbian enterprise, I discuss the indebtedness of the discourse around New World cannibalism to pre-existent classical and medieval literary traditions on monsters and man-eaters, as well as its adaptation to the contingencies of the Columbian expedition. I mostly take into account problems inherent to the practices of ethnographic observation and description, as well as questions of authorship and readership of the texts. Secondly, I analyze the corpus of literary materials that were quickly produced and circulated throughout Europe as news of the New World spread, mostly within the Italian diplomatic and mercantile milieu. Special attention is given to the ways in which mediated interpretations and erudite re-workings of first-hand reports, in conjunction with the demands of the public, further contributed to the creation and consolidation of a stereotyped European discourse around the cannibalistic practices of New World populations.
Daniele, Elena,
"First Representations of New World Cannibals (1493-1497)"
(2014).
Italian Studies Theses and Dissertations.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.7301/Z0377739
