Beth A. Conklin

Cannibalism and the Work of Culture in Bereavement: Commentary On Gottlieb

isions of fragmented and reunified human bodies are prime imagery through which people experience loss and isolation and project desires for reparation. Richard Gottlieb’s insightful essay shows how concerns with bodily integrity, including cannibalistic imagery, come to the fore in diverse settings, suggesting this is powerful imaginative material for confronting existential dilemmas and emotions that are among the most universal human experiences. As an ethnographer who works with indigenous people for whom cannibalism used to be an integral part of their cultural framework for managing death and mourning, I find the connections Gottlieb identi-