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Skulls and Scientific Collecting in the Victorian Military: Keeping the Enemy Dead in British Frontier Warfare

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 January 2008

Simon J. Harrison
Simon J. Harrison
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, University of Ulster
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Extract

As a result of colonial wars with indigenous peoples, especially in Africa and North America, a distinction seems to have arisen in Western military culture between ‘civilized’ and ‘savage’ enemies. The behavior of civilized enemies in battle appeared rational and constrained by rules. Savage enemies, on the other hand, evinced emotional and unregulated violence. Above all, they were distinguished by an excessive brutality they seemed to display towards their enemies in customs such as cannibalism and the taking of body parts as trophies (see, for example, Marks 1970: 246). In short, the differences between civilized people and savages in warfare were especially evident in their behavior toward enemy dead.

Type
Research Article
Information
Comparative Studies in Society and History , Volume 50 , Issue 1 , January 2008 , pp. 285 - 303
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Comparative Studies in Society and History 2008

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