Cultural Implications of Cannibalism in Defoe's Robinson

Crusoe: A Postcolonial Analysis

Mohamed Chaddi
University of Santiago De Compostela

Abstract
This research paper examines the cultural implications of the depictions of cannibalism in

Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe through a postcolonial theoretical lens. It analyzes how

cannibals and cannibalism are portrayed within the text and what these representations reveal

about the construction of cultural identities during colonial encounters.

Adopting a postcolonial reading, the paper argues that Crusoe's sinister depictions of

cannibals as monstrous savages serve to position them as the dehumanized cultural "Other."

This process of othering allows Crusoe to define his own European identity against their

constructed alterity. Scenes of supposed cannibal rituals are shown to promote damaging

colonial stereotypes that deny indigenous cultures' complexity and humanity.

The paper explores how Robinson Crusoe's fears about cannibalism stem from underlying

anxieties surrounding the fragility of European civilization and the perceived dangers of

cultural contamination. His assertions of dominance over the indigenous people he encounters

represent an attempt to assert colonial control through the violent disruption of native cultural

identities and norms.

Through a close postcolonial analysis of the multifaceted symbolic role that cannibalism plays

in the narrative, this research paper illuminates how Defoe's text subtly reinforces ideologies

that legitimized European colonial domination by establishing racial hierarchies and

narratives of cultural superiority.

Keywords: Robinson Crusoe, Cannibalism, Colonialism, Postcolonialism, Power Dynamics,

Cultural Identity, "Othering".