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Skull trophies of the Pacific War: transgressive objects of remembrance
Author(s) -
Harrison Simon
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of the royal anthropological institute
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.62
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1467-9655
pISSN - 1359-0987
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9655.2006.00365.x
Subject(s) - trophy , adversary , identity (music) , transgressive , history , spanish civil war , skull , world war ii , art , archaeology , aesthetics , biology , anatomy , computer security , sedimentary depositional environment , paleontology , structural basin , computer science
This article discusses the use of enemy body parts as war trophies, focusing on the collection of Japanese skulls as trophies by Allied servicemen in the Second World War, and on the treatment of these objects after the war. I argue that such human trophy‐taking tends to occur in societies, including modern states, in which two conditions hold: the hunting of animals is an important component of male identity; and the human status of enemies is denied.