European anthropophagy: the update of the medieval myth to justify the extermination of Native Americans Antropofagia europea: la actualización del mito medieval para justificar el exterminio del nativo americano

Abstract

The article explores how the myth of the savage, rooted in medieval European imagination, was updated and employed to justify the colonization and extermination of Native Americans. Through the figure of the "noble savage," this myth was embedded in European culture long before the colonial expansion, serving as a tool to dehumanize and animalize indigenous cultures. This perception allowed European colonizers to view natives as inferior beings, legitimizing their exploitation, destruction, and the plundering of their lands. The savage narrative, reinforced by medieval and ethnocentric imaginaries, justified European dominance over indigenous cultures, resulting in a process of dehumanization and symbolic consumption of these communities.