Images of Savages

"In recent times major efforts have been made to eliminate racial prejudice, but there is plenty of evidence that it still survives. Gustav Jahoda demonstrates how deeply rooted western perceptions going back more than a thousand years are still feeding racial prejudice today. In Images of Savages he explains how beliefs about monstrous humanoid man-eaters in classical antiquity and 'wild men of the woods' in the Middle Ages influenced the manner in which early explorers such as Columbus viewed the 'savages' they encountered." "Another early tradition was the 'ape-likeness' of savages, and especially blacks, coupled with notions about their unbridled sexuality. This persisted through the ages, reaching its culmination during the nineteenth century, when it gained scientific respectability. Lasting well into the twentieth century, its remnants are far from being extinct in popular culture." "This highly original socio-historical contextualization will be invaluable to scholars of psychology, sociology and anthropology, and to all those interested in the sources of racial prejudice."--BOOK JACKET.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.