Cannibalism Myths, Empire, and Identity in Colonial Sierra Leone

In 1913, Sierra Leone bore witness to a Special Court convened to hear cases of cannibalism. Described as "Human Leopards,\u0022 those accused of ritually killing and eating others were associated with a criminal group, and in the wake of the cases, many accused and convicted Human Leopards were executed or exiled from the colony. Contemporary writers described these events in the rhetoric of the "civilized world\u0022 triumphing over the "barbaric,\u0022 and newspapers of the period wallowed in the lurid idea of shapeshifting cannibals lurking to murder and devour the innocent. Cannibalism Myths, Empire, and Identity in Colonial Sierra Leone by Katrina HB Keefer offers new perspectives on these trials, delving closely into the transcripts of the 1913 Human Leopard cases. Through careful analysis of evidence and modern scholarship, it's clear that cannibalism was never at play in these murder cases, and Keefer presents a complex web of judicial overreach, colonial ambitions, xenophobic fears, socio-political

turmoil, animals whose habitats were being encroached upon, and powerful initiation societies. [Publisher's text]