Off With Their Heads!
Beheadings are back in the news, thanks to the savagery of the Islamic State (IS or ISIS). Not only do people know about these acts, but they can even see the videos on the Internet. Then again, beheadings are nothing new. They are an ancient practice, most famously during the French Revolution. The Amazonians shrunken heads are well known. That is why anthropologist Frances Larson wonders in her book, “Severed: A History of Heads Lost and Heads Found” : “What can we learn about our common humanity from this, the ultimate image of inhumanity?” Larson mentions something that I didn’t realize until, well, she said it: decapitation almost always has had a political angle to it. Let me quote her from her interview : “Decapitation is an inherently visual form of murder, because it produces a trophy that stands as proof of conquest. It creates something that is made to be displayed, and it presupposes an audience to watch. It also requires huge force to decapitate someone. It...