Found: Africa’s Cartoon Cannibal Kettle

Jungle Jitters

You’ve seen a million times the cartoon trope of an explorer (usually white) in the jungle (usually in Africa) sitting in a huge kettle cooking on a fire. And nearby (usually) is a dark-skinned chef (occasionally with a spear).

Just to show how well-established this trope is, here are some Google Images results.

Yeah. Racist as hell. Many of myths and stories about cannibalism seem to arise from one culture trying to smear another culture as barbaric – and therefore worthy of subjugation if not extermination.

All that came to mind when I ran across this man-sized kettle in Madagascar:

Kettle with Hat
I threw in my Campfire Cycling hat for scale, and for dramatic effect.
Kettle with foot
With my foot, for scale, and for deliciousness.

The location is a little island of Nosy Akoho, just off of Fenoarivo Atsinanana (a.k.a. Fénérive Est). It’s a small uninhabited place, just under 1 kilometer (.6 miles) around. It doesn’t appear on Google Maps unless you switch to satellite view.

No humans were cooked in this kettle. (Probably)

Chances are that the big kettle is European in origin – possibly an artifact from when Fenoarivo Atsinanana was a port for piracy in the 17th century.

There is a disputed account of 19th century cannibalism in Madagascar, based on a fair amount of conjecture by Louis Molet, a French missionary, who published his cannibal conclusions in the 1950s.

Molet heard second- or third-hand about a supposed Malagasy funerary tradition. Supposedly, before grilling some zebu beef steaks the person officiating the funeral would say to the mourners a benediction along the lines of, “We’re so sad about our loss, but let’s eat some cow meat instead of the dead guy.”

Molet read this account, and was like, “Huh? Instead of? That must mean…

Even if true, those were the Merina people – from the highlands (where I live) – not the Betsimisaraka people who come from the area around Fenoarivo Atsinanana, where I found the big kettle.

Cannibalizing American Culture

One famous example of the cannibal cooking kettle trope, is from a Looney Tunes cartoon called “Jungle Jitters.” A persistent dog-like salesman named Manny goes door-to-door in a stereotyped African village. The villagers decide they should eat him and take his gadgets.

Jungle Jitters
Hold the onions, but extra racism
Screen Capture: “Jungle Jitters” (CC0 – Public Domain)

“Jungle Jitters” is one of 11 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons removed from syndication in the United States in 1968 because of their use of African stereotypes. They’re called the “Censored Eleven” because, unlike other cartoons from these studios, these cartoons are so full of stereotypes that the offensive bits can’t be edited out – nothing would be left of the original cartoon if they tried.

I’m old enough to remember seeing certain Tom and Jerry cartoons on TV featuring Mammy Two-Shoes, the “mammy” stereotype. In the versions of these cartoons still in syndication in the USA, this character has since been politically corrected – edited, dubbed, or re-animated. (None of the Mammy Two-Shoes cartoons are in the Censored Eleven.)

Still, when I first arrived in Madagascar, I was surprised to see the cartoon “Push Button Kitty,” playing on a gas station TV (dubbed in French). This was the final cartoon featuring this character.

Push Button Kitty
Seen from the waist-down, as usual.

Like so many things Americans disown – t-shirts, plastic, toxic electronic waste, etc. – the entertainment we toss out also ends up dumped in Africa. Cannibalized, you might say, by African TV networks looking for cheap programming to fill their airtime.

2 comments

  1. Chuck Reply
    June 8, 2020 at 5:37 am

    My brother and I have a running conversation recalling all the racist crap we were raised on. It just seems endless. This stuff for sure. Sorry to hear it gets dumped offshore. We should be burying it here.

  2. T Hill Reply
    April 15, 2022 at 6:02 am

    FYI
    The famous 3-legged iron cooking pot was made famous by and is still produced by a company called Falkirk, of Jacobs in Durban, Kwa-Zulu Natal. The company has been making and selling all over Africa for more than a century. It’s popularity has been revived of late with the fashion for outdoor eating and “potije cuisine”, called a Dutch oven in America,

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