ANTHRO 100 Study Guide - Kalahari Desert, Medical Anthropology, Weaning
Document Summary
Bohannan, shakespeare in the bush. (chapter 3, conformity). All of us use the cultural knowledge we acquire as members of our own society to organize our perception and behavior. Most of us are na ve realists: we tend to believe our culture mirrors a reality shared by everyone. But cultures are difference, and other people rarely behave or interpret experience according to our cultural plan. In this article, laura bohannan describes her attempt to tell the classic story of hamlet to tiv elders in west africa. Tiv interpret the events and motives in hamlet using their own cultural knowledge. The result is a very difference version of the classic play. African bush: it would, be hoped, lift my mind above its primitive surroundings, and possibly i might, by prolonged medication, achieve the grace of correct interpretation. The author wanted to prove that hamlet is universally intelligible.
