florendo(1slp)_shakespeare in the bush

8/13/2019 Florendo(1SLP)_Shakespeare in the Bush

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Darla D. Florendo I-SLP

1) Why is it entitled Shakespeare in the Bush? (Explain main argument)

Before leaving for Oxford to travel to the Tivs of Africa, Bohannan had

a discussion with a friend who claimed that Shakespeare is a very English poetand different cultures (more particularly, Americans) could easily misinterpret

Shakespeares literal meanings. Bohannan, now, proposed a counter-argument

saying that Shakespeares tragedies could be understood everywhere for she

believes in the universal truth that human nature is apparent and the same the

whole world over, with the aid of explanation and detailing on certain customs

and traditions. As a parting gift, she was given a copy of Hamlet to study in the

African bush in the hopes that she would fully understand the literary piece and

achieve the grace of correct interpretation. During her stay on the African

homestead of the Tiv, she was given an instance to prove whether or not her

counter-argument stands true or falsifies based on the understanding of the said

tribe on the timeless literary tragedy, Hamlet, embarking that this is her chance

to prove that this classic tale of tragic revenge is universally intelligible,

convinced that it only has one interpretation, one that is universally obvious.

2) Give a summarized description of the conflict of ideas in the article.

Throughout the text, you could clearly see conflicting ideas influenced by

linguistical quagmires and cultural barriers (European vs. African) as Bohannan

struggles to educate the Tivs on the literary piece, Hamlet. Starting with theapparition of Hamlets father, the tribesmen couldnt quite grasp the concept of a

ghost and would often call it an omen sent by a witch throughout the essay.

The second conflicting idea was depicted when the Tivs were appalled by the

fact that Hamlets father only had one wife, Queen Gertrude. The statement, But

a chief must have many wives! How else can he brew beer and prepare food for

all his guests? implies that the women of Tiv are encouraged to serve their

husbands, cook and serve the members of their homestead as well; whereas the

European culture supports monogamy and the employment of servants to

perform work in addition to the enforcement of taxes as labor fee, with which the

tribesmen strongly disagreed upon, saying, It was better, for a chief to havemany wives and sons who would help him hoe his farms and feed his people; For

everyone loved the chief who gave much and took nothingtaxes were a bad

thing. The case of Hamlet and Ophelia brings us to the third conflict where the

great divide between royalty and commoners greatly affects the love between the

couple, and therefore, marriage is forbidden. The Tivs disagreed to this saying

that Hamlet could have offered gifts and presents to give Polonius (Ophelias


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father) a change of mind and allow the marriage. Bohannan simply shunned this

idea and told the tribesmen that the European culture wont simply allow it,

discussing the morality governing the decision. The fourth conflict arose when

Hamlets madness came into play, for according to the Tivs, only witchcraft can

make anyone mad, unless of course, one sees the beings that lurk in the forest;

In contrary, the European culture believes that madness is simply an unstable

state of mind that could be triggered by tragic life events, or poor mental health

(Shapiro, 1991), losing the theme and main plot of the story as sorcery came into

topic altogether. Moving on to the fifth conflict, Polonius death also defied one of

the Tivs beliefs that one should not attempt to kill or harm his elders. According

to them, If your fathers brother has killed your father, you must appeal to your

fathers agemates; they may avenge him. No man may use violence against his

seniors. Bohannan couldnt simply explain on this part that familial relationships

play no bearings especially regarding the extremity of the action done. The next

conflict was introduced during the falling action phase of the storyOpheliassuicide and Laertes wrath over Hamlet for the death of their father. The people

of Tiv were opposed to the idea of Ophelias drowning for only witches can

make people drown. Also, they tried to twist the story to give it a more applicable

approach to the African culture by saying that Laertes killed his sister by

witchcraft, drowning her so he could sell her body to the witches. The concept in

play here is not opinionated but an application to their world view. The Tiv may

be wrong on a demonstrable fact, but I do believe that its cause is only

misunderstanding and nothing else.

3) Critique the article through Foucaults theory

According to Michel Foucaults Genealogy of Power theory, Those

who have more power have more dominance over knowledge and truth, and in

this case I believe that the more dominant group would be the African tribe of Tiv

over Bohannnan, who is a mere representative of another culture. The concept of

Foucaults theory also includes the further understanding of many sub-concepts,

and I believe that we could apply some of them in critiquing this article,

specifically: Ethnocentrism, Dominant Culture and Culture Shock.

Ethnocentrism is "the technical name for the view of things in which

one's own group is the center of everything, and all others are scaled and rated

with reference to it. (Sumner, 1906) Going back, we could clearly see

Bohannans difficulty in trying to explain the different European customs and

beliefs to the Tiv for culture, as described by Laraia (2008) influences social

behavior, and, in the view of the examples presented in the essay, has its own

logic. Quoting the latter part of the essay, an elder said:


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You tell the story well, and we are listening. But it is

clear that the elders of your country have never told you what the

story really means. No, don't interrupt! We believe you when you

say your marriage customs are different, or your clothes and

weapons. But people are the same everywhere; therefore, there

are always witches and it is we, the elders, who know how

witches work.

This statement clearly describes that Bohannans experience entails how the

indifference of the Tiv towards European customs and beliefs led to a great

misunderstanding as to what the story should be about and who the real hero is---

showing how ethnocentrism greatly influences dichotomy among different cultures.

Dominant culture, according to Gordon Marshall in his book Dictionary of

Sociology, is described as a culture that is the most powerful, widespread, or influential

within a social or political entity in which multiple cultures are present. In some cases,

one culture becomes the dominant one for it is the culture of a majority of people.

Reflecting now on the essay, this was what exactly happened in Bohannans

experience. She was trapped in the situation where she was in the minority against

Africans who had a completely different view on things, meaning that on that particular

moment and situation, the Africans had more superiority over knowledgeand truthas

described by Foucault.

In the concept of Culture shock, one must imagine Bohannan in a state of

frustration upon realizing the extent of difficulty in trying to explain how the story of

Hamlet goes despite cultural differences, and being bombarded with completely

different ideas and speculations as she goes on telling the story. Not only is shefrustrated with the distress shes having in trying to interpret the story Hamlet, but she

also had to cope up with the different African traditions and customs that are new to her

such as the concept of madness.

4) Personal Reflection

Going back to the argument which fueled this essay, Bohannans friend was

clearly correct. Cultural differences play a big role in defining what the real

interpretation of Hamlet is, adding to that the agony of Bohannan in not being able to

express herself due to the non-existence of equivalent words in our English languageto the local language of Tiv, therefore blurring the real meaning and concept of Hamlet

as told by Shakespeare. Since linguistical barriers and the difference on cultural

perspectives were at bay, a whole new interpretation where Hamlet turned out to be an

unfit hero and the antagonist Claudius prevailed as the protagonist in their eyes was

how the tale Hamlet ended for them, inserting certain concepts of sorcery and

witchcraft here and there, of course. In the end, I know realize that Bohannan s


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concept of universality does not stand truesince the whole point of this article is to

prove or disprove whether you have to be in the same cultural milieu with Shakespeare

to be able to understand Hamlet, and by now we know that that answer to that is a,

Yes. And now I conclude that, people have enormous differences, but they do have

similarities as well. Recognizing and analyzing these differences among us would lead

to less misunderstandings everywhereand maybe, a better Hamlet for everyone too!

florendo(1slp)_shakespeare in the bush

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