Due to the cultural differences everyone experiences, it is found that culture has a major influence in the way people see things and how their feelings are resulted from it. Unfortunately, this method does have its problems too. They were convinced that the author had gotten the story wrong because the only explanation for a spirit could be that it was an omen sent by a witch. It is interesting that she decided to do this study to learn about cultural differences from interpretation the same literature from two different cultures. From whom and what did they say? Since I know very well about both cultures, I can say which part of custom is better than the other.
They got offended in certain parts and kept correcting the anthropologist. During her stay with the Tiv in Africa, Bohannan gets a chance to relay the story of Hamlet to the tribe. The problem is if we only ever look at others cultures from our own perspectives we lack true understanding and can never really relate to what another cultures struggles are. Some anthropologists choose to use this method to avoid altering the culture that they are studying by direct interaction. In this article cultural interpretations are explained from her own experience in her research among the Tiv culture of West Africa.
The anthropologist is told that the story is being told well, but that elders of her country have never told what the story truly means. The author learns that culture is the main reason for these differences of opinion. Meaning if I was to go to Mexico. I also agree on how it depends on people the way they can adjust to a different culture. However, this method is problematic because some people act differently when they are being observed and it is especially difficult for an outsider to gain access to certain private rituals, which would be beneficial to learning about a culture. The anthropologist describes many different cultural aspects such as the fact that Hamlet should only marry the daughter of a chief since he was the son of a chief. All the activities that were supposed to be taught and beneficial to the anthropologist came to an end.
Sometimes, I cannot understand why Americans do something such a way they do it. When living in a different country that is not related to your culture, you are almost intrigued to understand the culture and the people who strongly believe in this specific culture. Most researchers suggest that emic is better for exploratory research and etic is better for testing the hypothesis of a question. Her friend gave her a copy of Hamlet as a parting gift with hopes that perhaps she would find the true interpretation. An outsider can see a person interacting but they can never understand the emotions behind or during the interaction. As questioned, there are many cultural interpretations, and the ghost theme is definitely one of them.
It is difficult to understand why people do the things they do or believe in what they believing without trying it out for yourself. I would open up more and invite them into different realms of my culture, as I would be comfortable with them, opposed to an observer with an etic view. He continued to say that the son of a chief would not want to see another man to become rich and powerful. While telling the story, the American girl told it as an American story, that is, using American culture like revenge and anger to describe many of the characters actions, but the English begged to differ on a lot of the outcomes. In the emic viewpoint, a person has integrated him or herself and taken the leap to be apart of something that is not theres.
Different cultural backgrounds not only make the Tiv and Bohannan have very different interpretations of Hamlet ,but also the general ideas of life and death. The author seems to have a hard time telling the story in some aspects due to the language difference. The author expected that in a period that the period to be remarried could not be done. The people observing culture were merely just watching and trying to avoid a biased view. One day though, she is invited to drink and tell a story to the Tiv people. The term ghosts were ignorant to them.
I do believe that the most effective way of understanding culture is through a combination of etic and emic views. The Tiv spend a lot of time drinking and telling stories, which is aan artform in their culture. Towards the ending of the article the elder speaks about the story of Hamlet, which was similar to the authors interpretation but slightly different. You will have to have field work and build a trust system in order for them to give you the emic and etic view of their culture. .
In the Shakespeare article, you have people from two different cultures trying to agree on the story of Hamlet. The Tiv's perspective was that hamlet this matter should have never been brought to Hamlet's attention. Instead of acting instinctually they use their God-like reason to meticulously carry out their revenge. They constantly compare Hamlet to witchcraft and keep reminding her of the importance of the elderly in the story. It seems as if that could also be something that would cause their family to stray away from them. I think the story told by the anthropologist takes on a more etic point of view.