WE TEND TO GLOSS OVER
WHAT WE DON'T UNDERSTAND
Take an explorer's mistake
WHAT WE DON'T UNDERSTAND
Take an explorer's mistake
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"Grant dancing with Ukelema," Second visit to discover the sources of the Nile by John Speke, London, 1864
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He contrasts Western dancing (on the right)
with that of "black devils"
But dance unites the village -- the youths set off the chief's exploits as the population looks on. At other times men and women dance in separate lines, never touching, because social organization is collective, including by gender.
(Western dance too was collective, as with English and North American square dancing, the French village "bourrée" and court and salon dances. That changed in the early 19th century, when the waltz accompanied emphasis on the middle-class couple.)
Since the explorer has the artist draw his partner's astonishment, he knows he's broken the rules. He thinks he's done the right thing -- showing Africans how to dance!
Explorers, like historians,
confront worlds that they don't understand.
Instead of pointing out enigmas,
they amass data.
Sometimes an enlightening detail slips
into their accounts.
(Western dance too was collective, as with English and North American square dancing, the French village "bourrée" and court and salon dances. That changed in the early 19th century, when the waltz accompanied emphasis on the middle-class couple.)
Since the explorer has the artist draw his partner's astonishment, he knows he's broken the rules. He thinks he's done the right thing -- showing Africans how to dance!
Explorers, like historians,
confront worlds that they don't understand.
Instead of pointing out enigmas,
they amass data.
Sometimes an enlightening detail slips
into their accounts.
* * *
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