The Fon of Bafut / Фон Бафута
Год издания: 1966
Автор: Pat Ritzenthaler / Пэт Риценталер
Жанр или тематика: история, география, личности
Издательство: Thomas Y. Crowell Company
ISBN: отсутствует
Язык: Английский
Формат: PDF
Качество: Отсканированные страницы + слой распознанного текста
Интерактивное оглавление: Да
Количество страниц: 239
Описание: Back in 1959 the author's husband travelled to Bafut, a small African kingdom with about 20,000 subjects that is today part of Cameroon, to collect works of art and objects of daily use for a Milwaukee museum. She assisted him in his various jobs there, and over a period of five months, conducted a number of interviews with Bafut people. She decided, for reasons not stated, to use them to create a fictionalized biography of the ruler (Fon) in which the history and culture of the people would be portrayed. The book is an earnestly told story of the childhood, youth, and adulthood of the ruler, and an interesting explanation of how this one-of-many-sons became the ruler of Bafut. At the same time, THE FON OF BAFUT also depicts how a traditional African kingdom, with a proud military heritage, made the transition to being a very small part of a modern nation. The story carries on till about 1964 and the arrival of US Peace Corps Volunteers.
Though I have reservations about the technique used to create the book, I must say that I enjoyed reading it. The author never condescends. The people of Bafut come across as real human beings, not wooden characters, as the author tries to bring out the flavor of life in that remote corner of the world. The colorful aspect of the book cannot be overlooked---drumming, dancing, palm-wine drinking, royal pomp, kings with fifty to seventy five wives, wars, punishments, and funerals. There are a number of interesting black and white photos. The book would be useful for basic anthropology classes in many ways. It could be used as a study of symbol, ritual, and power in a traditional society. It could be used as a case study in change. In addition, it could be used to teach students to question methodology. You can ask if an outsider could come up with an accurate picture of a very different society in five months, with an imperfect knowledge of the language. Such a line brings me to a final question. Without a deeper understanding of a place, isn't it possible that the reasoning of Bafut people, their conclusions and their feelings as portrayed in the book, may be more extensions of the author's understanding of what she saw? How much of what we read is Ritzenthaler, how much Fon? Of course, this is true in every single anthropological study without exception, but five months, no language? Don't write this book off, but maintain a bit of skepticism.
– Bob Newman, Amazon.
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Книга об Ахиримбе II, более известном как Фон Бафута и получившем мировую известность благодаря книгам Джеральда Даррелла. Издание содержит множество фотографий.
Сканирование: Красавчик Ронни
Обработка: rioter11
