Laura Bohannon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Laura Bohannon (sometimes spelled Bohannen or Bohannan), also known as Elenore Smith Bowen is an American cultural anthropologist best known for her 1961 article, "Shakespeare in the Bush." Bohannon also wrote two books during the 1960s, Tiv Economy and Return to Laughter. All these works are based on her travels and work in Africa.
"Shakespeare in the Bush" is widely read and often anthologized because of its unique subject matter and perspective. Bohannon, while living in a small village in Nigeria, attempts to tell the story of Hamlet to a group of villagers. The cultural and language barriers between the two parties result in an entirely different telling of this most famous of English plays, with her audience left puzzling over Westerners' inability to understand their own literature. Thus, the essay is often used by students of anthropology, linguistics, and literary theory as a means of understanding how perspective affects perception and expectation.
Bohannon is also part of a small school of women whose studies in anthropology were initially rejected because of their holistic (and sometimes personal) approach and style. Though some of her research tactics may have been questionable by today's standards, her approach has become fairly standard in the field of ethnography. Other women in this list of early ethnographers include Zora Neale Hurston.
Return to Laughter, which she wrote under the name Elenore Smith Bowen, remains a well-reviewed work, and it is based on Bohannon's fieldwork in West Africa. Its full title is Return to Laughter: An Anthropological Novel. Bohannon used a pseudonym for this book, presumably because she felt its stylized, autobiographical format would further damage her professional reputation.
