The art of Benin Free Essay Example, 1500 words

The Art of Benin The art of Benin Part Option B The text that was provided from Gallwey (1893) for a discussion about the historic nature of Benin also provides insight into the effect that one culture can have on the memory that exists of another culture. Gallwey (1893) suggests that both the Portuguese and the Dutch visited the city of Benin in Africa, writing about the nature of the metropolis and providing the Europeans with a written history without which European history might have no reference from which to remember the place. The way in which it was written about suggests that the city gained the respect of European travellers. The Portuguese called it the Great Benin where the Dutch writer Nyendale referred to it as â€Å"prodigious long and broad† which suggests that the writer was impressed with what he had observed (Gallway 1893, p. 128). History only exists when it is related to the following generations; otherwise it must be considered lost. Certeau and Conley (1988) refer to the creation of history as an interpretation that lies between both the conveying of facts and the interpretation of those facts in a social dimension. We will write a custom essay sample on The art of Benin or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now In other words, history becomes the interpretation of the evidence into a context that can be related into modernity. Certeau and Conley (1988: p. 21) also write that â€Å"History is probably our myth. It combines what can be thought, the ‘thinkable, ’ and the origin, in conformity with the way in which a society can understand its own working†. This can also be discussed in terms of how one society will interpret what it sees within another society. As the writers that were contemporary saw the kingdom of Benin as prosperous in relationship to their own standards of prosperity, it was written about in those types of terms. The evidence of such a city is no longer accessible to Gallwey (1983) as he writes about how when walking the streets during his time period there is nothing left but ruins and little evidence of the city that was written about in European writings about the region. He writes that there is no evidence of the great weaving and brass works of the past and that there is not great streets filled with a market, but only a small market outside the king’s residence. This suggests that the place that was Benin no longer is the same as it was when historic visits captured the essence of prosperity in interpretations in relationship to how it was viewed by those relating their experiences. Through the collision of cultures, the evidence of one culture that would not otherwise be captured in the histories of another can be remembered when a place has long since been a reflection of its former glory.