From Atlantis to Donatello: Compare and Contrast the interpretations and impressions offered by Leo Frobenius and William Bascom on the brass figures discovered at Ile-Ife in 1910 and 1938.
These are some (not all) of the issues you may consider in your essay:
– What are the compelling discoveries that stimulated the imagination of these scholars?
– Establish the similarities (if any) and differences (if any) between these two writings.
– How did the prevailing stereotypes at different times influence the two scholars’ interpretations?
– Consider the influence of European colonialism and its self-justification on the interpretations.
– Is the scientist or discoverer an objective interpreter of the world or a subjective interpreter who brings preconceived notions to the understanding of the artifact or evidence before him/her?
– How did the two scholars exercise constrain, or lack of, in their interpretation of the authorship or ownership of the artifacts in question?
– Consider the relationship between fact and alternative fact; truth and alternative truth.
– Consider what might be the feeling of a people or a person who is denied his or her heritage based on the writing of one or both of the scholars.
– Consider cultural appropriation.
– Consider the language used by the two scholars.
– Audience matters. Who was the audience of each of these scholars? Were they writing for the universal audience or for a particular audience?
