Sources for Interpretation The Parable of the Street Light

A drunk who has lost his keys looks under the streetlight instead of where he lost the keys, because "the light is better"!
Ethnographic "analogies" are drawn from sources known to be alien to the Southeast or to the likely creators of the art and then used to "interpret" the art.

Previous slide Next slide Back to first slide View graphic version

Notes:

The sources of our interpretations also deserve some care.

Most of us have heard the old story of the drunk who looks under the the street light for his lost keys, even though he lost them elsewhere, because the light is better there.

But we need to look in the places where there might be answers, not the places that we happen to have information about --or that we might hope to be comparable.

Sources for Interpretation The Parable of the Street Light

A drunk who has lost his keys looks under the streetlight instead of where he lost the keys, because "the light is better"!

Ethnographic "analogies" are drawn from sources known to be alien to the Southeast or to the likely creators of the art and then used to "interpret" the art.