Under the Kapok Tree: Identity and Difference in Beng Thought (African Systems of Thought)

Under the Kapok Tree, a richly textured ethnography informed by postmodern theory, explores the relationship between ideology and social practices among the Beng people of Cote d'Ivoire. Alma Gottlieb proposes an interpretation of Beng life based on notions of identity and difference, two principles fundamental to the Beng worldview that at times appear complementary and at times oppositional. The kapok tree, at the heart of every Beng village, is analyzed as a central symbol that embodies the fundamental duality of identity and difference, maintaining the boundaries between village and forest while at the same time confounding the distinction between them. Combining fieldwork with theoretical perspectives from symbolic anthropology, practice theory, postmodernism, and philosophy and providing abundant case studies, Gottlieb analyzes Beng myths and rituals, concepts of descent and alliance patterns, and the problematic incorporation of Western commodities into Beng culture.