It could be, Charley, you're being reminded of just another instance of a type of transference that has been plaguing anthropologists since the onset of colonisation of 'other parts' by Europeans. First they brought back stories of how Africans did things and when they artrived in your neck of the woods, took and applied those notions to what they saw there. And then they did the same when they arrived where we are.

Cheers, Rowan