The innocent sorcerer
essay 1994 Beek, W. E. A. van

DogonAfrica > Western Africa
In this article, van Beek discusses Dogon witchcraft and notions of evil and compares them with those of the Kapsiki from northern Cameroon. Dogon personality and self are deeply embedded in the community and kin group. For them evil is an anonymous ...

Functions of sculpture in Dogon religion
essay 1988 Beek, W. E. A. van

DogonAfrica > Western Africa
This article is a discussion of the religious function of Dogon statues. The statues have a public and private use. Publically, they are found alongside most altars, where they act as a supernatural antenna, transmitting invocations and offerings to ...

Becoming human in Dogon, Mali
essay 1992 Beek, W. E. A. van

DogonAfrica > Western Africa
In this article van Beek discusses women's fertility and Dogon ideas and practices surrounding menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth, and naming. He then discusses the SIGUI ceremony which happens once every sixty years. The sigui ceremony is a ritual ...

Harmony versus autonomy
essay 1990 Beek, W. E. A. van

DogonAfrica > Western Africa
In this article van Beek discusses the history of Dogon settlement, subsistence patterns, and related symbolism. According to van Beek, the Dogon settled the Bandiagara escarpment, beginning in the 15th century, as a defense against slave raiders. Th...

Processes and limitations of Dogon agricultural knowledge
essay 1993 Beek, W. E. A. van

DogonAfrica > Western Africa
In this article, van Beek discusses traditional Dogon agricultural practices and the changes subsequent to their migration out onto the plain. Traditionally extended family groups worked fields closest to the escarpment, whereas bands of men in the s...

Dogon restudied
article 1991 Beek, W. E. A. van

DogonAfrica > Western Africa
Van Beek was unable to corroborate in the field Marcel Griaule's epic monographs on Dogon religion, ‘Dieu d’eau' and ‘Le renard pâle,’ written fifty years before. He argues that these texts were a product of Griaule's fanciful imagination and persona...