Book

The Soul of an African people: The Bambara: their psychic, ethical, religious and social life

AschendorffMünster I. W. • Published In 1910 • Pages: v, 238 , [24] leaves of plates

By: Henry, Jos. (Joseph), Coleman, Anne.

Abstract
This volume is a study of the religion and some aspects of the life cycle of the Bambara by a French Roman Catholic missionary who had spent some years among them around the turn of the century. In the course of the work, Henry discusses the Bambara mentality and taboos, animism, general ideas on human life, Bambara ideas of God and other beings, fetishism, cults and sacrifices, the early life of the Bambara, circumcision and excision, marriage and death. Henry's views on the Bambara are highly colored by his own religious background, but, allowing for this, he was a very perceptive observer of Bambara life.
Subjects
Descriptive somatology
Ethos
Normal garb
Body alterations
Water supply
Domestic service
Utensils
Borrowing and lending
Life and death
Burial practices and funerals
Cosmology
Mythology
Animism
Difficult and unusual births
Abortion and infanticide
Activities of the aged
culture
Bambara
HRAF PubDate
2000
Region
Africa
Sub Region
Western Africa
Document Type
Book
Evaluation
Creator Type
Missionary
Document Rating
5: Excellent Primary Data
Analyst
Timothy J. O'Leary ; 1960
Field Date
ca. 1900
Coverage Date
1900-1910
Coverage Place
Mali
Notes
Joseph Henry
Translation of: [L'ame d'un peuple Africain. Les Bambara leur vie psychique, ethique, sociale, religieuse]
Translated for the HRAF files by Anne Coleman in 1960
LCSH
Bambara (African people)