article

Dogon culture: profane and arcane

Africa38 (1)Published In 1968 • Pages: 16-25

By: Douglas, Mary.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This short article is actually a book review by an anthropologist who is Reader in Anthropology at University College, London, of the book ‘Le Renard Pâle’, written by Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen, and the book ‘Ethnologie et Langage' by Geneviève Calame-Griaule, all well-known French ethnographers. This review offers a brief summary of the Dogon notions about the universe (their interpretation of myths and related rites) and the language (theory of speech). It also brings about some critical estimation on these two books as well. Additionally, the author compares the viewpoints of French and English schools of anthropologists in relation to the study of Dogon cosmology and language.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Comparative evidence
Speech
Semantics
Cosmology
Ethnopsychology
Ethnosociology
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Dogon
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2000
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Africa
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Western Africa
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
article
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Ethnologist
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
4: Excellent Secondary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
Cheng-ruey Ma ; 1970
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
not applicable
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
not specified
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Mopti Region, Mali
NotesAdditional notes
Mary Douglas
Includes bibliographical references (p. 24)
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
29010790
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Dogons (African people)