article

Classification of plants among the Dogon

Journal de la Société des Africanists • 22 • Published In 1952 • Pages: HRAF MS: i, 72 [original: 115-158 ]

By: Dieterlen, Germaine, Schütze, Frieda.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document

This article presents detailed information on the Dogon people's plant classification system (about 300 kinds) which the author collected in the field at Sanga (Bandiagara) in 1950 and 1952. Like all the categories of beings and the things of the universe recognized by the Dogon, the plants are classified into 24 families -- 22 primary and two complementary ones. The plant categories in the universe play an important role and have significant uses in native alimentation and pharmacopoeia. The coherent system of cosmo-biological correspondences reveals the synthesis of the knowledge of the Dogon.

SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF

Ethnobotany

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.

5: Excellent Primary 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

1937-1952 (esp. 1950-1952)

Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to

1950-1952

Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)

Sanga, Bandiagara Circle, Mopti Region, Mali

NotesAdditional notes

Germaine Dieterlen

Translation of: Classification des végétaux chez les Dogon

The original French text is not included

Translated for the HRAF files by Frieda Schütze

Includes bibliographical references (p. 70-72)

LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number

46039584

LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings

Dogons (African people)