essay
Functions of sculpture in Dogon religion
African arts • 21 (4) • Published In 1988 • Pages: 59-65, 91
By: Beek, W. E. A. van.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
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 the gods and ancestors, and receiving in turn supernatural forces. Privately, any individual can make a statue to request divine aid in family matters. The statues are used again and again and grow in their power, which also makes them more dangerous. They fall out of use when the person who made them dies. Having lost their power they are then sold to the tourist trade.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Visual arts
- Sorcery
- Spirits and gods
- Sacred objects and places
- Prayers and sacrifices
- 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
- essay
- 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
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Ian Skoggard ;1999
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1978-1985
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1978-1985
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Bandiagara, Mali
- NotesAdditional notes
- Walter E. A. van Beek
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 91)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- sf77000055
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Dogons (African people)