article
Dogon restudied: a field evaluation of the work of Marcel Griaule
Current anthropology • 32 (2) • Published In 1991 • Pages: 139-167
By: Beek, W. E. A. van.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
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 personal mission to find a coherent and profound system of thought south of the Sahara. According to van Beek, the Dogon he interviewed do not attribute nearly as much significance to the water god, Nommo, the fox, or the star Sirus as did Griaule. Van Beek considers Dogon myths a bricolage which Griaule tried to fit together into some magnus opus. This document includes comments by other anthropologists. Mary Douglas argues that the esoteric and occult knowledge of Dogon elders related in Griaule's work could easily have been lost over the last fifty years as their authority and power wanned.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Reviews and critiques
- 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
- 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
- 1979-1989
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1979-1989
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Tireli, Bandiagara, Mali
- NotesAdditional notes
- Walter E. A. van Beek
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 165-167)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- a 63000576
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Dogons (African people)