Publication Information The main body of the Publication Information page contains all the metadata that HRAF holds for that document.
Author: Author's name as listed in Library of Congress records
Griaule, Marcel, 1898-1956
Dieterlen, Germaine
Title:
The pale fox
Published By: Original publisher
China Valley, Ariz.: Continuum Foundation. 1986. 562 p.
ill. [some graphics not included]
By line: Author's name as appearing in the actual publication
Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen ; translated from the
French by Stephen C. Infantino
HRAF Publication Information: New Haven, Conn.:
Human Relations Area Files, 2000. Computer File
Culture: Culture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC) with the alphanumberic OWC identifier in parenthesis.
Dogon (FA16)
Subjects: Document-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Visual arts (5311);
Cosmology (772);
Mythology (773);
Spirits and gods (776);
Ideas about nature and people (820);
Abstract: Brief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This is the English translation of the classic French
ethnography on the Dogon creation myth, ‘Le renard pâle,’ published in 1965. Although
Griaule's ethnographic methods have come under attack (see van Beek, document no. 31), this
is nevertheless an impressive work. The myth tightly weaves together Dogon ideas about
language, anatomy, astronomy, botany, the landscape, and genealogy. Could the creation myth
be a mnemonic device for storing and transmitting Dogon knowledge? The myth represents the
accumulated knowledge of Dogon elders, underlying their authority, and serving as a
blueprint for Dogon social life. It is also an epistemolgy, in which ideas are thought to
emerge through a hierarchy of symbols: from traces (BUMMO) to signs (YALA) to figures
(TONU).
Document Number: HRAF's in-house numbering system derived from the processing order of documents
25
Document ID: HRAF's unique document identifier. The first part is the OWC identifier and the second part is the document number in three digits.
fa16-025
Document Type: May include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs or chapters/parts of monographs.
Monograph
Language: Language that the document is written in
English translation from the French
Note:
Translation of: Le renard pâle|Originally published in
French by l'Institut d'Ethnologie, Paris, 1965 Includes bibliographical references (p.
548-522) Many graphics are not included
Field Date: The date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1931-1956
Evaluation: In this alphanumeric code, the first part designates the type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigene, and so on. The second part is 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
Ethnologist-5
Analyst: The HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection.
Ian Skoggard ;1999
Coverage Date: The date or dates that the information in the document pertains to (often not the same as the field date).
1948-1956
Coverage Place: Location of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Sanga region, Mali
LCSH: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Dogons (African people)
