essay
Processes and limitations of Dogon agricultural knowledge
anthropological critique of development: the growth of ignorance • London • Published In 1993 • Pages: 43-60
By: Beek, W. E. A. van.
Abstract
In this article, van Beek discusses traditional Dogon agricultural practices and the changes subsequent to their migration out onto the plain. Traditionally extended family groups worked fields closest to the escarpment, whereas bands of men in the same age-class worked fields further out, which were more vulnerable to slave raiders. Old men controlled the whole production process. The Pax Gallica opened the plains and the plateau above to settlement and land reclamation. After the Second World War, the migration increased and a lucrative market in onions developed. Between 1900 and 1970, the Dogon population increased three-fold and the region became overcultivated, a condition exacerbated by the great drought of the 1980s. Van Beek argues that the Dogon have continued to operate according to a general view of unlimited resources, invoked by past images of the endless emptiness of the plains below the cliffs. This cultural lag prevents Dogon adaptation to scarcity, imperiling their ecosystem and survival.
- HRAF PubDate
- 2000
- Region
- Africa
- Sub Region
- Western Africa
- Document Type
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Ethnographer
- Document Rating
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- Analyst
- Ian Skoggard; 1999
- Field Date
- 1979-1991
- Coverage Date
- 1500-1990
- Coverage Place
- Bandiagara escarpment, Mali
- Notes
- Walter E. A. van Beek
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 60)
- LCCN
- 92045834
- LCSH
- Dogons (African people)