A Close-Up Look at the Dogon. Volume 4

Edited by Lucjan Buchalik, Radosław Gaziński, Jacek Łapott

Szczecin – Żory 2024

Editorial Committee:

Reviewer: Professor Małgorzata Szupejko

Translation: Katarzyna Sobiepanek, Maciej Ząbek (Chapter 10), Meditext s.c. (Chapter 11)

Cover design and idea for the series cover: Hanna Łapott

Photographs-archive: Jacek Łapott

Picture: Ewa Prądzyńska

Graphic Design: D. Baumgarten-Szczyrska

© Copyright by: University of Szczecin,

Municipal Museum Żory,

Szczecin – Żory 2024

ISBN 978-83-969666-5-0

The publication was created with financial support from the University of Szczecin and the University

Contents

Introduction – Jacek Łapott | 7

Tellem Culture – the Forgotten Link in the History of West African

Peoples – Jacek Łapott | 11

Yaa iye-i la (Yesterday is not today) – Development and Changes

of Dogon Culture in Mali – Jacek Łapott | 33

Hometown societies: first-choice in development as exemplified by non-governmental organizations in Mali – Ryszard Vorbrich | 51

‘We Are of a Different Race and That Is why Our Home Is Not for Them’ – the Stigma of Exclusion in African Communities – Jacek Łapott | 65

Passive Beneficiary and Local Partner in Development Projects in Africa – Ryszard Vorbrich | 79

Bundu kuru, the caste of women – local development initiatives as exemplified by Dogon women’s associations – Katarzyna Meissner | 93

Visual language and intercultural dialogue – Ryszard Vorbrich | 107

The Role of Joking Kinship in Building Modern Society in Burkinabe (Burkina Faso) – Lucjan Buchalik | 115

Status and Position of Dyam Caste in Dogon Culture in Mali – Ewa Prądzyńska | 127

Beer Drinking Customs in Dogon Country – Maciej Ząbek | 141

The Dogon Concept of Health in the Process of Contemporary Changes – Lucjan Buchalik | 159

In Praise of African Oral Tradition – Jacek Łapott | 173

When tubabu disappeared: how the suspension of mass tourism impacted the Dogon in Mali – Katarzyna Meissner | 187

Dogon Community from Mali as seen 10 years before the next sigui – Jacek Łapott | 193

Sigui Ritual: Memory and Identity. Is a centuries-old tradition going to end? – Jacek Łapott | 209

About the authors | 225

Bibliography | 226

Photographs | 235