Figure - woman

The Dogon inhabit the Duentza, Bandiagara and Bankass regions in the south-central part of the Republic of Mali. Their number is about 500-600 thousand. They are an agricultural people and their livelihood is based on the fossil cultivation of millet, rice, sorghum, beans, peanuts and, popular in recent years, onions. Livestock farming is much less important to their economy, although the Dogon keep poultry, sheep, goats and in some places horned cattle and donkeys. The difficult mountainous conditions, especially at the foot of the Bandiagara Escarpment on rubble of boulders and stones, mean that the crops are not very abundant. With no surplus, the Dogon are self-sufficient in terms of food production. They only import salt from outside. Similarly, they are self-sufficient in terms of handicraft production. All items used in daily life are handicrafts.Dogon society is clearly differentiated into men and women and is also divided into eight age classes called tumo. The Dogon family is polygynous, patrilocal and patrilineal. Villages are inhabited by groups of sometimes even quite closely related families, tracing their descent from common ancestors. Such a family is headed by ginna bana - a patriarch, the oldest man in the family. He decides on the more important matters of his family, represents it to the outside world and rents the ancestral land.Power in the Dogon used to rest in the hands of a council of patriarchs enjoying the greatest authority. Today each village has two authorities - an administrative chief and a religious chief (Hogon), who enjoys much more respect and obedience.

Ewa Prądzyńska