Living in a landscape of scarcity : materiality and cosmology in West Africa / Laurence Douny.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Douny, Laurence, 1977- author.

Series:

Publications of the Institute of Archaeology, University College London ; 63.

Publications of the Institute of Archaeology, University College London ; 63

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Dogon (African people)--Mali--Material culture.

Dogon (African people).

Landscapes--Symbolic aspects--Mali.

Landscapes.

Cosmology, Dogon.

Architecture, Dogon.

Food supply--Mali.

Food supply.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (258 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Walnut Creek, California : Left Coast Press, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

<DIV>In her close ethnography of a Dogon village of Mali, Laurence Douny shows how a microcosmology develops from people's embodied daily and ritual practice in a landscape of scarcity. Viewed through the lens of containment practice, she describes how they cope with the shortage of material items central to their lives-water, earth, and millet. Douny's study is an important addition to ecological anthropology, to the study of West African cultures, to the understanding of material culture, and to anthropological theory.</DIV>

Contents:

Contents; List of Illustrations; Preface; Transcription Notes; 1. Living in a Landscape of Scarcity: A Materiality Approach; 2. 'Making and Doing' Dogon Microcosmology: Some Ethnographic, Methodological, and Conceptual Background; 3. Conceptual Boundaries and Inside/Outside Dialectics: A Dwelling Process; 4. The Inside of the Village: Material Symbolism and Building Process; 5. The Outside of the Village as a 'Life-Giving' Reservoir; 6. Dogon 'Weather World': Local Conceptions of Rain and Wind; 7. The Compound: Fixing, Gathering, and Enclosing the Everyday

8. Domestic Waste: Doing and Undoing the Compound9. Making an Earth Granary: Embedded and Embodied Technology; 10. Pandora's Granary: Material Practices of Concealment; 11. A Microcosmology in a Millet Grain: Cooking Techniques and Eating Habits; 12. Cosmological Matters: Toward a Philosophy of Containment; Appendix A. Dogon's Identity: From Immutability to Cultural Diversities; Appendix B. Dogon Mande Origin through Oral History; Appendix C. Dogon Exoticism: From Ancient Egypt to Outer Space; Appendix D. Challenging Griaule's Work: A Brief Overview of Dogon Studies

Appendix E. Methodology's Development: Doing Fieldwork in the Dogon Region (Pre-Malian Crisis, 2012)Appendix F. The Tale of the Foundation of Tiréli; Notes; Glossary of Dogon Terms; References; Index; About the Author

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-315-42519-X

1-315-42521-1

1-61132-893-4

9781315425214

OCLC:

893737606