Bambara / Teferi Abate Adem.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Adem, Teferi Abate, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ethnology--Mali.

Ethnology.

Bambara (African people).

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

New Haven, Conn : Human Relations Area Files, 2009.

Summary:

This collection of 12 documents is about the Bambara, a Mande-speaking people located primarily in Mali, West Africa. It covers information from two time periods: 1910-1950s and 1988-2003. Materials on the first period consist of four books translated from French. The earliest of these books are by a French Roman Catholic missionary, Henry, and a colonial administrator, Monteil, who lived among the Bambara from around 1900 to 1923. Henry discusses Bambara psychology and religion through broader explorations into their ideas on human life, taboos, animism, cults, sacrifices, and ceremonials relating to circumcision, marriage and funerals, while Monteil focuses on history and administrative practices with particular emphasis on functions of age-groups, religious cults, secret societies and territorial lineages. Both authors occasionally characterize the Bambara using strongly negative stereotypes that seem highly colored by their own respective religious and political views. Comprehensive ethnographic information on Bambara culture and society can be found in the remaining two books, Dieterlen and Paques. Both authors are professional French ethnographers with extensive field work experience in the region. Materials on the second period focus on Bambara economy and household dynamics. Toulmin and Becker (1996) discuss the constraints and opportunities different household heads encounter in attempting to enhance their access to key productive resources (land, labor and capital in the form of cattle and cash). Wooten, Becker (2000) and Grosz Ngate examine the impacts of increasing commoditization of rural economy on household food security, gender and intra-household relations.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.