Talk:Sanga, Mali

Merger proposal
There is also a page called Sangha, Mali. "Sangha" is the more usual spelling so I've copied the info from here into that page. Marfinan (talk) 10:49, 30 October 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Marfinan (talk • contribs) 09:46, 28 October 2011 (UTC)

Sangha status
Sangha is not a village, but a group of villages. I called it a region, although I'm not sure this is right...--User:AAM | Talk 22:23, 26 February 2006 (UTC)
 * I decided to call it a group of villages and not a region. --User:AAM | Talk 22:35, 26 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Coincidentally, earlier today I was doing some googling with the intention of revising the article, since I am also under the impression that Sanga may be a region in Mali. I have an essay by Marcel Griaule which speaks of a number of villages in Upper Sanga & lower Sanga, and he mentions tribes such as Arou and Dyon which speak Sanga, a variety of Dogon. Alexander 007 22:36, 26 February 2006 (UTC)


 * I have been there and am convinced that it it concerns a group of villages. This is confirmed in the Petit Fuité de Mali. According to another ref, Sékou Ogobara Dolo mentions at least the two Ogols being part of Sangha. I think that upper and lower Sangha refer to Ogol-du-Haut and Ogol-du-Bas. Another point: I think it is written mostly as Sangha and not Sanga. I don't know anything on the Sanga language. --User:AAM | Talk 22:48, 26 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Griaule writes that Upper Sanga is Ogol Sanga-du-Haut and Lower Sanga is Ogol-du-Bas. But there are villages in these localities according to him; for instance, the village Go is "in the south-west of Lower Ogol".Alexander 007 22:53, 26 February 2006 (UTC)


 * I am not sure that I understand you: do you mean that there would be a village with the name Ogol Sanga-du-Haut? Maybe all four villages Sangha-du-Haut, Sangha-du-Bas, Ogol-du-Haut, Ogol-du-Bas exist, or are they just english translations? (An interesting point is then: would Wiki use an English translation whereas people in the region it concerns speak French as 2nd or 3rd language?) I only have the names of O-d-H and O-d-B as part of Sangha in two books. These names are used over there. A search with google shows that they all four exist... at least on the internet! I have no complete list of villages that would be part of Sangha in my books. I don't know about Go, looks as though it might be part of it. Banani is very close, would it be part of it as well?--User:AAM | Talk 00:13, 27 February 2006 (UTC)


 * "Ogol Sanga-du-Haut" occurs in the text, and may be well be wrong; when I typed it above, I was about to place [sic], to indicate that it may be an error in the text I have, which is a complete/unabridged English translation by Robert K. G. Temple of Marcel Griaule's and Germaine Dieterlen's Un système Soudanais de Sirius, 1950. I haven't been to Sanga or Mali in person yet, so I can only report what is written. Alexander 007 00:20, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

Altar or shrine?
I wonder whether the word shrine should be used or altar? At the Dogon page I called it altars... It concerns structures made of mud in a conical shape, used for offerings. --User:AAM | Talk 22:30, 26 February 2006 (UTC)

Griaule and Deiterlen
Here is some of the the text:


 * "The main investigation was carried out among the Dogon between 1946 and 1950, where the four major informants were:


 * "Innekouzou Dolo, a woman aged between sixty-five and seventy, ammayana 'priestess of Amma', and soothsayer, living in the Dozyou-Orey quarter of Ogol-du-Bas (Lower Ogol Sanga-du-Haut (Upper Sanga). Tribe: Arou. Language: Sanga."

It appears that there is a missing bracket ")" in the text, and it should read "(Lower Ogol) Sanga-du-Haut (Upper Sanga)". Alexander 007 00:48, 27 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Agree: this seems very logical. So this far we have only two of the thirteen villages for sure, that have a different name in the English translation compared to the French one that they use locally. --User:AAM | Talk 08:40, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

Griaule: a note of caution
I think a note of caution is in order concerning the work of Griaule among the Dogon of Sangha. As I said on Talk:Dogon people, "Marcel Griaule is the inevitable starting point, but later Dogon ethnographers have shown that he focused too strongly on uncovering a certain 'native philosophy' and that his informants were, well, 'creative' and 'not without monetary realism', as Van Beek (2004) puts it." &mdash; mark &#9998; 08:41, 27 February 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree on this. I think we should try to obtain more recent work on the Dogon, and preferably not just interpretations of Griaules work. A fresh starting point could be 'La mère des masques' that is written in 2002 by Sékou Ogobara Dolo, a Dogon from Sangha that is chief of the tourist guides. Sékou Ogobara Dolo: La mère des masques. Un Dogon raconte. (2002) Eds. Seuil ISBN 2-02-041133-4 --User:AAM | Talk 08:53, 27 February 2006 (UTC)