Locating modernity within the ancient Dogon tribe of Mali - By Sibusiso Majola (BA - Sociology, Political Sciences)

In this research study, the central topic will be to locate modernity within the history and culture of ancient Dogon tribe of Mali. I seek to address the question: What contribution did the ancient Dogon tribe of west African empire of Mali make in shaping modern knowledge and social sciences, looking at 15th to 18th century?

Introduction and Rationale

The aim of this study is to contribute towards the development of a postcolonial theory of material culture practice and increase our understanding of the relationships between the history of African societies and postmodern civilisations.?Despite complicated implications of the concept of postmodernity, most scholars agree that this concept characterises a period that followed the age of “Enlightenment” and consequently postcolonial era when most colonised states attained independence, though still under the influence of western civilisation (Anderson, 1998). The understanding of postmodernism, thus, provides a theoretical framework of analysis for this study, in the context of history and the present time. Huysecom et al (2015) defines “material culture” as a?part of humanity's physical world that has been shaped purposely, consciously or unconsciously, by people according to culturally verbalized permutations. E van Deursen and Raaphorst (2014) argue that following the 19th century French colonisation of Mali, the departure of Dogon peoples from their original locations posed a risk of the destruction of their civilisations which involved monolithic building structures, monuments and artefacts of astronomy, archaeology, architecture, science and technology. The postcolonial domain of scholarship has not paid much attention to the significance of the nature of Dogon civilisation, and the magnitude of its influence in modern knowledge systems (E van Deursen and Raaphorst, 2014). It is therefore the ultimate aim of this research study, to contribute towards bridging this gap of lack of scholarly and research attention to the role of ancient Dogon tribe of Mali to modern civilisation.

This lack of attention and historical account leaves the room to connect the dots of Africa’s influence on modern societies widely open to distortion and misappropriation of its history (E van Deursen and Raaphorst, 2014). For example, in 1887, Paul Lafargue, who was Karl Marx's son-in-law, was a candidate for a council position in a Paris district where Frederick Engels claimed that Paul had "one eighth or one twelfth nigger blood". In an April 1887 letter to Paul's wife, Engels wrote, "Being in his quality as a nigger, a degree nearer to the rest of the animal kingdom than the rest of us, he is undoubtedly the most appropriate representative of that district" (Williams, 2020). Chawane (2016) argues that Mary Lefkowitz, Stanley Crouch, and Anthony Appiah, are among some of the European scholars who are opponents of the Afrocentric greatness. Chawane (2016) goes on to say that the Western belief holds that Greeks gave the world rationalism, which effectively marginalises those who are not European and becomes the major cause of doubt about African accomplishments. This study presents the reader with an opportunity to revisit the sociological implications of understanding and drawing the connection of Africa’s historical achievements or lack thereof, to those of postmodern societies.

The civilisation of the Dogon, therefore, provides a significant synthesis of the historical contributions of Africa in the precolonial period, and attempt to place them within the context of broader African prehistory (Huysecom et al, 2015). The Dogon land is located 1600?km east of the Malian capital Bamako, close to the border of Burkina Faso and consists of 289 villages covering 400,000?ha with a population of around 250,000 inhabitants (E van Deursen and Raaphorst, 2014). In their landscape, the Dogon people did not only construct extraordinary mud architecture in the form of houses, warehouses, platforms, sanctuaries and?toguna?(communal meeting places) which?UNESCO classifies as tangible heritage but also studied the cosmologies and their impact on the human condition (E van Deursen and Raaphorst, 2014). Smith (2006) argued that there is a subaltern discourse to the Dogon history, in which custom is not only seen as an object of exploitation but rather, as a vital social and cultural process. According to Smith (2006), the Western traditional conceptualisation of heritage has been met with critical challenge in the sub-altern discourse over the past couple of years. An example of the sub-altern discourse may be attributed to the debate around ‘re-painting’ of rock art sites in Western Australia by their Aboriginal custodians in the 1980s (Smith, 2006).

This was considered as a destruction of ancient rock art using non-original materials in re-painting. In this context, I locate Africa, and subsequently Mali, within the paradigm of colonial agenda that usurped and distorted the real history of Africa prior to colonization.? It appears that a much similar exercise was performed by the Dogon people following the destruction during colonisation, which provoked a considerable discussion between many scholars (Smith, 2006). One of the fundamental heritage elements that got lost with the invasion of Malian civilisations, therefore, was oral and stone-carved information and knowledge that came with the confiscation of tons of manuscripts from the ancient Timbuktu University (Smith, 2006). With this invasion, a considerable amount of information containing advanced knowledge in astronomy, mathematics and particle physics was lost (Smith, 2006). In the recent years, attempts were made by the Mali government to undertake projects aimed at restoring the lost heritage of the Dogon people (Smith, 2006).

One of the key objectives of this restoration was to transfer knowledge about the untold history of the Dogon from the older generation to youths as there is no teaching material on the history of the Dogon at schools (Smith 2006). Smith (2006) argues that the history books that are available only address the general history of Mali and Western colonial history from prehistory to the Romans. Teachers at the primary school in Kani Kombolé and Teli for example, are advocating developing teaching material on the history of Dogon country (Smith, 2006). Smith (2006) argues that the teachers at local schools such as Kani Kombolé and Teli, have had to devise methods through which to transfer and resuscitate the forgotten history of the Dogon. These methods include exercises such as children are being sent to the elderly of their own?gin’na?(dogon clan house) to interview them about the past. Given that the history of the Dogon is based on oral transmission with rapidly developing modernisation of the area, I argue that the traditional history and knowledge that influenced modern knowledge is not only quickly lost but needs to be reclaimed. It is in this context that the advanced ancient knowledge of the Dogon people became lost and distorted, and the link between what they believed and practiced to modern knowledge buried. This paper seeks to assist in addressing this problem.

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Reviewing the Literature

?Addressing the ancient history of Africa and her people is one of the most uncomfortable subjects because it borders on emotive topics such as race and cultural dichotomies (Bernal, 1985). There is sufficient evidence to suggest that most civilisations, such as ancient Greece, has its influence of origin in ancient Egypt (Bernal, 1985). Egypt is located in Africa (Wilson, 1971). Bernal (1985) suggests that the populations and civilisations of Ancient Greece and Rome, are systemically the result of migrations from Africa meeting the “Fertile Crescent”, and that their rationale of history comes from similarities that appears in linguistic analysis between Greece and ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. Whereas this sounds far-fetched, it makes more sense than what the Greeks consider as their origin because there is a lot of evidence attributing the roots of Greece to Africa (Bernal, 1985). Bernal (1985) argues that "white" Europe saw Greece as the highlight of civilization and in doing so, negated and ignored the role of Africa in modern civilisation. Recent studies and theories in postcolonial studies shows that ancient African civilisations, such as that of Western Africa, played a major role in the evolution of modern societies (Wilson,1971).

According to Wilson (1971), western scholars have endlessly argued that Africa has no history to claim with pride and it is important that African scholars connect the dots in the arena where their history is being distorted. The context of this research focuses on historical advancement of ancient African civilisations and draw a link between them and modern social sciences, technology and astronomy. The research will investigate the relationship between aspects of ancient African civilisations and advanced technologies (focusing on the Mali/ West African Empire and its Dogon people) and modern knowledges. Long before the arrival of Europeans in the 16th and 17th centuries, sub-Saharan West Africa witnessed the advent of a series of African empires that lasted for centuries and stretched over other parts of the continent. These civilisations were known as the Ghana, Mali and Songhai Empires. According to historian, Gomez?(2018), what led to the greatness of these empires and civilisations is what equally sustained them up to their fall. Williams (1971) contends that many fundamentals such as nature, imperialism, and stolen legacies have hugely contributed to the destruction of the black civilizations. In this study, one of the lessons that will come forth for the reader is that there is an intimate relationship between colonialism, racism, environmental degradation and distortion of history.

The Dogon peoples has a population of about more than 600,000, and the majority of them live in the rocky hills, mountains, and plateaus of the Bandiagara Escarpment (Laird, 1953). This is a group of uncolonized people who are mainly agricultural; with a few craftsmen, largely metalworkers and leatherworkers from distinct localities (Laird, 1953). The Dogon people, representing the ancient African society, have no centralized system of government the same way in which colonial and postcolonial societies are organised (Laird, 1953). The society is comprised of family systems and extended families whose head is the senior male successor of the shared ancestor. For centuries, the Dogon society is fashioned around a system that places much value on gender roles and cultural norms (Laird, 1953). At the time of political conquest, most people in the West Africa adopted Islam or Christianity, but a considerable number of Dogon people remained animists who believe in the importance of a collaboration between the spiritual world of gods and ancestors, and the existing biosphere of plants, people, and animals (Laird, 1953). Although isolated from cities and major transportation routes, the Dogon region surrounding the?Bandiagara Escarpment?is gradually affected by social and economic issues from modernised cities. Interactions with civil people resulted in the establishment of Islam and Christianity and introduced economics for those willing to leave their village or become involved in the economic industry (Laird, 1953). Against this background, I argue that the history of ancient African empires needs scrutiny in order to locate their existence within the ambit of postcolonial studies. ??

From the ancient Africa, the Dogon people first watched upon and considered the skies as holy God dwelling heavens (Lazarus, 2011). The southern part of the Saharan Africa is the cultural area least explored with regard to its astronomical traditions and this is problematic (Lazarus, 2011). Although it would be misleading to say that little research has been conducted on indigenous African astronomy, such research has been scattered and peripheral, of small concern to Africanists in general while being relatively neglected by historians of astronomy (Warner, 1996). The deliberate absence of concentration on African astronomy has been compounded by supplementary problems, including the methodological insufficiencies of African researchers (Wilson, 1971). Africans have let European scholars to tell the story of Africa.? The growth of Islam in West Africa, for instance, corresponding with the intensification of commerce that included slaves, led to a series of political experimentations exceptional to the region, culminating in the rise of empire (Gomez, 2018).

The early voyages of European colonists that embarked on a rampage of colonial conquest across the world between 15th and 19th centuries to expropriate material wealth outside of European borders, paved a way for the consequence of a historical process that birthed a new kind of subservient society (Said,1978). Such a process propelled Western countries to the formation of a discourse and an ideological framework of thought that were to be the ultimate basis of modern industrial civilisation today (Said, 1978). The discourse of “Orientalism”; a system of miscellaneous social representations and projections orchestrated by western political forces that gotten the subaltern into Western forms of learning, consciousness, and perception (Said, 1978). Said (1978) takes a standpoint that the discourse of the “west and the other” historically translates not only into a violent and brutal colonisation of non-European nations, but it also finds its grip in the perpetual propagation of the myths of its own correctness. Said (1978) argues that the existence of Western power could not be without the closest study of the Orient as a subjective structure and agency of global colonial logic. One of the most critical implications of Said's (1978) work is that it gives an account of how ways of constituting knowledge and power relations between those forms of knowledge and social practices are foundational to the study and objectification of the orient, meaning the African. That the formation of the orient is more than just ways of thinking and knowledge production, but also; deeply concerns how certain ways of thought and meaning come to assume social and structural hegemony over others (Said, 1978).

In this study, the reader will be able to see that the distortion of African history is and was never an accident of history but rather, a premeditated colonial agenda to write off Africa and its achievements from world history books. According to Young (2003), post-colonialism is defined as a political philosophy that affirms the right of the subaltern to self-determine, empowering them through an organised framework of democratic egalitarian state that refuses to impose western ways on all tri-continental societies – namely Africa, Asia and Latin America. Young (2003) advocates that the primacy of post-colonialism should rest on the three continents mentioned above because they embody the heart of the Orient and have suffered the extreme impact of colonial dominance. This idea, inadvertently, is commonly perceived by the western nations as an assault on the world because it undermines western cultures and promote those of the subaltern and their knowledge in the interest of justice, which have for long been rendered irrelevant.

In concluding, I advise that part of the main objectives of this study will demonstrate that re-claiming the history of Africa, especially the complex knowledge and cultural systems, is an act of justice and a critical part of the decolonisation project. The Dogon culture is one of the many African civilizations that embodied advanced technology and knowledge, and this is the reason why it became suited for this study. Said (1978) contends that it is not only the resistance towards change by the west that defines the epistemology of political questions that underlies global inequality, but also, the deeply entrenched mass indoctrination of the African peoples. The basis of which western cultures continues to dominate non-western cultures even post their independence (Said, 1978). Dogon tribe is a cultural group of the central highland area of Mali that spreads across the border into Burkina Faso (Laird, 1953). The rich history of advanced technology, knowledge and architecture of the Dogon remains evident in modern forms of knowledge, and this is the ultimate goal that I intend to achieve with this study.

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Conceptual Framework

?In this paper, I intend, to a reasonable extent, to demonstrate the untold history of Africa and its influence on modern civilisation. The concept of civilisation is not as straight forward as one may be made to believe because it encompasses multiples of historical periods that humanity went through. This is because what is commonly accepted as civilisation seeks to draw a distinction between pre-historic and “modern” societies. The colonial and postcolonial eras thus took place within the context of modern civilization. The fundamental questions around postcolonial studies revolve around the history of the colonised before the invasions, and the narrative and studies pertaining to periods occurring post-colonial conquest. For this paper to make sense, therefore, it is important to understand that the history of Africa is not confined to the modern theory and scholarship that regards Africa as a peripheral object during a corrupt, and perverted capitalist discourse. There is no doubt that Africa and its societies existed long before the European invasions took place. When European voyagers broke out of their territories to explore “new worlds”, the intention was to capture the economic terrains. This process involved the disregard of difference in the culture of non-western societies and defined the psychological attitude of western nations towards African peoples.

This disregard of culture defines the ignorance behind difference of the West and non-west. Beyond the history of conquest and slavery of African people, there lies a long history of life that existed before capitalism, racism, colonialism and imperialism. It is this history and its influence on modern society that I intend to explore in this paper. The basic concepts of this paper are ancient African civilisations, impact of colonialism on history and modern knowledge. This research study focuses primarily on the influence of ancient Dogon culture on postcolonial knowledge of astronomy, particle physics and mathematics in Africa and beyond, and draw slightly from the periods preceding same, as near as late 15th to 18th century. Since the time of political conquest of the African civilisations and its empires, there has been a glaring scholarly and research distortion of the role that Africa played in influencing modern civilisations (Laird, 1953). The continued absence of scholarly concentration on African history has not only been entrenched by flawed knowledge production in Africa, but has equally been compounded by supplementary problems, including the methodological insufficiencies of African researchers (Wilson, 1993).

The study aims to make significant contribution in addressing these methodological insufficiencies that paints an unjustified picture of African history. The research further aims to debunk continued notions and misguided generalisations, that Africa has no place to claim in the history of the world civilisations. It is this contextual factor that makes this research important; in the agenda for re-locating the colonised within the framework of pre-colonial history. In this sense, the research will draw a wide variety of findings from various published scholars/ authors/ historians, with archaeological and empirical information to demonstrate the existence of Africa’s pre-colonial influence on modern knowledge.? This information will then be analysed, interpreted and explained as to not only provide the basis of research findings and conclusions, but to attempt to display explanatory base of the evidence presented. The Dogon people of Mali will be researched based on a fairly small number of individual participants but drawing from large number of scenarios (Neuman, 2014). The level of detail that the research requires will be influenced by identified cultural aspects of Dogon culture, namely astronomy, particle physics and mathematics, and how these have influenced modern knowledge.

From the ancient Africa, the Dogon people first watched upon and considered the skies as holy God dwelling heavens (Lazarus, 2011). The southern part of the Saharan Africa is the cultural area least explored regarding its astronomical traditions and this is problematic (Lazarus, 2011). Although it would be disingenuous to assert that little research has been conducted on indigenous African astronomy, such research has been scattered and peripheral, of small concern to Africanists in general while being relatively neglected by historians of astronomy (Warner, 1996). Much of information coming from this knowledge has been reduced to oral history (Warner, 1996). The context of this research, therefore, focuses on historical advancement of ancient African civilisations and draw a link between them and modern social sciences, technology and astronomy.

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Methodological Approach

According to Roberts et al (2003), it appears that the use of various research approaches combined is mostly encouraged to avoid any potential risk of limitations usually characteristic of an individual approach. However, for the purpose of this research study, qualitative approach for collection of information and data is mostly preferred and will be used. Roberts et al (2003) argues that qualitative research involves questions of real life and present day nature. This is inclusive of questions that investigates the accuracy of historical information and data that is necessary to make decisions in the present time and the future. According to Wilson (1992), most scholars have ceaselessly argued that Africa has no history to claim, and it is important that African scholars connect the dots in the academic spaces where their history is seemingly distorted. In order to facilitate the collection of data, information will be drawn from various historians, scholars, theorists, events and activities that forms the crux of knowledge production and development in postcolonial Africa.

Roberts et al (2003) argues that a large body of theory should be accompanied by specific research questions to verify or contest certain ideas and this usually takes a small number of cases for research. Neuman (2014) argues that qualitative methods are expressly useful in situations when historical data is not available or there is no need of numbers or mathematical calculations. Qualitative research is closely associated with elements that are non-quantifiable and as a result, this research will employ and explore documents/ books/ academic journals and records, focus groups and oral histories that have vested interest in the Dogon cultural research and Africa’s role in the world history. The information gathered will be assembled and analysed. Neuman (2014) describes data analysis in qualitative research as a process of methodically probing, arranging and explaining the transcripts, observation notes such as journals and books, other non-textual materials that the researcher accumulates to increase the understanding of a specific phenomenon. This research will therefore collect such information on the culture and history of the Dogon civilisation, and point out, explain and interpret connections to, and similar expressions in the modern fields of knowledge.

Through this data, the western narrative of ancient Africa, western discourse of “the west and the rest”, and the framework of colonialism will be analysed in order to establish an understanding that will address research insufficiencies on the African influence on modernity. This will be done through a comparative analysis against African scholars who seeks to address the history of Africa that is not covered by mainstream scholarship. Roberts et al (2003) argues that one of the main aims of qualitative data analysis is to find answers to research questions and arrive at valid answers. With the chosen methods of data collection and analysis, this research study aims further to deal with evidence in the fairest manner and address questions and various interpretations of the Malian civilisation with the necessary vigour. This is to ensure that the data passes the test of credibility, transferability or generalisability, dependability, and confirmability (Roberts, 2003). The research and findings on Dogon people will be used as a transferability form of a case study to apply to other untold stories of great ancient African civilisations such as Kenyan civilisation.

?In reviewing the research materials related to the Dogon cultural impact on modern societies, numerous strengths can be identified as follows: -

-?????? There is currently new information that is emerging about the actual pre-slavery and pre-colonial history. This introduces an expansive field of information that is available for examination.

-?????? The continued emergence of information about Ancient African civilisations signifies the rapid growth in research as new information will re-shape the research direction.

-?????? The data to be explored is based on human experiences defined by the position of a human being within the context of world history and modern civilisation.

-?????? This research opens up an opportunity to explore unresolved sociological questions about the history of Africa in the modern society.

In reviewing the research materials related to the Dogon cultural impact on modern societies, numerous limitations can be identified as follows: -

• The magnitude of the research on the ancient African civilisations is a complex subject and require experienced researcher. This may affect the research quality due to my limited experience in the high-level field of research.
• The lack of concentration of scholars on the African subject of the research, particularly Mali, means that there are profoundly large amounts of emerging information to be taken into consideration.
• The research on the Mali civilisation, the Dogon culture, may easily come across as insignificant to some people, and may just be misconstrued as quantitative research within the scientific community.

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References

Anderson P, 1998. “The origins of Postmodernity”. Verso Publishers

Bernal M, 1985. “The fabrication of ancient Greece”. A Publication of the Rutgers University Press

Chawane, M. 2016. “The development of Afrocentricity: a historical survey”. University of Johannesburg

Gomez, M. 2019 “African Dominion: a new history of empire in early and medieval West Africa”. Cambridge University Press

Huysecom et al, 2015. “Ounjougou (Mali): A history of Holocene settlement at the southern edge of the Sahara”. Cambridge University Online Press

Laird, S. 1953. “The science of the Dogon: decoding the African mystery tradition”. Inner Traditions International, Limited

Lazarus, N. 2011. “The Postcolonial Unconscious”. Cambridge University Press

Rosalie E van Deursen, Wendy F Raaphorst, 2014. “Proud to be Dogon: An exploration of the local perspective on cultural tourism and cultural heritage management in Dogon country, Mali”. Online Research Article

Said, E. 1978. “Orientalism”. Pantheon Books Publishers

Smith L, 2006. Uses of Heritage. Published by Abingdon: Routledge

Williams W, 2020. Did you know that Karl Marx was a racist and an anti-Semite? Online Publication

Williams, C. 1971. “Destruction of Black Civilization: Great Issues of a Race from 4500 B.C. to 2000 A.D”. Chicago: Third World Press

Young, R. 2003. “A very short Introduction to Postcolonialism”. Oxford University Press

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