Go to AfricaBib home

Go to AfricaBib home AfricaBib Go to database home

bibliographic database
Line
Previous page New search

The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here

Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The Mande Magical Mystery Tour: The Mission Griaule in Kangaba (Mali)
Author:Jansen, JanISNI
Year:2000
Periodical:Mande Studies
Volume:2
Pages:97-114
Language:English
Geographic term:Mali
Subjects:research methods
social sciences
Manding
rituals
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Religion and Witchcraft
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/44078792
Abstract:The reliability of M. Griaule's research from the 1950s has provoked much scholarly debate since this work is considered to be a 'paradigm anomaly' in African ethnography. This article shows how researchers influenced by the methods of M. Griaule, in particular Germaine Dieterlen and Solange de Ganay, decontextualized and then recontextualized the information they collected in the Manden within the framework of Griaule's research agenda. The argument is based on four strands: verification of the ethnographic information, the organization of ethnographic research, the contextualization of the findings within a broader project, and the accuracy of translations. The ethnographic data discussed are related to the septennial ceremonial restoration of the Kamabolon sanctuary in Kangaba, Mali. Griaule attended the Kamabolon ceremony in 1954, in the company of Dieterlen and de Ganay, who also attended later ceremonies. The present author argues that the Griaule approach involved an often recurring research fallacy: although the research material is, generally speaking, reliable, the sociological dimensions of 'secrecy' are excluded or denied. Secondly, the author emphasizes the significance of the 'dynamic' use of informants, who were transported by car, which served to create, by decontextualizing and recontextualizing, the conceptual framework for the Sudanic system of thought the Griaulians were looking for. Finally, the author argues that the validity of the data is undermined by wishful translations that exclude variance and that select particular meanings. App., bibliogr., notes, ref.
Views
Cover