ABSTRACT

In West Africa blacksmiths constitute endogamous social groups. They are independent, quasi-international in character—a blacksmith is 'at home' wherever he goes; as long as there is a forge he can set up in business anywhere he pleases, anywhere he is needed. They live in a symbiotic relationship with those people for whom they work, people whose own basic occupations are different—whether they are farmers, fishermen, or pastoralists. All require tools and weapons for use in hunting—and formerly in war—and they observe, vis-à-vis the blacksmith, special forms of behaviour which share common elements. Much information has been collected since the publication of Dieu d'Eau which sheds light, not only on Dogon blacksmiths, but on others as well. On the one hand this will involve complementary material on the myth of the blacksmith or rather on the 'history' of the mythical blacksmith, on the other hand it present a picture of the special rites which are performed by the blacksmith.