A Microcosmology in a Millet Grain

In Tiréli, as in many places in the Dogon region and in Mali, Dogon alimentation relies primarily on millet. ¹ Rice dishes accompanied with an oily and salty sauce are perceived as prestigious; however, affording it on a daily basis remains too expensive for most families. ² Although they struggle to obtain food, Dogon families always insist on sharing it with foreigners, because for them hospitality is a tradition that is also a form of pride. In this chapter, I propose a reading of Dogon microcosmology as being objectified in a millet grain and with worldviews shared by people in one bowl. As shown by Douglas, in her essay ‘Deciphering a Meal’ (1972), the content and ritual of a mealtime scrutinised from a structuralist approach can reveal implicit meanings about a society’s beliefs, prohibitions, taboos, and taste. Douglas proposes that cultural meanings about a meal are found in a sequence of meals—that is, ‘in a system of repeated analogies. Each meal carries something of the meaning of the other meals; each meal is a structured social event which structures others in its own image’, (Douglas 1972, 69).