Les masques dogon: Ethnologie savante et ethnologie autochtone (review)

Les masques dogon: Ethnologie savante et ethnologie autochtone, by Anne Doquet. Paris: Karthala, 1999.

Les masques dogon is an original and well-written book that questions representational issues about Dogon masks of Mali and seeks to consider and understand change over time not only in Sangha but also in the entire Dogon region. Anne Doquet departs from the "documentary period" with Marcel Griaule's first ethnographic studies during the 19831 Dakar-Djibouti mission, which were followed by major writings about the structure and the origins of the Dogon society and ultimately by a more complex approach to the Dogon (Dieterlen, Calame-Griaule, Bouju, Leloup, Imperator, Lane). The author asserts that Westerners continue to look upon Dogon masks with a "universalist view" without considering the diversity of geographic areas where the masks are carved (Sangha, Bongo, Banani, Pegue, and Ireli), linguistic diversity, plurality of mask characters, and the changes in the Dogon culture itself since Griaule's writings more than sixty years ago. One could parallel this assertion with that of Roy Sieber who once noticed: "Works recognized as fine by an observer from one cutlure at one moment in time will be so acknowledged by an observer from another culture or time" (1995: 14).

The tone is clearly set: representational issues and change in societal structure are central to Doquet's argument. To what extent do these issues still remain modeled on the theoretical frame established by Marcel Griaule and his followers? How inclusive of the Dogon's recent societal and masking practices is the information collected and translated by ethnographers for their Western readership? Since the ethnographers' readership in the West differs from the "people-subject" they study locally, they too often adapt their discursive approach to their audience, knowingly neglecting some new data suspectible of contradicting or distorting the stance on Dogon culture. For those interested in contemporary Dogon culture, Doquet argues that it appears fundamental to notice the evolutive dimension of masks in the integration of new characters and social changes: it reflects interactions with neighboring and foreign cultures visible in the modern aesthetic, formal and material treatment of the masks. Doquet insists upon the fact that Dogon mythology has been much more documented than rituals, which really never appeared attractive to scholars.

By recalling that in scholarly writings contemporary forms of Dogon masks are too often occulted to the benefit of classical forms, the author pinpoints that this fact contradictorily has both enhanced and damaged Western perceptions of Dogon masks. Departing from the theoretical approach to Dogon ceremonials and masking rituals initiated by Griaule, Doquet performs a kind of exegesis of Griaule's Dieu d'eau (Conversations with Ogotemméli) nurtured by both French and Anglo-Saxon critics. While some blame Griaule for privileging a study of Dogon society according to mythical tales, others either deconstruct the centrality of Ogotemméli to the benefit of the Dogon society at large (Clifford) or deny the revelation of the Dogon myth to Griaule by that old sage (Van Beek). Doquet concludes on the diversity, the vitality of the Dogon masks, and by extension Dogon regional culture.

Masques dogon is divided into nine thematically organized sections. I particularly enjoyed section 5 ("Masque et société"): here Doquet thoroughly explores the role of the mask within Dogon social structure as it is associated with order and disorder and constitutes the closest object next to reality in its reflection of endogenous and exogenous elements. Throughout the book, the author investigates the character and role of the mask within Dogon culture by using three types of written sources: first, those from the "documentary period" (that of Dieu d'eau); second, from fieldwork conducted after this period mainly by Calame-Griaule, followed by studies from contemporary ethnographers, cultural anthropologists, and literary critics; and third, from her own fieldwork conducted in and around Sangha from 1993 to 1995.

Doquet successfully brings a new perspective on the Dogon mask in leading the...