Dogon - Africa's peoples of the cliffs. (Reviews).

[pounds sterling]32.00 Harry N. Abrams Inc (USA) ISBN 0-8109-4373-5

This book is a richly illustrated celebration of the Dogon peoples of Mali, West Africa. The Dogon have for hundreds of years built their villages among the rocky outcrops at the base of the 200km long Bandiagara escarpment. For at least seven centuries their naturally defended homes held enemies and interlopers, especially slave-raiders, at bay until the arrival of European colonialism.

Remarkable photographs from Stephanie Hollyman reveal a tightly knit, highly sophisticated culture. Quite apart from the all important work of tending food crops (principally sorghum, millet and onions) and animal husbandry, activities such as house building, iron-smithing, basket weaving and pottery are all recorded. Sacred ritual is also lovingly documented, from initiation and marriage rites to masked dances and burial customs.

Walter van Beek's narrative is coolly executed. It's appropriately intimate and respectful, and carries the authority of an anthropologist who has dedicated more than two decades of research while living amongst the peoples he writes about.