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On the Myth and Practice of the Blacksmith in Africa
for Pierre Vidal-Naquet
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 July 2024
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The present-day dossier of the blacksmith in black Africa and elsewhere is made up of a considerable bulk of literature. The various documents are not homogenous: some are confined to providing us with raw information—a sort of implicit phenomenology; others tend to be in support of, for the most part, particular theories, and, in fairly rare cases, general theories. Engendered by the ambiguous status of this artisan at once manipulator of fire and of chtonic powers, this literature attempts to put forward conclusive answers to situations which are, either in a real sense or in an apparent sense, contradictory. Thus it is that the blacksmith is at times the marginal citizen, something of an outcast who is despised above all else, and at others the equivalent of the figure holding the reins of power, if not this figure in person; in this way his image travels from one extreme of recognised social standing to the other. But in almost every instance he is recognised as possessing the technical knowledge which is the determining factor for the functioning of societies, whatever the category of social formation in which they may be included.
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- Copyright © 1972 Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie / International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP)
References
1 Germaine Dieterlen, "Contribution à l'étude des forgerons en Afrique occidentale," E.P.H.E. Yearbook, section V, no. 73, 1965-1966, 1965, pp. 5-28.
2 Luc de Heusch, "Le symbolisme du forgeron en Afrique noire," Reflets du Monde, no. 10, July 1965, pp. 56-69.
3 This explanation has been proposed by numerous studies, but it has been considerably developed by Laura Makarius, " The Blacksmith's Taboos from the Man of Iron to the Man of Blood," Diogenes, No. 62, 1968, pp. 25-48.
4 Pierre Clement, "Le forgeron en Afrique noire; quelques attitudes du groupe à son égard," Revue de Géographie humaine et d'ethnologie, no. 2, April-June 1948, pp. 35-58, and also Luc de Heusch, op. cit.
5 The essential nature of this research has given birth to two publications: Roger Brand, Jacqueline Delange, Philip Fry, Francoise Germaix-Wasserman, Alfredo Margarido and Henri Wasserman, "Pour décoloniser l'Art nègre: un essai d'analyse du l'imaginaire plastique," Revue d'Esthétique, no. 4, 1970, pp. 33-54, and A. Margarido and J. Delange, "Sociologie de l'art africain," Annuaire de l'école des Hautes Etudes (Section VI), 1969-1970, pp. 276-279.
6 It is in this sense that it seems appropriate to understand Fernando Pessoa's definition: "o myth é o nada que é tudo" (myth is the nothing which is everything). Obras completas, Rio de Janeiro, Companhia José Aguilar Editora, 1969, p. 72.
7 Marie Delcourt, Héphaïstos ou la legende du magicien, Paris, published by "Les Belles Lettres," 1957, pp. 11-12, 49-50, 60, and 126.
8 Marcel Griaule, Les Masques Dogon, Paris, Institut d'Ethnologie de l'Université de Paris, 1938.
9 Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen, Le Renard Pâle, volume I, Le mythe cosmogonique, fasc. I; Travaux et Mémoires de l'Institut d'Ethnologie, volume LXXII, Paris, 1965.
10 Marcel Griaule, op. cit., p. 48.
11 Ibid., pp. 48-50.
12 Marcel Griaule, op. cit., p. 51-52.
13 Ibid, Dieu d'eau. Entretiens avec Ogotemméli. Paris, Editions du Chêne, 1948. The position of the blacksmith in this mythical version brings to mind in no uncertain way that of the Kotoko, where it can be seen in the structure of the royal palace, which takes on the shape of an anvil. See Annie Masson Datourbet Lebeuf, "Boum Massenia, capitale de l'ancien royaume du Baguirmi," Journal de de la Société des Africanistes, 37 (2), 1957, pp. 215-244.
14 Marcel Griaule, op. cit., p. 57.
15 Geneviève Calame-Griaule, Ethnologie et Langage, Paris, Gallimard, 1965, p. 108.
16 The plans of Dogon villages show that the village is normally laid out in a north-south direction, with the central area of the village to the north, which includes the men's lodging—the most important of all the buildings in the village—and the forge immediately to the north of it; then come the large family dwellings, then all the other dwellings strung out along the length of the village. P. Brasseur, Les établissements humains du Mali, Dakar, I.F.A.N., 1968, p. 394.
17 Denise Paulme, Organisation sociale des Dogon, Les Editions Domat-Montchrestien, 1940, p. 183.
18 Marcel Griaule, Les Masques Dogon, p. 22, and Le Renard Pâle, p. 23.
19 M. Griaule, Dieu d'eau, new edition, p. 82.
20 P. Paulme, op. cit., p. 182.
21 M. Griaule, Ibid.
22 D. Paulme, op. cit., pp. 185-188.
23 M. Griaule, ibid.: "the blacksmith never drives his iron into the soil with his own hand." This represents a confirmation of the role of agriculture, and is a yardstick of all types of behaviour.
24 Geneviève Calame-Griaule, investigation of 1967. At this juncture we must extend our heartfelt thanks to Mme. Calame-Griaule, who has not only allowed us to make use of her on-the-spot notebooks, but also been kind enough to make certain extremely valid observations with regard to the manuscript.
25 This modification has resulted in a change in the technical vocabulary of the blacksmith. Previously, in fact, the blacksmith would make a distinction between the ore and any iron which was old, whereas today all iron is called inu, whether it has already been used or not. Notes from Geneviève Calame-Griaule, March 1969.
26 This table does not claim to present a total view of this question, because the information obtained by Mme. G. Calame-Griaule is partial and subject to revision. One can however observe that this lock market does retain elements which refer to a situation within the Dogon, which is almost exempt from contamination from without. The organisation still takes into account data which are exclusively Dogon, as is shown by the market at Ibi, which only admits local blacksmiths who are reckoned to be specialists in the size of these locks, and whose virtuosity makes it impossible to sell locks which originate elsewhere. Quite the opposite to this is the market at Sanga, which shows a certain tendency towards a commercialisation of locks which are made all over the place. It would be possible to say that while they accept the values of the market, the Dogon endeavour to preserve their own values by isolating a market which is reckoned to be more specialised than others, and by putting the accent on the technical quality of the implement. This behaviour, however, which can be seen in other respects, in no way implies a refusal of the market, because the commercial regulations are imposed there as everywhere else.
27 P. Clement, op. cit., p. 40.
28 L. de Heusch, op. cit.
29 The meaning of this event is revealed by the fact that the spirits of the doctors and the men of high standing pass on into the snake. Sidney Langford Hinde and Hildegarde Hinde, The Last of the Masai, London, William Heine man, 1901, p. 101; C. Eliot, preface to A. C. Hollis, The Masai, 1905, p. XX.
30 The myth projects into practice, for the Masai take the livestock owned by those peoples speaking Bantu, who are supposed to have stolen or found them, because God had formerly given the Masai all the cattle in existence on earth. A. C. Hollis, op. cit., pp. 266-269.
31 S. L. Hinde and H. Hinde, op. cit., p. 84.
32 These are called either Il-Kunono, C. Eliot, preface to A. C. Hollis, op. cit., or Elgononu. S. L. and H. Hinde, op. cit., p. 11, or lastly ol kononi, M. Merker, Die Masai, Berlin 1910, p. 110.
33 M. Merker, op. cit., p. 110.
34 For M. Merker, op. cit., p. 110, they were simply "stolen" by the warriors. This method of control is fairly identical, if not homologous, to the method of the Ankole, where the commoner or roturier can only own a very small herd, which is essentially composed of non-reproductive males and females. K. Oberg, "Le Royaume des Ankole d'Ouganda" in Systèmes Politiques Africains, edited by M. Fortes and E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Paris, P.U.F. 1964, pp. 107-140.
35 M. Merker, op. cit., p. 111.
36 Ibid., A. C. Hollis, op. cit., pp. 330-331.
37 M. Merker, op. cit., p. 113; one can certainly find room for conjecture on the nature and origin of these bells, whose value was for bartering.
38 Ibid., p. 111; the spears of the Masai are not all made by the Masai blacksmiths; they are also made by other blacks who have settled with the Masai, above all the "Madchagga" from Kilimanjaro, from whom the Masai buy spears.
39 The ethnographic works which are at our disposal do not specify the goods used to remunerate the Dorobo. This lack of information is also the case with regard to the Chagga blacksmiths and the Swahili, who are purveyors of some of the ore.
40 Francesco Maria Gioia, La Meravigliosa Conversione alla Santa fede di Cristo della Regina Singa (sic) etc., Naples, 1669, p. 136.
41 J. Vansina, "Anthropologists and the third dimension," Africa, London, vol. XXXIX, no. 1, January 1969, pp. 62-67.
42 D. Birmingham, "Speculations on the kingdom of Kongo," Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana, vol. III, 1965, pp. 1-10.
43 W. G. L. Randles, L'ancien royaume de Congo, Paris, Mouton & Cie., 1968, pp. 54-55.
44 "The king of the Congo, like all the other chiefs in the country, only makes his government on the advice of a council which is composed of ten or twelve blacks." F. Cappelle, in L. Jadin, "Rivalités luso-néerlandaises au Sohio, Congo, 1600-1675," in Bull. de l'Inst. Hist. Belge de Rome, fasc. XXXVII, (1966), p. 228.
45 Andrew Battel, The Strange Adventures of Andrew Battel of Leigh in Angola and the Adjoining Regions (1613), edited by E. G. Ravenstein, Hakluyt Society, London, 1901.
46 The appearance of the slave constitutes a revolution, the importance of which is often ignored, as if societies had maintained slavery for all time. Marx, however, notes that "it is in the very person of the slave that one ravishes the instrument of production. But it is necessary that the productive structure of the country which profits from the rape admits slave labour, or, (as in South America etc.) a method of production must be created which is appropriate to slavery," Fondements de la critique de l'economie politique, Paris, Editions Anthropos, 1967, p. 27 (vol. I).
47 R. L. Wannyn, L'Art ancien du métal au Bas Congo, Champles par Wavre (Belgium) 1961, p. 59.
48 Laurent de Lucques, Relations sur le Congo du Père Laurent de Lucques (1700-1717), edited by J. Cuvelier, A.C.R.S.C., Brussels, 1953, pp. 139-140.
49 Ibid.
50 John W. Weeks, Among the Primitive Bakongo, London, 1914, p. 249.
51 Hernia may be defined as a "tumefaction formed by (an) organ beneath the skin" (Petit Larousse), which identifies it with the effect of the puff of the bellows.
52 Every historian agrees in his recognition of the decline of the technical knowledge of the Congolese, both in metallurgy and in weaving, since the introduction of European competition. Manuel Alfredo de Morais Martins, Contactos de cultura no Congo português, Lisbon, Junta de Investigaçoes do Ultramar, 1958, p. 92; and W. G. L. Randles, op. cit.
53 R. L. Wannyn, op. cit., p. 59.
54 This should not lead one to think that the various populations of the Congo have eliminated their religious systems by replacing them systematically by syncretic forms, as may emerge from many analyses. Quite the opposite is the case. These populations have maintained their religious systems almost intact, as would seem to be proven by the document written in the XVIIth century, of which the data crop up again in the ethnographic studies carried out in the XXth century. A "long period of time" is concerned here, dur ing which the virtual absence of changes supplies the historian and ethno logist alike with information of paramount importance for any study and understanding of the Congo society. V. A. Margarido, Review of the work of Teobaldo Filesi, Le relazioni tra il regno del Congo e la sede apostolica nel XVI secolo, in Rivista Storica Italiana, year LXXXII, fasc. IV, pp. 972-978.
55 John W. Weeks, op. cit., p. 93.
56 Arquivos de Angola, vol. IV, nos. 37-40, Jan.-April, 1938.
57 Such a situation certainly calls to mind that of the Gouro, where "the absence of iron ore in the country and these exchange relationships (the iron was imported already refined in the form of metal lengths (sompe), dispensed with the use of advanced metallurgical techniques: there was neither extraction nor refinement of iron ore, only the work of fashioning the tools and weapons. The role of the blacksmiths, as well as their economic and social function, was, in these conditions, of too slight an importance for them to occupy any special position in society. They were not specialised, and they had no caste: the techniques of metallurgy had not yet reached the point of allowing any social differentiation, of the group." Claude Meillassoux, Anthropologie économique des Gouro, Paris, Mouton & Cie, 1964, p. 90. In this connection the fact is that for Congolese society it is a question of erasing the social difference, which can no longer be maintained by the relations of production, which have been severely overturned by the intro duction of European merchandise.
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