Bwaba

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The Bwaba (also Bwawa , singular: Bwa or Bwani , depending on the dialect) are an ethnic group whose settlement area, called Bwamu , lies in the West African states of Burkina Faso and Mali .

The term Bobo was and is used to name both the Bwaba and the Bobo ethnic group as well as both collectively. Guy Le Moal examined the two groups' own names and recommended their use to avoid further confusion. Bobo-Fing ('black Bobo') and Bobo-Wule ('red Bobo') - in different spellings - for the Bobo, or the Bwaba, are foreign terms from the Dioula language .

Their language, also called Bwamu , is one of the Gur languages and is divided into at least 17 dialects. The settlement area of ​​the Bwaba is in the west of Burkina Faso and in the south-east of Mali, their number is between 450,000 and 500,000.

The Bwaba are best known for their artistic masks , which have very abstract shapes. Her art also includes figures, bronze castings and pottery products .

The author and politician Nazi Boni gave the novel Crépuscule des temps anciens (1962), dedicated to his homeland and considered the beginning of Burkinabe literature, the subtitle Chronique du Bwamu ( French: 'Chronicle of Bwamu').

literature

  • Élisée Coulibaly: Savoirs et savoir-faire des anciens métallurgistes d'Afrique occidentale. Procédés et techniques de la sidérurgie directe dans le Bwamu (Burkina Faso et Mali). Karthala, Paris 2006, ISBN 2-84586-743-3
  • Cécile Leguy: Le Proverbe chez les Bwa du Mali. Parole africaine en situation d'énonciation. Karthala, Paris 2001, ISBN 2-84586-128-1

Individual evidence

  1. Coulibaly, p. 134
  2. Leguy, p. 30
  3. Leguy, p. 19
  4. Keyword Bobo. In: Goldmann Lexicon in 24 volumes. BLI Bertelsmann Lexicographical Institute 1998; Volume 4, p. 1296. ISBN 3-442-90000-X .
  5. Salaka Sanou: Quelques repères pour l'histoire littéraire du Burkina Faso. In: Yénouyaba Georges Madiéga , Oumarou Nao: Burkina Faso. Cent ans de l'histoire. 1895–1995, Volume 2, Karthala, Paris 2003, ISBN 2-84586-431-0