| Titre | Agriculteurs métallurgistes et forgerons en Afrique soudano-sahélienne | |
|---|---|---|
| Auteur | Bruno Martinelli | |
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Revue | Etudes rurales |
| Numéro | no 125-126, 1992 Métallurgie à la campagne | |
| Page | 25-41 | |
| Résumé anglais |
Metal-Working Farmers and Smiths in the African Sudan and Sahel
Iron-Working in the Sudan and Sahel regions of Africa is linked to smelting and forging techniques and to the social relations having to do with the status of specialized workmen. By comparing some of the most representative systems of large-scale production that have survived till recent times - in the Basari (northern Togo), Dogon (Mali) and Mossi (Yatenga, Burkina Faso) areas - contrasting forms of technical and economic organization can be observed. Groups involved in working iron are either metal- working farmers who supply smiths or smiths who more or less autonomously acquire and smelt ore. Till present, little has been known about the first group. Why, in certain societies that have intensively produced iron for several centuries, have smiths been kept from smelting ? What does it mean to be a smith in a society that tends to be stratified ? Do blacksmiths "crystallize" as a social group as a result of technical and economic changes ? Traditional ways of working metal in West Africa raise historical, sociological and technological questions of far-reaching import. Source : Éditeur (via Persée) |
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| Article en ligne | http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/rural_0014-2182_1992_num_125_1_3351 |
