Politics and history of mobile cults in southwestern Burkina Faso (English Summary)

The project focuses on mobile cults (also called "secret societies" or "initiation societies") in a political and historical dimension. Previous studies have demonstrated that cults played a central role in the history of settlement, the distribution of political power and the establishment of communities in the west African savannah. It is intended to study the most important cults in the provinces of Bougouriba, Ioba, Poni, Houet and Comoé, i.e. the baghr of the Dagara along the Mouhoun; the dyoro of the Dyan, the zorgho of the Gáan and cults of the category lo/poro. The main topics of the project are

1) the influence of geopolitical and ecological spaces on the distribution and the specific forms of the cults;
2) the significance of cults in the context of local political structures, especially the development and transformation of political power and the distribution of settlements, land rights and comercial activities;
3) the role of cults as instruments of political and economical influence of Mande-speaking immigrants on neighbouring groups;
4) the relationship between the representatives of Islam and Christianity and the leaders of the cults.

These topics will be studied on different historical levels. The decades immediately before, during and after the colonial period can be covered through the collection of oral traditions, the study of relevant archival sources and publications as well as participant observation. In contrast, the more distant past requires a comparative approach, combining the analysis of different sources and studies on cults outside of the immediate study area with field work. This systematic-comparative approach aims at an approximate reconstruction of the "prehistory" of single cults in order to relate their development to the documented history from ca. 1870 up to the present time.