Conversations with Ogotemm Li: An Introduction to Dogon Religious Ideas

Many years ago a colleague in African Studies told me to buy this book. It had just been published in English, Griaule was dead and my study of Africa has just begun. After reading it I wanted so badly to visit the Dogon who seemed at the pinnacle of African cultures. Realizing that the French were fascinated by the Dogon and after visiting galleries all of the French Quarter in Paris viewing Dogon art. My obsession to visit Pays Dogon nerer went away. I did not get to visit Dogon Country until 2006 for a quick tour on my way to the Festival of the Desert near Timbuktu. What I found was just as stimulating as I had suspected, a group of people still surviving amidst huge change living on the escarpment as before. Islam has nearly taken over, but parts of the culture still remain and the charm of their cosomology still can be found for the person who studies the Dogon langusge. Out of Africa comes the most surprising information about how they lived. Of all the cultures of Africa I have looked at or lived in, this culture stands out and needs further investigation. The Pale Fox is a good place to start after Ogotmmeli. The Dogon and the Tellem are very mysterious cultures that need further study. But better yet, go live there and figure out the mystery of their attraction. Andy Hanson

This book was a great look into the Dogon Cosmology. I'm generally interested in African religions and often it is difficult to find literature in English. Good Stuff.

I first read this book in 1984 while I was doing research on the infamous "Face On Mars" photographs taken by NASA in 1978 and released to the press in 1981 or 1982. One of the main proponents of the Face On Mars being an artifact was Richard Hoagland and part of his theory hypothesized that the builders originally came from a planet or planets orbiting the star we call Sirius. It turns out that the Dogon tribe not only has a religion/mythology that says the tribe's ancestors are originally from a planet orbiting the star Sirius,the Dogon are also famous for claiming that Sirius was actually a double star, years before telescopes could determine the same information. I began reading the book hoping to find more information along the same line. As the title says, the book is a series of conversations with the tribe's resident wise man and it is interesting to note a sense of superiority in Ogotemmili's response to the author. It's as if all the things he is saying are without question, absolutely true and the poor dumb westerner can hardly be blamed for his ignorance. Ogotemmeli's descriptions, explanations and narrations of the tribe's beliefs are fantastic in details as well as in scope, and his origin story alone is worth the price of the book. Even Ogotemelli's idiosyncracies are telling; whenever he gets ready to talk he has to smoke tobacco first. He says everyone knows that tobacco puts the mind in the proper mood for such activities as these, and "coincidentally" it was 1998 when scientists confirmed that nicotine in fact does counter some elements of memory loss diseases. All in all, the book will give the reader a different perspective on primitive mythology, human origins and "Alien Visitations". According to Ogotemmeli, his people are aliens from another star system who visited and stayed. That's something to think about.