Bobo

▪ people

      people of Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta), who speak a language of the Gur branch of the Niger-Congo family.

      The Bobo are a sedentary agricultural people growing such staples as millet and sorghum and a wide variety of other crops. Crop rotation and some irrigation are utilized, and small numbers of cattle and other animals are tended. Hunting, fishing, and the gathering of wild plants provide additional food.

      The typical household comprises an extended family that dwells in a rectangular house with mud-brick walls, a beaten-earth roof, and, frequently, a defensive outer wall. Local patrilineages constitute clans that dominate a particular locality. There is a high incidence of polygyny, and the levirate (a custom whereby a widow marries a brother of her dead husband) and the sororate (a custom whereby a widower marries a sister of his dead wife) are practiced. Social structure is otherwise relatively egalitarian, although slavery was once present and some castes of smiths and leather workers persist. The Bobo are traditionally animist, although some individuals have converted to Islam and Christianity.

* * *