2 - Cowhide patterns as cross-cultural library in the agropastoral Sahel

Presentation Abstract
In the agropastoral Sahel, cattle is identified through a variety of markers like family and community signs often visible on the skin, ear and tail of the animal. A less salient tag is the unique name assigned to a hide pattern. The terms are built on roots and declined according to species; that is, the ending indicates, for example, whether an all-black pattern designates a cow, a sheep or a goat. The terminology constitutes a knowledge base mastered at different levels by specialists as well as the general public. Full mastery of this lexicon requires extensive learning and practice on the part of herders and traders. It avails these practitioners a descriptive shorthand, which enables them to catalog all possible combinations and variations in colors and patterns with single or compound words that are immediately understood by others. For cows, this catalog can count from 120 to 150 terms. Moreover, these terms have their roots in one language but have been adopted by other language groups through cultural exchange and interlingual borrowing. Thus, they are a testimony to long-lasting cultural and linguistic contact and knowledge transfer across the Sahel region. This study of of a library seeks to uncover the common grounds of Sahelian cultural practices that have long been neglected and more recently opposed in manichean projections, especially under the pressure of violent conflict and the fraying of social bonds across the region.