It has been stated in another thread:
This is false, through and through.
#1, the DOGON are not "monotheist", even by Biblical standards.
Here is info:
http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/toc/people/Dogon.html
Dogon religion is defined primarily through the worshiping of the ancestors and the spirits whom they encountered as they moved across the Western Sudan. The Awa society is responsible for carrying out the rituals, which allow the deceased to leave the world of the living and enter the world of the dead. Public rites include funerary rites (bago bundo) and the dama ceremony, which marks the end of the mourning period. Awa society members are also responsible for planning the sigui ceremonies, which commence every sixty years to hand on the function of the dead initiates to the new recruits. All of these rites involve masking traditions and are carried out only by initiated males who have learned the techniques needed to impersonate the supernaturals. The leader of the Awa society is the olaburu who is a master of the language of the bush (sigi so). The society is divided in accordance with age-grades, ignoring traditional lineage and hierarchical ordering within the village.
This is not "monotheist" by any standard, let alone the DOGON's.
http://www.zyama.com/dogon/pics..htm
In the Dogon pantheon Amma appears as the original creator of all the forces of the universe and of his descendant Lebe, the god of plant rebirth. The first Dogon primordial ancestors, called Nommo, were bisexual water gods. They were created in heaven by the creator god Amma and descended from heaven to earth in an ark. The Nommo founded the eight Dogon lineages and introduced weaving, smithing, and agriculture to their human descendants.
Again, none of this is "monotheist". By monotheistic definition, any religion that has a "pantheon" at the core of its theology is not monotheist.
AMMA is to their theology, what AMEN is to the Kemetic theology. Both are cosmological, and not monotheist in design and function.
There is further info, about the SIRIAN MYSTERY non-sense:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogon#Controversy
Controversy
A number of researchers investigating the Dogon have reported apparent knowledge that has subsequently become embroiled in controversy. From 1931 to 1956, two French anthropologist Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen spent 25 years with the Dogon, during which time they were initiated into the tribe.[3] Griaule and Dieterlen reported that the Dogon appeared to know of the companions star, Sirius B, the rings of Saturn, and the Moons of Jupiter, which are usually considered invisible to the unaided eye;[4] In 1852 American missionary D.T. Stoddart wrote a letter to astronomer John Herschel that ".. at twighlight, Jupiter's satellites could be seen with the naked eye and the elongated shape of Saturn also."[5]
All this info comes from white people, nearly 50 years ago. We all know the mindset of the White man back then, especially as it relates to anything from an African perspective, so why are we taking this info at face value?
Further:
Robert Temple
Robert Temple, in his 1975 book The Sirius Mystery, devoted a central role to the Dogon to support his theory on ancient astronauts. Temple claimed that while interviewing the Dogon he found that they had information on Sirius and its companion star, Sirius B which they also incorporated into their rituals. Since Sirius B is invisible without a telescope, and the Dogon did not have telescopes or other astronomical technology, Temple had argued that the only way they could have obtained the information on Sirius B was by contact with an advanced civilization. Therefore, Temple concluded that aliens from the Sirius star system personally visited the Dogons and made them familiar with the operation of their astronomical home.
All these "conclusions", from a white man who has no knowledge whatsoever of African Theology. Again, what makes him the expert?
Astronomer Carl Sagan dealt with the issue in his book Broca's Brain (1979), stating that there are many problems with Temple's hypothesis. As an example Sagan mentions that the Dogon seem to have no knowledge of another planet beyond Saturn which has rings, which would suggest that their knowledge is more likely from European, and not extra-terrestrial sources.
Another astronomer, Ian Ridpath, points out in an article in the Skeptical Inquirer (1978), "The whole Dogon legend of Sirius and its companions is riddled with ambiguities, contradictions, and downright errors, at least if we try to interpret it literally".[8] Ridpath stated that while the information that the Dogon probably gained from Europeans to some extent resembles the facts about Sirius, the presumed original Dogon knowledge on the planet is very far from the facts.
Journalist and skeptic James Oberg collected claims that have appeared concerning Dogon mythology in his 1982 book.[9] According to Oberg, the Dogon's astronomical information resembles the knowledge and speculations of European astronomical knowledge of the late 1920's. The Dogon could have gotten their astronomical knowledge, including the information on Sirius, from European visitors before their mythology was recorded in the 1930s. Oberg also points out that the Dogons were not an isolated tribe, thus it was not even necessary for outsiders to inform the Dogon about Sirius, they could very well have acquired such knowledge abroad, passing it on to their tribe later. In this way, by the time Temple visited the Dogon in the 1970s, they had had a great deal of contact with the western world and had time to incorporate Sirius B into their religion.
None of this verifies any concept of "advanced civilization" from the DOGON's POV. In fact, much of this wreaks of the White man, in every conceivable aspect: the assimiliation of the white man's theological views into our own.
If we are going to study the DOGON, then let us do so from their eyes, and their words (unfortunately, they have not written a single book or piece of literature on their theology), rather than the white man's.
PEACE
The Dogon simply have a memory detailing those days. The Dogon don’t worship the Nummo and believe in One Supreme Being called Amma, they are monotheist.
This is false, through and through.
#1, the DOGON are not "monotheist", even by Biblical standards.
Here is info:
http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/toc/people/Dogon.html
Dogon religion is defined primarily through the worshiping of the ancestors and the spirits whom they encountered as they moved across the Western Sudan. The Awa society is responsible for carrying out the rituals, which allow the deceased to leave the world of the living and enter the world of the dead. Public rites include funerary rites (bago bundo) and the dama ceremony, which marks the end of the mourning period. Awa society members are also responsible for planning the sigui ceremonies, which commence every sixty years to hand on the function of the dead initiates to the new recruits. All of these rites involve masking traditions and are carried out only by initiated males who have learned the techniques needed to impersonate the supernaturals. The leader of the Awa society is the olaburu who is a master of the language of the bush (sigi so). The society is divided in accordance with age-grades, ignoring traditional lineage and hierarchical ordering within the village.
This is not "monotheist" by any standard, let alone the DOGON's.
http://www.zyama.com/dogon/pics..htm
In the Dogon pantheon Amma appears as the original creator of all the forces of the universe and of his descendant Lebe, the god of plant rebirth. The first Dogon primordial ancestors, called Nommo, were bisexual water gods. They were created in heaven by the creator god Amma and descended from heaven to earth in an ark. The Nommo founded the eight Dogon lineages and introduced weaving, smithing, and agriculture to their human descendants.
Again, none of this is "monotheist". By monotheistic definition, any religion that has a "pantheon" at the core of its theology is not monotheist.
AMMA is to their theology, what AMEN is to the Kemetic theology. Both are cosmological, and not monotheist in design and function.
There is further info, about the SIRIAN MYSTERY non-sense:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogon#Controversy
Controversy
A number of researchers investigating the Dogon have reported apparent knowledge that has subsequently become embroiled in controversy. From 1931 to 1956, two French anthropologist Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen spent 25 years with the Dogon, during which time they were initiated into the tribe.[3] Griaule and Dieterlen reported that the Dogon appeared to know of the companions star, Sirius B, the rings of Saturn, and the Moons of Jupiter, which are usually considered invisible to the unaided eye;[4] In 1852 American missionary D.T. Stoddart wrote a letter to astronomer John Herschel that ".. at twighlight, Jupiter's satellites could be seen with the naked eye and the elongated shape of Saturn also."[5]
All this info comes from white people, nearly 50 years ago. We all know the mindset of the White man back then, especially as it relates to anything from an African perspective, so why are we taking this info at face value?
Further:
Robert Temple
Robert Temple, in his 1975 book The Sirius Mystery, devoted a central role to the Dogon to support his theory on ancient astronauts. Temple claimed that while interviewing the Dogon he found that they had information on Sirius and its companion star, Sirius B which they also incorporated into their rituals. Since Sirius B is invisible without a telescope, and the Dogon did not have telescopes or other astronomical technology, Temple had argued that the only way they could have obtained the information on Sirius B was by contact with an advanced civilization. Therefore, Temple concluded that aliens from the Sirius star system personally visited the Dogons and made them familiar with the operation of their astronomical home.
All these "conclusions", from a white man who has no knowledge whatsoever of African Theology. Again, what makes him the expert?
Astronomer Carl Sagan dealt with the issue in his book Broca's Brain (1979), stating that there are many problems with Temple's hypothesis. As an example Sagan mentions that the Dogon seem to have no knowledge of another planet beyond Saturn which has rings, which would suggest that their knowledge is more likely from European, and not extra-terrestrial sources.
Another astronomer, Ian Ridpath, points out in an article in the Skeptical Inquirer (1978), "The whole Dogon legend of Sirius and its companions is riddled with ambiguities, contradictions, and downright errors, at least if we try to interpret it literally".[8] Ridpath stated that while the information that the Dogon probably gained from Europeans to some extent resembles the facts about Sirius, the presumed original Dogon knowledge on the planet is very far from the facts.
Journalist and skeptic James Oberg collected claims that have appeared concerning Dogon mythology in his 1982 book.[9] According to Oberg, the Dogon's astronomical information resembles the knowledge and speculations of European astronomical knowledge of the late 1920's. The Dogon could have gotten their astronomical knowledge, including the information on Sirius, from European visitors before their mythology was recorded in the 1930s. Oberg also points out that the Dogons were not an isolated tribe, thus it was not even necessary for outsiders to inform the Dogon about Sirius, they could very well have acquired such knowledge abroad, passing it on to their tribe later. In this way, by the time Temple visited the Dogon in the 1970s, they had had a great deal of contact with the western world and had time to incorporate Sirius B into their religion.
None of this verifies any concept of "advanced civilization" from the DOGON's POV. In fact, much of this wreaks of the White man, in every conceivable aspect: the assimiliation of the white man's theological views into our own.
If we are going to study the DOGON, then let us do so from their eyes, and their words (unfortunately, they have not written a single book or piece of literature on their theology), rather than the white man's.
PEACE