BOBO

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 contains an extended family that dwells in a rectangular house with mud walls, a beaten-earth roof, and, frequently, a defensive outer wall. Local lineages constitute clans that dominate a particular locality. There is a high incidence of polygyny, and the levirate (compulsory marriage of a widow to her dead husband's brother) and the sororate (compulsory marriage of a woman to her dead or barren sister's husband) are practiced. Social structure is otherwise relatively egalitarian, although slavery was once present and despised castes of smiths and leatherworkers persist. The Bobo are traditionally animist, although Islam and Christianity have claimed some converts.