Ogotemmeli

Early life and work Ogotommeli was blind since his youth as a result of his gun accidentally exploding in his face during a hunting expedition. That incident occurred as he was about to fire at a porcupine. Despite the painful accident and his disability, Ogotemmeli attributed it to fate. As a diviner, elder and hogon, Ogotemmeli recounted that this fate was previously made known to him, but he chose to ignore it, and as such, had paid a costly price for ignoring the predictions.

In 1931, Marcel Griaule was on an ethnographical expedition in West Africa. He has heard of Ogotemmeli's name and reputation—as a famous diviner and "a man of outstanding wisdom" in the region. As such, Griaule tried to get an interview with him—sending messengers to search for him. When Ogotemmeli finally agreed to the interview, Griaule left for the Dogon region of Mali in 1933. For thirty–three days, Ogotemelli divulged to Griaule the Dogon's belief system.

Griaule's work has been criticised by scholars over the years as being "too idealistic at the expense of historical dynamism."

Death Ogotemmeli died in 1962.