Bobo
Group Sudanid
- common
- occasional
- rare
Description
Sudanid variety with shorter skulls than Sudanids proper, and several other unique features that set it apart from other neighbouring groups. Similar to the Casamance type, but taller and wider-faced. Found in its purest form in Bobo-Fing and Bobo-Dyula in the Upper Volta region of Burkina Faso and Mali, also in Dogon, Senufo, and Songhai. In low frequencies across West Africa e.g. in Casamance and Ashanti.
Physical traits
Dark brown, sometimes black skin, usually kinky hair. Tall, (hyper-)brachyskelic, mesomorph. Mesocephalic, mildly hypsicranic. (Hyper-)platyrrhine, relatively short nose that is lower in women. The face is large with a large mouth and bulging lips. Occiput and prognathy are usually pronounced. Body hair extremely weak.
Literature
Identified within the "atypical groups" of the Sudano-Guinean region by Pales and St-Péreuse (1953) as the "Bobo type". Also illustrated by Chabeuf (1959), who studied relationships to types further East. Grotanelli (1967) described it as a mesocephalised Sudanid, Leschi (1958) found the same anthropometric combinations in Dogon.
