Ancestors: a previous person in the family line; often more than two generations earlier
Betrothed: engaged to be married
Blacksmiths: a person who creates and repairs things made of iron
Calabash: the dried, hollow shell of a gourd
Cereal crop: grains such as wheat, oats, rice, etc.
Colony: a territory distant from the government having control over it
Colonial period: in the case of Burkina Faso, the period of time when the country was controlled by the French
Compound: the walled area in which one extended family lives
Condiments: a seasoning for food
Cowry shells: a mollusk shell formerly used as money in parts of Africa and South Asia
Dialect: the form or variety of a spoken language peculiar to a region, community, social group, occupation group, etc.
Drought: a prolonged period of dry weather
Fallow: land left unplanted for a period of time to make the soil richer
Fertility: the ability of animals to reproduce and the ability of land to produce crops
Fixative: a substance that makes something permanent or prevents fading
Hereditary: being passed down from generation to generation
Hierarchy: a group of persons or things arranged in order of rank, grade, class, etc.
Infertility: the inability of animals to reproduce and the inability of land to produce crops
Intermediaries: people who serve as a go-between, giving messages from one person to another
Kinship: family relationships or connections
Land-locked: entirely surrounded by land; cut off from the sea
Lineage: all the people who can trace their origin back through one common ancestor
Millet: a cereal grass whose small grain is used for food
Okra: a tall annual plant grown for its slender, ribbed, sticky green pods, which are cooked and used in soups or stews
Rural: Of a characteristic of the country (as opposed to the city)
Savanna: a treeless plain or a grassland characterized by scattered trees
Smelting: to melt ore for the purpose of separating the impurities from the pure metal
Sorghum: a grass grown for grain, syrup, fodder, etc.; also the syrup created from the juices of the grass
Staple food: the chief food of an area
Tubers: the short, thickened part of an underground plant stem; yams and potatoes are tubers for example
Votive objects: objects used as a mediation between the living and the dead when asking for protection, prosperity, favors, good health, etc.
Copyright 2001, Spurlock Museum, University of Illinois.
