NOTE ON NAMES

In this book, I have endeavored to defer to the primary names and spellings of languages as they appear in the twenty-third edition of Ethnologue: Languages of the World, published by SIL International (Eberhard et al. 2020). This source offers a regularly updated compilation of data collected by linguists and other researchers who observe and study the languages they document. Primary names listed in Ethnologue at times vary from names that may be more familiar to readers as language names or as ethnonyms. When I use a name that another author uses but that differs from the primary name, then I place the name the author provides within quotation marks on first reference and offer the primary name within parentheses. The SIL International reference work also at times shifts between Anglophone and Francophone orthographies. In such cases, I have chosen a single spelling to use consistently throughout the text. For example, Ethnologue uses Senufo and Sénoufo, but here the Anglophone spelling is retained.

When information at my disposal made it possible for me to link place-names in this book to particular locales as they appeared in the GEOnet Names Server (GNS) database administered by the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), I used the approved place-names within the GNS database as they appeared at the time of writing. When a place-name in a cited source varied from the approved place-name in the GNS database, then the cited source name appears within quotation marks and the NGA approved place-name appears within parentheses. When searches for a place-name in a cited source or a corresponding place-name for the location did not yield a result in the GNS database, then the cited source name appears within quotation marks without an additional name following. In some cases, searches for a place-name in the GNS indicated multiple possibilities for the geographic coordinates corresponding to the name or a variant of it, so I was not always able to determine a GNS-approved spelling or geographic coordinates for the particular place.

The decision to adopt the NGA GNS database as a reference for orthographies and coordinates reflects my desire to use a single, traceable, albeit imperfect source for place-based information spanning West African nation-state borders.¹ Historical and present-day maps produced by disparate sources at times yield different spellings or even different names for the same geographic locations. The documents may show that a single place-name may refer to a variety of locales. Maps also reduce to points places that may span larger or smaller geographic areas or that may connect with other places (Brottem 2018a, 2018b). And a community may move from one locale to another for any number of reasons but still retain its original place-name. Such discrepancies in orthographies, coordinates, visual representations of geographic locations, and the locations of the places themselves reflect histories, exchanges, and negotiations that, while important, are beyond the focus of this study.

People, institutions, and governments view standardization goals in different ways, further contributing to challenges in determining which maps, place-names, spellings, or locations to use. Local-level histories and politics may favor certain groups, making it difficult to choose a single name or standard orthography for a single place. Such dynamics or other factors may result in certain entities preferring not to insist on determining official place-names for locales. A July 2, 2012, summary of the national report of Burkina Faso submitted to the Tenth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names indicates that the country established a National Commission on Geographical Names on February 13, 1986. The 2012 report further explains, “The Commission has not, however, succeeded [in] performing its functions because of the lack of interest of its members, who have very little sense of the advantages of standardizing the geographical names of a nation.”² The comment serves as a critical reminder that ideas about places, their names, and the standardization of names may vary from person to person, institution to institution, or government to government. Any choice reflects distinct motivations and has particular advantages, so we should attempt to understand such motivations and advantages rather than assume or favor consistent aims among disparate individuals, institutions, or governments.

Location information in the NGA GNS database reflects the NGA’s shifting understandings of foreign locations at the time of writing, rather than historical understanding of foreign locations. The NGA also does not clearly reveal sources for its determinations (cf. Crampton et al. 2014). In September 2020, the NGA explained, “The database [i.e., GNS] is the official repository of foreign place-name decisions approved by the BGN [i.e., United States Board on Geographic Names].”³ The board’s criteria for standardizing names of places in present-day Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, and Mali are unclear, and the NGA did not provide policies for the three countries in its list of Geographic Names Standardization Policies by Country at the time of my searches.⁴ The NGA previously explained that the agency’s Foreign Names Committee “relies heavily on native mapping, census reports, official bulletins, and other foreign material to collect and standardize foreign geographic names for use by U.S. Government agencies.”⁵ By referring to locations with the approved place-names in the NGA GNS, I aim only to provide readers with information that will allow them to locate particular places. I do not intend to endorse one place-name for a location instead of other names for it or the activities of the NGA.

Family names of people I met and interviewed in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, and Mali often took either the first or last position in relation to their given or personal names. Here I have placed their family names in the last position. Spellings of their names also at times varied from document to document, even official ones. I made it a practice not to ask people to see their state-issued identity cards. I felt that doing so might align me with the watchful eye of government officials, a position I preferred to avoid, especially given my subject position as a white citizen of the United States and the history of French colonization across the region. Therefore, the spellings for names I provide offer one, but not necessarily the only, possibility for presenting given or family names in text.