ETHNONYMS: Gao borey, Kado, Kwaara borey, Songhoi, Songhrai
Polygyny is highly valued among the Songhay, as it is among the Zarma, but the great percentage of Songhay households are monogamous—primarily for economic reasons. Among Songhay nobles, firstborn sons are pressured to marry their parallel cousins (father's brother's daughters), in order to maintain the purity of the noble lineage.
See also Zarma
Boulnois, J., and B. Hama (1953). Empire de Gao: Histoire, coutumes et magi des Songhai. Paris: Maisonneuve.
Gabbai, Jean-Marie (1988). Les génies du fleuve. Paris: Presses de la Renaissance.
Kati, Mahmoud (1912). Tarikh al-Fattach. Translated by M. Delafosse. Paris: Maisonneuve.
Olivier de Sardan, J-P. ( 1982). Concepts et conceptions songhayzarma: Histoire, culture, société. Paris: Nubia.
Olivier de Sardan, J-P. (1984). Sociétés songhay-zarma. Paris: Karthala.
Rouch, Jean ([1960] 1989). La religion et la magie songhay. Brussels: Éditions de l'Université de Bruxelles.
es-Saadi, Mohammed (1900).
Tarikh es-Soudan.
Translated by
O. Houdas. Paris: Leroux.
Stoller, Paul (1989). Fusion of the Worlds: An Ethnography of Possession among the Songhay of Niger. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Stoller, Paul, and Cheryl Olkes (1987). In Sorcery's Shadow. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
PAUL STOLLER