Editing Mossi people (section)

==Organization of Mossi society==
The Mossi people have organised their society in an original hierarchic process in which family and state are the key elements.<ref name=UIowa /> The Mossi people are very heterogeneous. When horsemen invaded from the south they created a political or ruling class, called Nakomse (sing. Nakoambga), and a spiritual class called Tengabisi. All chiefs come from the ruling class. The Tengabisi include Saya (smiths), Nyonyose (farmers), Yarse (weavers and merchants), and others.

The origins of the Nyonyose are diverse: In the north their ancestors were Dogon and Kurumba, in the southwest their ancestors were Lela, Nuna, Sisala and others, and in the far east they were Gurmantche. These people were united into a new ethnicity called Mossi in about 1500.

It is a mistake to describe a "Nyonyosé tribe" or the "art of the Nyonyosé" because the Nyonyose do not exist outside Mossi society. All Nyonyosé are Mossi. At the same time, it is a mistake to assume that all segments of Mossi society are culturally identical, for the differences between the Nakomsé and the Tengabisi are striking; only the Tengabisi use masks, and only the Nakomsé use figures in the context of political celebrations. The Nakomse are the political class, and the Tengabisi are the spiritual class.

===Mogho Naaba and the Nakomse===
{{main|Mogho Naba}}
The highest position in Mossi society is that of the Mogho Naaba, who is given executive power. The Mogho Naaba's role is to rule the entire population and to protect the kingdom. Today, he lives in [[Ouagadougou]], the historical capital of the Mossi Empire and present capital of [[Burkina Faso]]. Though the political dynamic of the country has changed, the ''Mogho Naaba'' is recognised by his people and has substantial authority.

[[File:Naaba Zomb Wobgo 2013.jpg|thumb|Naaba Zomb Wobgo, Andemtenga]]
Second to the Mogho Naaba come the nobles, ''Nakomse'' (“people of power”; sing. Nakoambga), who all are from the family of the Mogho Naaba, whether they be brothers, sisters, cousins, or otherwise. All dignitaries come from the Mogho Naaba's family. The Nakomse are often assigned territories in the kingdom as governorships and rule in the name of the Mogho Naaba. As in the past, the Mogho Naaba needs the support of the “ancient ones”, his ''Nyon-nyonse'' (or ''gnon-gnon-sse'') subjects to fully exercise his power. The ''Nyon-nyonse'' are the peoples who lived in Mossi-controlled regions before the Mossi.<ref>{{cite book| last= Tauxier| first= Louis| title= Le Noir du Yatenga| location= Paris| publisher= Larose| language= fr| trans-title= The Blacks of Yatenga| year= 1917}}</ref>

Mossi society is divided vertically into two major segments: the descendants of the horsemen who conquered the peoples on the Mossi plateau are called the ''Nakomse'', and all Mossi Napa's (kings) come exclusively from the ''Nakomse'' class. These people use figures as political art to validate their rule over the peoples they conquered. The descendants of the ancient farming peoples who had occupied the land from the beginning of time and who, by right of first occupation, were and are the owners of the land are called the ''Tengabisi'' (“people of the earth”). These Tengabisi can be further divided into groups of smiths (''Saya''), groups of traders (''[[Yarse]]'') and, most important, groups of farmers (''Nyonyose''). Generally the smiths and the traders do not use masks, but the ''Nyonyose'' are the principal makers and users of masks in Mossi society.

===Craftsmen and ordinary citizens===
[[File:Pg063 Arrivée d'une bande de Mossi.jpg|thumb|Arrival of a band of Mossi, 1892]]
They constitute the larger part of the population and are all subjects of the emperor. These two groups are generally fused but have internal subdivisions, each one having its own ruling family; they perform ceremonies and other important events. Mossi people often identify with groups; hence, at all levels, there is a [[hierarchy]] in Mossi society. In everyday life, the family hierarchy is most important, and family is often directly associated with the notion of [[hierarchy]] for the Mossi.

'Mogonaba' was what [[Leo Frobenius]] was told was the appropriate term for the emperor of Mossi at Wagadugu when he visited the country in 1904–6. His is one of the few disinterested reports as he was an [[anthropologist]] and not a missionary, representative of a European company, or military. He describes a court much like a European one (he may have an anti-aristocratic bias) with nobles in intrigues over commerce, power and industry. This report alone caused disbelief in Europe as no European source had ever considered Africans to be socially like Europeans. The lack of racism in Frobenius' report and his discovery of an industrious people and what some would describe as a glorious past interested [[W.E.B. Du Bois]] in Frobenius' other writings on Africa. Rudolf Blind's translation in English of the ''Voice of Africa,'' published by Hutchinson & Co., produced some racist comments he thought necessary to conform with English sensitivities — otherwise he believed no Englishman would consider the book realistic.

An important contribution was made in the 1960s by the historian [[Elliott P. Skinner]], who wrote at length about the sophistication of Mossi political systems in ''The Mossi of the Upper Volta: The Political Development of a Sudanese People.'' This was at a time when many African countries were gaining independence, and Skinner strongly made the point that African peoples were very clearly qualified to govern themselves.<ref>Skinner, Eliott P., ''The Mossi of the Upper Volta: The Political Development of a Sudanese People,'' Stanford, Stanford University Press</ref>