On the other hand, the literary references to Amma and Nommo (also Nummo) are as sparse as the ones for Metis. Amma is considered the parent of Nommo, although different sources dispute whether Amma, “the creator-god... who made the earth from a lump of clay” (Haskins and Biondi, p. 55), is male or female (Griaule [1948], 1965; Scheub, 2000). I undertake here a brief account of the religious connotation of Amma and Nommo first, and then a mythical one.

Griaule’s ethnographic studies of the Dogon people, who live in southern Mali and northern Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta), was highly influenced by his conversations with a Dogon religious leader, Ogotemmêli. The God Amma is said to have fashioned the earth by “tak[ing] a lump of clay, squeez[ing] it in his hands and [flinging] it from him” (Griaule, 17). The twin offspring of Amma are called “Nummo... [who are] the essence of God, since they were made of his seed, which is at once the ground, the form, and the substance of the life-force of the world, from which derives the motion and the persistence of created being. This force is water, and the Pair are present in all water: they are water...” (18, emphasis his). Moreover, “[w]hen Nummo speaks, what comes from his mouth is a warm vapour [of water] which conveys, and itself constitutes, speech” (20). Griaule's text on Ogotemmêli’s discussion of Dogon religious beliefs offers a connection between the spiritual and physical worlds. The “Nummo Pair, who were gradually taking the place of God their father, had in mind projects of redemption... to improve human conditions...  [but they] were afraid of the terrifying effect of contact bewtween creatures of flesh and blood on the one hand and purely spiritual beings on the other. There had to be actions that could be understood, taking place within the ambit of the beneficiaries and in their own environment” (25). Their solution was to “impart [the] Word by means of a technical process, so that all men could understand” (28). Ogotemmêli states that this solution “showed the identity of material actions and spiritual forces, or rather the need for their co-operation” (28). Haskins and Biondi argue that this co-operation reflects “a sense of balance between masculine and feminine, earth and sky, physical and spiritual” (55).

Scheub’s discussion about the mythological Amma also provides a very short treatise on Nommo. In his recounting of the Dogon creation myth, Scheub states that “Amma, alone, was in the shape of an egg” (12) that was divided into the four cardinal elements of air, earth, fire, and water, and the four cardinal directions. Her first attempt to create the world was a failure, and the “second creation began when Amma planted a seed within herself, [and during]... its gestation... became two placentas, each containing a set of twins, male and female” (12). (This account of female birthing is comparable with that of Gaia, Earth, who gave birth to Ouranos, the dark night sky, without being united to anyone, “by a sort of process of duplication” [Detienne and Vernant, 1974/1991, p. 62]). One of the males eventually “broke out of the placenta and attempted to create his own universe... [b]ut he was unable to say the words that would bring such a universe into being” (12). One twin, Ogo, was sent into the void, while his brother, Nommo, “was then killed by Amma” (12) who cast his body parts in all directions to restore order and balance to the world. Later, Amma restored Nommo to life, sending him to earth in an ark. “Along the way, Nommo uttered the words of Amma, and the sacred words that create were made available to humans” (12).

Similar to metis being used simply as a rhetorical device, nommo can become reduced to a term that is devoid of any historical narrative. Instead, it becomes instructive to envision the rhetorical device as a fuller manifestation of a language tool, and consequently to relive the associated experiences. When engaging the fuller story of Amma and Nummo, nommo can be construed as balance and harmony, self-actualization, independence, and the non-Western focus on matriarchy and a matrilineal descent (Anzaldúa, 1999; Awiakta, 1993; Diop, [1967], 1974; Mbiti, [1969], 1990). Rather than forcing nommo into one definitive interpretation, I argue that the Black communication style that Corsini and Fogliasso have previously identified provides for plural interpretations and uses of the rhetorical device. These interpretations of nommo can be based upon the usefulness in the audience members’ lives of the re-creation of the narrated experience to reveal other perspectives and other uses.