Since 2002, ethnographic enquiries have been carried out in some 350 potting communities from Southern Niger in order to constitute an Atlas of extant potting traditions. Part of the investigation is devoted to the tools used at various levels of the chaîne opératoire, and especially the shaping stage. The aim is both to characterize the structure, functioning and function of the objects, and to collect information pertaining to their manufacture, mode of acquisition and users’ representations. Based on a comparative approach, the analysis allows to build a classification and develop a cultural geography of the tools, that illustrates how they can inform us about potters’ identity as well as the technical, social and economic elements that shape the daily pratice of the craft.
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Olivier Gosselain (2010) studied this question.