Nuer youth praising ox
58 x 55 mm | Negative film nitrate
There are records relating to alternative images that we do not have scans for in the database:
1998.355.35.2 - Print gelatin silver , (56 x 54 mm )
1998.355.35.2 - Print gelatin silver , (56 x 54 mm )
Date of Print:
Unknown
Previous PRM Number:
EP.N.I.69
Previous Other Number:
3
Accession Number:
1998.355.35.1
Description:
An upper body full face portrait of a youth (?identified as Twaring) singing in praise of his favourite ox, with arms raised and his left arm bent in imitation of its trained horn (ma gut), holding a club in his right hand.
He seems to also have a section of dotted scarification on the left side of his chest.
Evans-Pritchard spent about seven weeks in total in Nuer Leek country, during Oct-Nov 1936, mostly at Nyueny village among the Karlual section.
Photographer:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Date of Photo:
1936 October - November
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Wahda ?Nyueny village
Group:
Nuer Leek Karlual
NamedPerson:
?Twaring
Publication History:
Research publication - Reproduced as the front cover of
Environmental Anthropology: A Historical Reader
, eds.
Dove, M.
and C.
Carpenter (Oxford: Blackwell) 2007, with the caption 'Cover image: This is a photograph of a Nuer youth imitating the bent horns (called ma gut) of his favourite ox while he sings to it.
Nuer train the horns of their favourite oxen into aesthetically pleasing shapes.
The bent horns (and their representation) symbolize the intersection of nature and culture that is the subject of this book.
The photograph was taken by E.
E.
Evans-Pritchard in October or November 1936 among the Nuer Leek Karlual in Southern Sudan.
It is reproduced, with permission, from the collection of the University of Oxford's Pitt Rivers Museum.' [CM 26/11/2007]
PRM Source:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Acquired:
Donated 1966
Other Owners:
E. E. Evans-Pritchard Collection
Class:
Physical Anthropology , Weapon , Body Art , Body Language
Keyword:
Club , Body Art Skin
Activity:
Gesturing Hand
Documentation:
Original catalogue lists in Manuscript Collections. Additional material in related documents files. [CM 27/9/2005]
Primary Documentation:
Accession Book Entry [p.
98] 1966.27 [1 - 24] G[ift] PROFESSOR E.
E.
EVANS-PRITCHARD; INST.
OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY, 51 BANBURY RD.
OXFORD 1966.27.1-16 S.
SUDAN.
NUER TRIBE.
Sixteen negative albums containing negatives
and
prints of photographs taken by donor during field-work.
All listed in albums.
Added Accession Book Entry - [p.
98 in right hand column, in pencil] Catalogue room.
Manual Catalogues [index taken from album book I, ms ink] - 69. Twaring - Karlual
Manual Catalogues [index taken from album book I, ms ink] - 69. Twaring - Karlual
Other Information:
The same youth is reproduced as Plate VII (facing page 84) in E.
E.
Evans-Pritchard's Kinship and Marriage Among the Nuer (Clarendon Press, Oxford 1990 [1951]) with the caption 'A youth singing in praise of his ox.
His arms are raised in imitation of its horns.' [Chris Morton 17/5/2004] I have assumed that the word Twaring is a personal name, but there is a slight possibility that it is a place name.
[Chris Morton 17/5/2004]
Recorder:
[Christopher Morton 17/5/2004] [Southern Sudan Project]
