Anuak broom

Anuak broom
Other views of this artifact:


Accession Number:
1936.10.54
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan]
Cultural Group:
Anywaa [Anuak]
Date Made:
By 1936
Materials:
Grass Stem Plant , Plant Fibre
Process:
Twisted , Tied , Bound , Burnt
Dimensions:
L = 480 mm, Handle Diam = 61.6, Diam at binding = 51 mm, Diam at brush end = 107.5 mm [RTS 14/4/2004].
Local Name:
juec
Other Owners:
Presumably collected by Evans-Pritchard during his period of fieldwork amongst the Anuak between early March and May 1935 [RTS 18/6/2004].
Field Collector:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
PRM Source:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Acquired:
Donated 1936
Collected Date:
March - May 1935
Description:
Small hand held broom made of numerous grass stems tied into a bundle, with the thick stems tightly packed at the handle end and their more fibrous tips splaying out to form the broader broom surface at the other end. The grasses have been tied near the handle using a piece of plant fibre cord, wound around the body five times and then fastened in a knot. The string itself is made up of two twisted strands. The ends of the grass stems have been burnt black, possibly to prevent them from fraying. The result is decorative as well as practical. The object has a few broken stalks and the ends of the string are fraying. The grass is a yellow to yellow brown colour (Pantone 7510C), and the string a slightly darker shade of brown (Pantone 464C). The broom is 480 mm long, has a diameter of 61.6 mm at its handle end, 51 mm at the string binding, and 107.5 mm at the brush end.

Collected by E.E. Evans-Pritchard during his fieldwork amongst the Anuak, which took place between early March and May 1935 (E.E. Evans-Pritchard, 1940, The Political System of the Anuak of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, p. 3).

This was used as a broom for sweeping floors, and is known as
juec.

Rachael Sparks 25/9/2005.

Primary Documentation:
Accession Book Entry [p. 410] - 1936 [insert] 10 [end insert] E. EVANS-PRITCHARD, M.A., Exeter College, Oxford. - Specimens collected by himself in the EASTERN SUDAN, while travelling with a Grant from the Rockefeller Leverhulme Trustees, viz: [p. 414] [insert] 54 [end insert] - Bundle of grass, juec , used as a broom for sweeping floors, ANUAK.

Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 30/1/2004].



 
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