Zande abinza (witchdoctors) dancing
104 x 78 mm | Print gelatin silver
Condition:
Silver sulphide staining [EE 1989]
Date of Print:
Unknown
Previous PRM Number:
EP.A.562a
Previous Other Number:
92 6 (2) [frame 12]
Accession Number:
1998.341.562.3
Description:
A portrait of a binza or witchdoctor with others dancing around him, shortly after the initiation of a new member (Kamanga - Evans-Pritchard's servant and informant), who was ritually 'buried'.
This binza is probably Badobo, Kamanga's instructor in medicines and a leading witchdoctor who officiated at the initiation.
Photographer:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Date of Photo:
?1928 - 1929
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Western Equatoria Yambio
Group:
Zande
NamedPerson:
?Badobo
Publication History:
Contemporary Publication - Reproduced as Plate XXX Fig 2 in E.
E.
Evans-Pritchard's article 'The Zande Corporation of Witchdoctors',
JRAI
Vol.
LXII, 1932, with the caption 'Fig.2 - Ritual dress of witchdoctor.
Note hand-bells, rattles round waist and legs, animal skins (colobus) and grass-plaited hat decked with plumes.' [Chris Morton 15/11/2004]
Research publication - Reproduced (68 x 52 mm) in Elizabeth Edwards article 'Shifting Relationships: writing photography in anthropology', Source: the Photographic Review , Issue 38, Spring 2004, p.34., with the caption 'Azande witch doctor initiation. Southern Sudan.' [CM 11/8/2005]
Research publication - Reproduced (68 x 52 mm) in Elizabeth Edwards article 'Shifting Relationships: writing photography in anthropology', Source: the Photographic Review , Issue 38, Spring 2004, p.34., with the caption 'Azande witch doctor initiation. Southern Sudan.' [CM 11/8/2005]
PRM Source:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Acquired:
Donated 1966
Other Owners:
E. E. Evans-Pritchard Collection
Class:
Clothing Ritual , Religion , Ritual
Keyword:
Headdress
Activity:
Ritual Activity
Event:
Ceremony Initiation , Dance
Documentation:
Original catalogue lists in Manuscript Collections. Additional material in related documents files. [CM 27/9/2005]
Primary Documentation:
PRM Accession Records - [1966.27.21] G PROFESSOR E.
E.
EVANS-PRITCHARD; INST.
OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY, 51 BANBURY RD.
OXFORD - S.
SUDAN, AZANDE TRIBE.
Box of negatives in envelopes.
Nos.
1 - 400
Added Accession Book Entry - [In pencil in column] Catalogue room.
[1966.27.23] G PROFESSOR E. E. EVANS-PRITCHARD; INST. OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY, 51 BANBURY RD. OXFORD - S. SUDAN, AZANDE TRIBE. Box of prints in envelopes, nos. 1 - 400 (prints of negatives in 1966.27.21)
Manual Catalogues [typewritten, entitled "Zande Photographs (E-P)"] - 562. Witchdoctor. 92/6 (2)
Notes on card mount m/s pencil - "SSS RHS 8.89"
Added Accession Book Entry - [In pencil in column] Catalogue room.
[1966.27.23] G PROFESSOR E. E. EVANS-PRITCHARD; INST. OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY, 51 BANBURY RD. OXFORD - S. SUDAN, AZANDE TRIBE. Box of prints in envelopes, nos. 1 - 400 (prints of negatives in 1966.27.21)
Manual Catalogues [typewritten, entitled "Zande Photographs (E-P)"] - 562. Witchdoctor. 92/6 (2)
Notes on card mount m/s pencil - "SSS RHS 8.89"
Other Information:
Ethnographic context - In Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among the Azande (OUP 1937, page 154-157) E.
E.
Evans-Pritchard notes that '[o]n my third expedition in 1930 I constantly attended seances of witch-doctors and tried to see their activities in the social life of the Azande in better perspective than I had been able to do when immersed in the details of their craft..' A detailed account of the ritual burial ceremony as part of the training of a binza novice is found on pp.
239 - 245.
On page 239 E-P states that the photographs of Kamanga's ritual burial were taken immediately outside his own hut 'which accounts for the spaciousness of the scene and for the unusual number of magicians present.' Kamanga himself gives an account of his ritual burial initiation experience on page 241.
[Chris Morton 23/10/2003]
Recorder:
Christopher Morton 21/11/2003 [Southern Sudan Project]
