Nuer man with basket

Nuer man with basket
115 x 85 mm | Print gelatin silver
Date of Print:
?1920s
Previous PRM Number:
EP.N.347


Accession Number:
1998.346.347
Description:
A portrait of a man standing on a track (see dry tyre tracks) with one leg resting on the other, supporting a long rectilinear basket and with a headring for carrying a load on the head tucked under his arm. The man is described as a labourer, probably meaning that he is involved in seasonal agricultural work, but may also suggest a context of forced or cash labour for the colonial government. The photograph seems to have originated from Talib Ismail, a sub-mamur in the Upper Nile Province at Akobo from 1920-27, and so could well mean that this man is labouring for the government.
Photographer:
Talib Ismail
Date of Photo:
1920-7
Region:
[Southern Sudan] ?Upper Nile
Group:
Nuer Lou
Notes:
Biographical Information - Talib Ismail is noted in The Nuer as the source for two reproduced images. He was a Sudanese officer who served in Upper Nile Province as a sub-mamur at Akobo from 5 June 1920 to 1 November 1927. The prints all have the same handwriting on the reverse which may be that of C.G. Seligman who may have procured them in 1921-2 during travels in the region, and who used some of them in the volume Pagan Tribes of 1932. Curiously they reproduced the images crediting E-P as the source, although E-P rectified this in his own monograph. It is likely that Evans-Pritchard was given these Nuer prints by his supervisor Seligman. See correspondence with Douglas Johnson in RDF [Chris Morton 23/4/2004]
PRM Source:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Acquired:
Donated 1966
Other Owners:
E. E. Evans-Pritchard Collection. Probably given to Evans-Pritchard by C. G. & B. Z. Seligman.
Class:
Physical Anthropology , Basketry , Colonial
Keyword:
Basket , Ornament Arm
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 1966.27.17 S. SUDAN. NUER TRIBE. Box of negatives each in separate envelope, labelled. (some missing). Nos. 1 - 213. (prints in box 1966.27.18)...1966.27.18 S. SUDAN. NUER TRIBE. Box of prints each in separate envelope. Nos. 1 - 213. (negatives in 1966.27.17.)

Note on print reverse ms ink - "Law Nuer Labourer" [i.e. Lou Nuer] [Chris Morton 10/5/2004]
Recorder:
Christopher Morton [10/5/2004] [Southern Sudan Project]
 
Funded by Arts and Humanities Research Council
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