Nuer kraal fire

58 x 55 mm | Print gelatin silver

There are records relating to alternative images that we do not have scans for in the database:
1998.355.554.1 - Negative film nitrate , (58 x 55 mm )

Date of Print:

Unknown

Previous PRM Number:

EP.N.XII.16

Previous Other Number:

6 [2]

Accession Number:

1998.355.554.2

Description:

Looking out of the opening of a cattle byre (luak) towards the homestead kraal with cattle standing near to the cattle-dung fire mound placed in the centre. Such fires or smudges were made to help keep away pests such as mosquitos from cattle during the rainy season, and sometimes during the dry season, by enveloping the kraal in thick smoke. Such fires, known as gol, were metaphorically associated with both the home, family and lineage, and the ash was rubbed on cattle before blessing or sacrifice.

Photographer:

Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard

Date of Photo:

1936

Region:

[Southern Sudan] Wahda

Group:

Nuer ?Leek

Notes:

There would seem to be two Rolleiflex films identified as no. 6 in the Nuer series, which I have identified based upon differences in the handwritten style of enumerating the number 6 on the print reverses, as well as on visual content. [CM 26/10/2007]

PRM Source:

Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard

Acquired:

Donated 1966

Other Owners:

E. E. Evans-Pritchard Collection

Class:

Fire , Shelter

Keyword:

Building Animals

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 XII, ms ink] - 16. gol from byre

Note on print reverse ms pencil - "6 W.Nuer" & print front border ms ink - "NUER XII/16"

Other Information:

In E. E. Evans-Pritchard's Nuer Religion (Oxford University Press 1974 [1957]), page 262 he notes that 'gol, the household smudge which symbolizes for the Nuer the home in various senses. Gol means primarily the home in a domestic sense. It is identified with the father of a family, gol so-and-so being the 'home' of that man and hence his 'family' also. But it can also be used for the lineage, the 'family' in that wider sense. The ash comes from the gol which represents the family or the lineage, and the officiant who places it on the animal's back represents, according to the type of sacrifice, either the members of the family or the members of the lineage.' [Chris Morton 5/8/2004]

Recorder:

Christopher Morton [5/8/2004] [Southern Sudan Project]