Acholi ladle

Acholi ladle
Other views of this artifact:


Accession Number:
1998.9.8
Country:
Uganda , [Sudan]
Region:
Masindi District Kibanda County Bweyale [Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement] [Southern Sudan]
Cultural Group:
Acholi?
Date Made:
By 1997
Materials:
Aluminium Metal
Process:
Hammered , Riveted , Recycled
Dimensions:
L (handle) = 279 mm Diam. (bowl) = 110 mm
Weight:
66.5 g
Other Owners:
Purchased by Tania Kaiser in 1997 for 150 Ugandan Shillings in Bweyale Market; sold to PRM on 19th January 1998 for 50 pence.
Field Collector:
Tania Kaiser
PRM Source:
Tania Kaiser
Acquired:
Purchased 19 January 1998
Collected Date:
1997
Description:
Ladle made from two separate pieces of recycled aluminium, cut from sheets, hammered into shape and then riveted together. It consists of a long handle made from a rectangular piece of metal, with the long ends folded into the centre so that they overlap one another, leaving a long seam running down the back. The metal has not been pressed completely flat, so that the handle has a flat back and convex front surface. It has been slightly bent over at the top. The other end has been pierced twice, with the holes being punched through from the inside face, and attached to a second piece of circular sheet metal that has been bent to form a simple spoon bowl with convex base. The holes in the handle are aligned with two similar holes in the side of the bowl, punched through from the inside of the bowl, and fastened in place using two rivets. The flat, circular heads of these rivets are almost flush with the inside surface of the bowl. The other end of each rivet is disc shaped with a flat top, and projects more markedly from the face of the handle. The object is complete and intact, and currently a light metallic grey colour (Pantone 877C). There is a dent in the bowl on one side, and some kind of yellowish red material adhering to the outside face. Some tool marks are visible in the soft metal. The object has a total length of 344 mm, with the handle piece being 305 mm long, 13.2 mm wide at the handle end and 10.5 mm wide and 6.3 mm thick at the centre of the handle body. The rivet heads have a diameter of 6 to 8 mm; they are not perfectly round. The bowl measures 103 by 100 mm across the top, and is 32 mm deep. The ladle weighs 66.5 grams.

Purchased by Tania Kaiser in 1997 for 150 Ugandan Shillings in Bweyale Market; sold to the Pitt Rivers Museum on 19th January 1998. For details of Kaiser's work in Uganda, see: T. Kaiser, 1999,
Living in Limbo: Insecurity and the Settlement of Sudanese Refugees in Northern Uganda (Unpublished PhD); T. Kaiser, "Making Do and Making Beautiful: Recycling in an African Refugee Settlement", in: J. Coote, C. Morton and J. Nicholson (eds), Transformations, the Art of Recyclying, 44-47; T. Kaiser, 2000, UNHCR's Withdrawal from Kiryandongo: Anatomy of a Handover , New Issues in Refugee Research Working Paper No. 32, 1, 3.

This ladle was displayed in the exhibition 'Transformations - The Art of Recycling', Pitt Rivers Museum, 25th March 2000 to Easter 2002.

Rachael Sparks 29/8/2005.

Primary Documentation:
Day book entry - 20/1[/98]. D[onation]. MdA. [donor] TANIA KAISER. 1998.9. AFRICA, UGANDA, MASINIDI DISTRICT, KIRYANDONGO REFUGEE SETTLEMENT. Collection of objects collected by donor.

RDF 1998.9
: Acquisition Record, dated 19/1/1998, for 'collection of material from Uganda'. Memo dated 21/1/1998 from Jeremy Coote to Julia Cousins, dated 23/1/1998 regarding enclosed invoice for £150 from Tania Kaiser for 'collection of artefacts from Northern Uganda'. This object appears on an attached list as item 9: "Ladle. Made from recycled metal. Bought for 150 U[gandan]Sh[illings] in Bweyale market, Kibanda County". Purchased by the PRM for £0.50. There is also a typed document on file, titled "Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement, Masindi District, Uganda. Background to objects collected from a predominantly Sudanese Acholi community in 1997 by Tania Kaiser". The refugee settlement is described as being 14 kms from Kiryandongo town, near Bweyale and Nyakadot. The population is predominantly Acholi, but other groups represented there include Latuko, Madi, Bari and some Zande. There is a small market within the settlement itself, but many people go to the market at nearby Bweyale. A mixture of home produced and manufactured goods are used in the household; plastic jerrycans and basins are ubiquitous, and aluminium saucepans more common than pottery cooking ware. There is a blacksmith's workshop in the settlement, used for making new items when materials are available, otherwise for repairs and modifications [RTS 15/12/2003].

Pitt Rivers Museum label -
AFRICA, UGANDA, MASINDI DISTRICT; SUDANESE ACHOLI? Ladle made from recycled metal. Coll. Tania Kaiser, 1997. 1998.9.8 [tied to object; RTS 18/6/2004].

Display History:
Displayed in the exhibition 'Transformations - The Art of Recycling', Pitt Rivers Museum, 25th March 2000 to Easter 2002 [LP 7/6/2000].


 
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