Nuer men in discussion

115 x 85 mm | Print gelatin silver

Date of Print:

?1920s

Previous PRM Number:

EP.N.349

Accession Number:

1998.346.349

Description:

A group of men standing together in a rough semi-circle dressed in textile cloth which they have tied over one shoulder. Two of the men are gesticulating as they speak to the others, one with thiau arm rings. The group is described as a group of lou chiefs in council, probably meaning that they are the leading men of a particular community of the Nuer Lou since the Nuer do not have tribal chiefs in this sense. The photograph seems to have originated from Talib Ismail, a sub-mamur at Akobo in the Upper Nile Province 1920-27.

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 , Social Life , Clothing , Ornament

Keyword:

Textile , 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 Chiefs in council" [i.e. Lou Nuer] [Chris Morton 10/5/2004]

Recorder:

Christopher Morton [10/5/2004] [Southern Sudan Project]