Greek merchant's shop, Gogrial

57 x 55 mm | Print gelatin silver

Date of Print:

Unknown

Accession Number:

2005.51.485

Description:

The shop in Gogrial where Oxford anthropologist Godfrey Lienhardt bought supplies during his fieldwork in the late 1940s. At the counter of the shop (owned by the Greek merchant Dimitri Yaloris) is one of his sons by his Rek Dinka wife Ayen Achom. Informants have suggested that this youth could have been one of two sons, Gregory or Vasily. [CM 10/07/2006]

Photographer:

Godfrey Lienhardt

Date of Photo:

1947 - 1951

Region:

[Southern Sudan] Gogrial

Group:

Dinka

NamedPerson:

Gregory or Vasily Yaloris

Notes:

"The young man in this photograph is the son of a Rek Dinka woman, Ayen Achom, and her Greek husband, Dimitri Yaloris. Informants who grew up with the family identified him as being one of two brothers – either Vasily or Gregory. Vasily was the first-born, followed by Gregory and Yeni. After the death of Ayen Achom, Dimitri Yaloris married Aisha Maburdit, from the Ndogo people in western Bahr el Ghazal. They had no children. In 1956, Dimitri left Sudan and returned to Greece, where he married a Greek woman. His last visit to Gogrial district was in April 1958. He left all his property in southern Sudan to his second Sudanese wife, Aisha Maburdit. One of his sons, Vasily, married Nyajok Kuac Aduol, a Dinka woman from Gogrial district. They had two sons, Gregory and John. Tragically, Vasily and his brother Yeni were both killed in the 1960s, after being accused of supporting Anyanya fighters in the first civil war (1955-1972). The third brother, Gregory, is still alive and as of August 2005 was living in Tonj, Bahr el Ghazal. Two generations after Lienhardt’s fieldwork in Gogrial district, the Yaloris family – if not the name – continues to be an important one. In 2005, one of the grandsons of the Greek merchant who settled in Gogrial was appointed Commissioner of Gogrial East by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement. Gregory, the son of the late Vasily Yaloris, was using the name Gregory Vasily as recently as 2001. At that time he was the director of the Sudan Integrated Mine Action Service (SIMAS). By 2005, however, his name appeared on official notices as Gregory Deng Kuac, consistent with that of his mother." (Notes made for the PRM by Carol Berger based upon an interview with Ambrose Riny Thiik and Edward Acuel Akoch, Kampala, 2005). [CM 10/07/2006]

PRM Source:

Estate of Ronald Godfrey Lienhardt, via Ahmed al-Shahi (literary executor)

Acquired:

Donated 2005

Other Owners:

Godfrey Lienhardt Collection

Class:

Trade

Keyword:

Shop

Primary Documentation:

Inscription - ' 24 23 Black & White Prints Dinka' (on envelope containing prints) [AN 10/04/2006]

Notes on print/mount - 'my shop - Gogrial. Greek merchant's son (black mother).' (on reverse of print) [AN 10/04/2006]

Recorder:

Alex Nadin 10/04/2006 [Southern Sudan Project]