Nuer ox with trained horn
84 x 57 mm (3.25 x 2.25 inch) | Print gelatin silver
There are records relating to alternative images that we do not have scans for in the database:
1998.355.707.1 - Negative film nitrate , (84 x 57 mm (3.25 x 2.25 inch))
1998.355.707.1 - Negative film nitrate , (84 x 57 mm (3.25 x 2.25 inch))
Date of Print:
Unknown
Previous PRM Number:
EP.N.XV.14
Previous Other Number:
22 (229)
Accession Number:
1998.355.707.2
Description:
A portrait of an impressive ox (thok) with brown and tawny markings (kur) and a trained left horn curving over its muzzle (known as ma gut), a process carried out by by Nuer men by cutting away at one side of the horn on their favourite beasts, for aesthetically pleasing effects.
This training is mirrored in the male practice of binding the arm with metal bands called thiau, both of which are often carried out soon after initiation.
The location is Noted as Akobo, which Evans-Pritchard passed through when entering Nuerland in 1936 after completing a survey of the Luo in Kenya.
Photographer:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Date of Photo:
1935
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Jonglei Akobo
Group:
Nuer Lou
PRM Source:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Acquired:
Donated 1966
Other Owners:
E. E. Evans-Pritchard Collection
Class:
Animal Husbandry
Keyword:
Animal Cattle
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 XV, ms ink] - 14. magud ox
Note on print reverse ms pencil - "22 229 [?B] Akobo (Thok) kul gut" & print front border ms ink - "NUER XV/14"
Manual Catalogues [index taken from album book XV, ms ink] - 14. magud ox
Note on print reverse ms pencil - "22 229 [?B] Akobo (Thok) kul gut" & print front border ms ink - "NUER XV/14"
Other Information:
The annotation of "(Thok) kul gut" on the print reverse is probably a description of the beast as a castrate (Thok) that has brown and tawny markings (kul) and a trained horn across the muzzle (gut).
In Nuer Religion (Oxford University Press 1974 [1957] 256), E.
E.
Evans-Pritchard notes that 'It is remarkable also that Nuer compare to the initiation of youths the cutting (ngat) of the horns of favourite oxen (they are entire animals at the time) so that they will grow against the cut at fancy angles, generally in a curve across the muzzle (ma gut).
[Chris Morton 1/9/2004]
Recorder:
Christopher Morton [1/9/2004] [Southern Sudan Project]
