Portrait of Mandari youth and girls
56 x 56 mm | Negative film nitrate
Date of Print:
Unknown
Previous PRM Number:
JB.3.9
Accession Number:
1998.97.101
Description:
A full length portrait of two Mandari youths holding spears and wearing bead corsets, standing next to two girls wearing chain link aprons over their skin aprons, and one a small decorated skin apron on top of the chain one.
The dress of the Mandari Köbora differed quite markedly from the Mandari around Tali, who in general ornamented themselves more like their neighbours the Dinka.
Although these youths are wearing a large number of beads in a similar manner to the rem beads of the Mandari around Tali, they did not have the same age grade associations among the Köbora, who had no such social distinctions.
Photographer:
Jean Carlile Buxton
Date of Photo:
1950 - 1952
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Bahr el Jebel Khor Moni
Group:
Mandari Köbora
PRM Source:
Ronald Carlile Buxton via Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology
Acquired:
Donated 1988
Other Owners:
Jean Buxton Collection
Class:
Ornament , Clothing , Clothing Accessory , Weapon
Keyword:
Ornament Arm , Ornament Body , Ornament Neck , Spear
Documentation:
See Related Documents File. Buxton field notebooks in Tylor Library.
Other Information:
In Some Notes on the Mandari of Equatoria Province, A.E.
Sudan, (typescript notebook of c.1951 in Tylor Library, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford), book I, pages 37-39, Jean Buxton notes that 'Although they [i.e.
Köbora men] use beads in the same way as the REM beads of the Boronga, they have no significance from an age-grade point of view.
The Tali people despise them because they say they mix up their beads and don't know what they mean - young warriors proudly wearing beads which are only worn by girls at Tali...Sere [i.e.
Mandari Köbora] women display a wide range of finery...Brightly coloured leather aprons, coloured with red ochre, are ornamented with many rows of red and white beads.
Aprons of metal links are also worn, and with both the above a small skin - more abbreviated than that of the Boronga - is worn, tied round the waist in front and hanging down behind, leaving the front apron showing.
The edges of the skin are often beautifully ornamented with coloured beads...To match the bead 'corselets' of the men, girls wear large 'courting' collars of beads which are hung round the neck and come down in front well over the breasts.
They are usually in orange or red.
Other decorations in the way of necklaces or pendants are worn, of cowry shells, metal rings or beads.
Girls also wear iron and brass rings round arms and legs, similar to those worn by the men.' [Chris Morton 21/1/2005]
Recorder:
Christopher Morton 21/1/2005 [Southern Sudan Project]
