Mandari Köbora ox in cattle camp
56 x 56 mm | Negative film nitrate
Date of Print:
Unknown
Previous PRM Number:
JB.9.37
Accession Number:
1998.97.319
Description:
A tethered ox with large upward curving horns stands looking into a large hearth area within the cattle-camp kraal, the forked posts of the cattle camp rising behind the horns.
The framing of the posts with the horns suggests that Buxton is attempting to visually demonstrate the bovine influence at the heart of Nilotic cattle-keeping aesthetics.
These cattle-dung hearths were lit in the evenings to help keep pests away from the cattle, but were also sites of social interaction, as can be seen here with spears leaning against the surrounding posts.
The Köbora camped their cattle towards the Nile, sometimes only a few miles from their wet-season villages, where permanent water and sufficient grazing was accessible.
Photographer:
Jean Carlile Buxton
Date of Photo:
1950 - 1952
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Bahr el Jebel
Group:
Mandari Köbora
PRM Source:
Ronald Carlile Buxton via Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology
Acquired:
Donated 1988
Other Owners:
Jean Buxton Collection
Class:
Animal Husbandry , Settlement , Fire
Keyword:
Animal Cattle , Cattle Camp
Documentation:
See Related Documents File. Buxton field notebooks in Tylor Library.
Recorder:
Christopher Morton 14/3/2005 [Southern Sudan Project]
