Nuer cattle camp
35 mm | Negative film Kodak Panatonic
Same Image As:
2004.131.71.203
Previous PRM Number:
WT.Southern Sudan.1.12
Accession Number:
2004.130.32782.1
Description:
A cattle camp scene in Western Nuerland with tethered cattle in the foreground and to the right a forked riek shrine with sacrificial remains hanging from it.
Nearby is a cattle-dung fire known as gol.
Such fires or smudges were made to help keep away pests such as mosquitos from cattle during the rainy season, and sometimes during the dry season, by enveloping the kraal in thick smoke.
Such fires were metaphorically associated with both the home, family and lineage, and the ash was rubbed on cattle before blessing or sacrifice.
Photographer:
Wilfred Patrick Thesiger
Date of Photo:
1938
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Wahda
Group:
Nuer ?Western Jikany
PRM Source:
Wilfred Patrick Thesiger
Acquired:
Accepted as Art in Lieu of Inheritance Tax by H.M. Government and allocated to the Pitt Rivers Museum, March 2004
Other Owners:
n/a
Class:
Animal Husbandry , Settlement , Fire , Religion
Keyword:
Animal Cattle , Cattle Camp , Shrine
Primary Documentation:
Manual Catalogue (Thesiger album card) - 'VOL E p.
23/Nuer cattle camps.' Note on album page ms pencil - " 'A CATTLE CAMP' [Elin Bornemann 24/5/2004]
Recorder:
Elin Bornemann [10/12/2003] Christopher Morton [15/9/2004] [Southern Sudan Project]
