Thesiger's Nuer name-bull
35 mm | Negative film Kodak Panatonic
Previous PRM Number:
WT.Southern Sudan.2.20
Accession Number:
2004.130.32821.1
Description:
A man wearing a checked body cloth holds the tether of a bull that is to be presented to Thesiger as his 'name-bull', the beast from whom he was to take his Nuer name, Kwecuor or Kwechuor as Thesiger describes it.
This name refers to the ox's markings of a white face (kwe) and mottled dark body marks (cuor).
This ox was given to him by a leading man of a Western Jikany village at the beginning of his Western Nuer service in January 1938.
Men from the community stand in a line behind the ox being presented, whilst a man in the foreground performs a celebratory dance with spear, shield and club.
Photographer:
Wilfred Patrick Thesiger
Date of Photo:
1938 (January?)
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
Keyword:
Animal Cattle
Activity:
Dancing
Event:
Ceremony
Other Information:
Manual Catalogue (Thesiger album card) entry for similar image - 'VOL E p.
21 WESTERN NUER 1937-39/top L.
my name bull Kwachuor' Chris Morton [15/9/2004] In The Life of My Choice (Harper Collins 1987) Thesiger notes (page 266) that 'All British officials who served among the Nuer were known by their 'bull names'...This same Jikany chief formally presented me with a black ox marked with white, which was known from its colouring as 'Kwechuor'...On Wedderburn's advice I asked the chief to keep Kwechuor for me with his herd.' Chris Morton [15/9/2004]
Recorder:
Elin Bornemann [10/12/2003] Christopher Morton [15/9/2004] [Southern Sudan Project]
