IDNO

N.19056.ROS

Description

Five Bahima? men "dancing to drums made from water pots” while a group of Bahima? people are seated in the corner of an enclosure made from elephant grass?. All the men dancing in the foreground are wearing cloth (the three men in the centre wear white cloth, two wear it wrapped round their waist whilst the other wears a kanzu (white tunic)).

Place

E Africa; Uganda; Ankole; ?Kashenyi

Cultural Affliation

?Bahima

Named Person

Photographer

?Roscoe, John R.

Collector / Expedition

Roscoe, John R. [Mackie Ethnological Expedition, Uganda, 1919 - 1920]

Date

1919 - 1920

Collection Name

Roscoe Collection

Source

Format

Film Negative Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

This negative was kept in an envelope marked C30/2/ by the cataloguer. The envelope was kept in box marked C30/ by the cataloguer.
Previously stored on Shelf 4, in group of 4 wooden boxes numbered 180.

Publication: Image published in Roscoe, J., 1922. The Soul of Central Africa: An Account of the Mackie Ethnological Expedition. (London: Cassell and Co.), p. 94 with the caption: "Ankole: Dancing to Drums made from Water-pots”. [ED 3/1/2008]

Context: "The national dress of the Bahima is, as we should expect, made from the hides of cattle. These hides are dressed first by stretching them out in the sun; numbers of wooden pegs, 6 inches or 8 inches long, are used, and the skin drawn out in every direction and pegged into the earth, leaving a clear space underneath it for the air to pass. When the skin is thoroughly dried it is rubbed on the smooth side with butter and worked; this is continued until the skin is perfectly soft and can be folded up like a bit of linen.” (Roscoe, J., 1907. "The Bahima: a Cow Tribe of Enkole,” The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 37, pp. 93 - 118.). [ED 13/9/2007]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Elisabeth Deane 3/1/2008]