IDNO

N.19061.ROS

Description

A group of Bahera? men seated inside an elephant grass? enclosure making pots. In the foreground, to the far left, there is a man wearing a kanzu (white tunic). Towards the centre there is a man standing with a half-carved pot at his feet, wearing cloth in the toga-style and holding a pickaxe. Two other Bahera? men are also clearly visible seated on the ground (also wearing cloth or animal skin? in the toga-style). Both men hold pickaxes and they have various tools and pots scattered around them.

Physical Condition: Film is yellow/brown colour.

Place

E Africa; Uganda; western Uganda; Southern District; Ankole

Cultural Affliation

?Bahera

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 C30/7/ 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: Similar image published in Roscoe, J., 1922. The Soul of Central Africa: An Account of the Mackie Ethnological Expedition. (London: Cassell and Co.), p. 74, with the caption: "Ankole: Carpenters”. [ED 3/1/2008]

Context: "Among the Bahera, who are the servants of the Bahuma in Ankole, and are used in all agricultural and building operations, there are artisans who comprise three distinct trades, the smiths and ironworkers in general, the carpenters and the potters. Upon these people the pastoral clans depend for various weapons -tools, household furniture, milk vessels, and water-pots. The ironworkers I will not deal with here, for the smiths are not so skillful as those of the Bunyoro and there are few smelters, the smiths obtaining their metal from Bunyoro and other countries.” (Roscoe, J., 1922. The Soul of Central Africa: An Account of the Mackie Ethnological Expedition. pp. 73 - 74). [ED 12/9/2007]

Context: "All artisans have to observe certain taboos before they can set to work. The carpenters, for example, have to propitiate the tree spirit before they can cut down a tree for boards or for wood to make milk and water vessels or such furniture that they require. The priest of the forest accompanies the man to the tree he has selected, and after, having poured out the blood of the sacrificial animal on its roots and possibly tied a string of beads or cowry shells round its base, they eat a sacred meal there. Then the carpenter may proceed to fell the tree and cut from it as many boards or, if the wood is to be made into milk-pots, as many large blocks as he requires. In Ankole few boards are ever cut, their chief requirements being milk-pots or water-pots, and the trunk is therefore cut into logs of the required length. The pot is roughly shaped with the adze, and is then left for a time to dry out before it is hollowed out. The carpenter sits on the ground, holding the wood with his legs or feet, and hollows it out with chisels. The timber dries and seasons slowly while he is doing this, and he has to watch it carefully lest the wood should crack from drying too quickly” (Roscoe, J., 1922. pp. 73 - 74). [ED 12/9/2007]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Elisabeth Deane 3/9/2007]