IDNO

N.19074.ROS

Description

Five Bahima ‘fat women’ sitting on a woven mat dancing, with the woman on the left playing a zither whilst leaning it on a drum? or a wooden stool?. The women wear two robes, "one round her body and the other thrown over her head and descending to her feet” (Roscoe 1922, p. 65) out of various materials; printed cloth, white and dark-coloured. They are possibly inside the Royal? compound with a picket fence made from elephant grass in the background.

Place

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

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 C30/21/ 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: A General Account of the Mackie Ethnological Expedition. (London: Cassell and Company, Limited) p. 65 with the caption "Ankole: Fat Women Dancing”. [ED 4/9/2007]

Context: The term ‘fat woman’ is used by Roscoe, and is described in his book as follows: "Woman have little work to do, their duties being confined to washing and fumigating milk-pots and churning butter. There is no cooking, except on the rare occasions when a cow is killed or dies. No matter what the cause of a cow’s death may have been, the meat is always eaten. Then a wife may undertake to cook some of the meat for her husband, but even this is generally delegated to one of the male servants, lest the extra work should be wearisome to her and, by sympathetic magic, injurious to the herd. The result of this indolent life together with the quantities of the milk which they drink, is the abnormal fatness that I have referred. This obesity is looked on by all classes as a mark of beauty. Girls, before marriage, are not allowed to walk about and are encouraged to drink as much milk as they can, in order that they may become as fat as possible before their affianced husbands come to claim them. After marriage women practically lose the power of walking; half a mile will take them two or three hours to accomplish, for a rest is necessary after ever few yards. In their dances these fat women remain seated and go through a performance which consists of waving their hands and arms gracefully and swaying their bodies to and fro, making meanwhile a buzzing sound with their lips, to the rhythm of which the men caper and jump about, full of admiration for the women who are too fat to stand” (Roscoe 1922, pp. 63 - 65). [ED 12/9/2007]

Context: "There is a difference between the women and the men; the former have a slight bend or stoop from the hips, this is artificial and is affected from an idea of its gracefulness -their back and shoulders are perfectly straight: the reason for walking with the bend may be accounted for by their extreme stoutness, and lack of exercise. A Muhima beauty must be like a prize ox; too fat to walk, the women struggle along a few yards, and then stop to rest; the method of resting is to place a hand on either knee in a stooping position for a few moments.” (Roscoe, J., 1907, ‘The Bahima: A Cow tribe of Enkole in the Uganda Protectorate,’ The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 37, pp. 93 - 118, JSTOR). [ED 14/11/2007]

Clothing: A woman traditionally wears "two cowskin robes, one round her body and the other thrown over her head and descending to her feet” (Roscoe 1922, pp. 65). [ED 12/9/2007]

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