IDNO

N.19348.ROS

Description

Profile view of a young Bakonjo man seated on a wooden? box with a metal catch. The man’s only adornment is a piece of animal skin (monkey/hyrax skin?) over his chest which appears to be attached around his neck, and a band around his waist which has some cloth sticking out at the back. The young man also has some string/ metal ornaments? just below the knee on his visible leg. In the background there is a brick wall of a house? with a wooden window frame and closed shutters. The floor appears to be made from flaking plaster.

Physical Condition: Film is a yellow/brown colour.

Place

E Africa; Uganda; Luenzori

Cultural Affliation

Bakonjo

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 C30/294/ 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., 1924. The Bagesu and other tribes of the Uganda Protectorate: The Third Part of the Report of the Mackie Ethnological Expedition to Central Africa. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.), p.136, Plate XX, with the caption "Man of the Bakonjo, a cannibal tribe of Ruwenzori.” [ED 27/9/2007]

Context: "The Bakonjo were a small tribe inhabiting the eastern slopes of Mount Ruwenzori, or, as the natives of the region frequently call it, Luenzori. The tribe seems to be native to that region and numbered only a few hundreds. In appearance they were short and sturdy but of a low and degraded type of countenance. They were to be found generally on the upper plateaux of the mountain, where they made small clearings on the scrub, built huts, and grew their crops” (Roscoe, J., 1924. The Bagesu and other tribes of the Uganda Protectorate: The Third Part of the Report of the Mackie Ethnological Expedition to Central Africa. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.), pp. 137 - 148.). [ED 27/9/2007]

Clothing: "The mountain Bakonjo usually wear monkey or hyrax skins thrown across the shoulders, which form but a slight protection from the cold” (Bright, R.G.T., Survey and Exploration in the Ruwenzori and Lake region, Central Africa, The Geographical Journal, Vol. 34, No.2 (Aug 1909) p. 146 JSTOR). [ED 27/9/2007]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Elisabeth Deane 27/9/2007]