IDNO

N.19470.ROS

Description

An old man from the Bagesu tribe standing for a full-length frontal portrait. He stands in front of a white screen and frame positioned in front of an elephant grass? fence. He wears the traditional attire of an initiated Bagesu man, skin, probably goat skin. In Roscoe’s words: "Two of the legs were joined with a string about a foot long. The skin was put under the right arm and the string passed over the head onto the left shoulder, so that the left side was completely exposed, though the skin covered the right side and reached half way down the thighs” (Roscoe, 1924, p.5).

Place

E Africa; Uganda; Elgon; Mount Elgon

Cultural Affliation

Bagesu

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 C31/95/ by the cataloguer. The envelope was kept in box marked C31/ 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. 4, Plate III, "Old man of the Bagesu tribe”. [ED 21/9/2007]

Clothing: "The clothing of the people was never intended either for warmth or covering. Before initiation a boy went naked, but when his initiation was complete, he was entitled to wear the dress of a full-grown man, which consisted of a skin, usually a goat-skin. Two of the legs were joined with a string about a foot long. The skin was put under the right arm and the string passed over the head onto the left shoulder, so that the left side was completely exposed, though the skin covered the right side and reached half way down the thighs. If a man refused to undergo the ceremony of initiation, hew was not allowed to wear this skin, to marry or to sit in the council of the men.” (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.5). [ED 19/9/2007]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Elisabeth Deane 19/9/2007]