IDNO

N.101825.MF

Description

The Chief Commissioner, W. J. A. Jones (Fortes 1945: xiii), addressing the crowd during an official meeting with local chiefs at Zuarungu. In the foreground the Chief Commissioner, with his back to the camera, stands on a verandah between two wooden support poles. He is wearing a pith helmet and a tailored suit and carrying a stick resembling a riding crop. A native man stands beside him wearing a traditional short cotton robe and trousers. Some distance away the audience sit and stand in rows facing the Chief Commissioner. [AF 16/4/2008]

Place

W Africa; Ghana; Upper East Region; Zaurungu [Gold Coast; Northern Territories]

Cultural Affliation

Tallensi

Named Person

W. J. A. Jones

Photographer

?Fortes, Meyer

Collector / Expedition

Fortes, Meyer

Date

24 November 1934

Collection Name

Fortes Collection

Source

Drucker-Brown, Susan

Format

Glass Negative Halfplate

Primary Documentation

Other Information

N.101822.MF - N.101832.MF were kept in the box now numbered C546/.

The inscription on the metal box numbered C545/ does not fully correspond with the contents.

Context: Zuarungu was, at the time of Fortes fieldwork, the colonial administrative head-quarters of Zuarungu District. Fortes acknowledges WJA Jones in the foreward of his book, “My wife and I owe a special debt of gratitude to the then Chief Commissioner Mr W.J.A. (now Sir Andrew) Jones for the keen interest he took in our work and for the many helpful arrangements he made to facilitate it. We have aalso to thank Sir Andrew and Lady Jones for many personal kindnesses. I owe my understanding of the spirit and methods of the colonial administration chiefly to Sir Andrewa nd his officers” Fortes 1945, p.xiii. [Alicia Fentiman 16/4/2008]

Context: Fortes describes the area, “The district of Zuarungu is a typical portion of the Trans-Volta plateau. A number of bouldery hills from 100 to 500 feet high are scattered over is undulating surface. The most conspicuous are the Tong Hills, a small range stretching for about four miles just north of the river. The Tallensi occupy less than half of Zuarungu District” (Fortes, 1945, pp. 3-4). [Alicia Fentiman, 16/4/2008]

Bibliographical Reference: Fortes, Meyer, 1945. Dynamics of Clanship Among the Tallensi (London: Oxford University Press).

Bibliographical Reference: Fortes, Meyer, 1949. The Web of Kinship Among the Tallensi (London: Oxford University Press).

Bibliographical Reference: Fortes, Meyer, 1987. Religion, Morality and the Person: Essays on Tallensi Religion (London: Oxford University Press).

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Alicia Fentiman 16/4/2008]