IDNO

N.101832.MF

Description

Five members of a Tallensi family bent over in a row planting crops in the fields surrounding the homestead.

Place

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

Cultural Affliation

Tallensi

Named Person

Photographer

?Fortes, Meyer

Collector / Expedition

Fortes, Meyer

Date

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: Farming is the main economic livelihood of the Tallensi and collective assistance from all members of the household are often expected. Fortes writes, “They work under the direction of the head of the house, and the products of their labour accrue to a common food supply. This is part of the co-operative economic organization of the household. Thus at sowing or harvest time one often sees a whole family working together in the fields. When a sowing party is at work one sees the men striding vigorously ahead, dibbling the hole with their long heavy dibbles cut from saplings, while the women follow behind, chattering and laughing amicably as they sow the grain. And when the harvest is in full swing, one sees similar cheerful family parties out on the field or homeward bound at dusk in Indian file, the men in front, perhaps carrying their pear-shaped wicker coops in which they collected a brood of chickens that had been allowed in the fields during the day, the women sauntering close behind them, the heavy baskets of grain on their head, and small boys and girls gambolling in the rear blowing their whistles and shaking their rattles (kinkayah) of serrated calabash disks.” (Fortes, 1949, p.128) [Alicia Fentiman, 16/4/2008]

Context: There is a distinct division of labour in the farming activities of men and women. Fortes writes and describes the economic reciprocity between husband and wife. “The head of the family owns the land and the livestock from which all draw their sustenance. The men do the heavy work of farming and care for the livestock. The women performa the tasks already mentioned. Within this subsistence unit the rule of reciprocity of economic rights and duties governs the economic relations of parent and child, of brother and brother, as well as those of husband and wife. For it is an application of the wider principle that all those who pool thier labour in common task of providing food and shelter for the household are in the common task of providing food and shelter for the household are entitled, severally, to ajust share in teh product of their common labour.” (Fortes, 1949, p.102).

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).

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Sarah Worden 12/4/2007] [Alicia Fentimanb 23/4/2008]