Pitt Rivers Museum Luo Visual History

photograph scan of PRM number 1998.209.43.8

1998.209.43.8 (Print Black & White )

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Key Information

Photographer

Charles William Hobley

Description

A group of Luo warriors at Karungu in South Nyanza in full warrior dress with long spears and shields, as well as large headdresses of colobus monkey tail hair and ostrich plumes, posed in a rocky landscape. The adornment and the shields are typical of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century period for the Luo. [Gilbert Oteyo 06/05/05 & CM 27/04/2007]

Cultural Group

Luo

Region

Nyanza Karungu

Pitt Rivers Source

Charles William Hobley

Primary Documentation

Notes on PRM card - 'Ja Luo, Karmiya Tribe. Group of warriors in full dress, located 10 miles N. of Anglo-German Boundary.'

Research Notes

The original annotation describes this group as belonging to the Luo tribe (clan) of 'Karmiya' - a name that is difficult to interpret. However, the location is noted as 10 miles North of the Anglo-German (Kenya-Tanzania) border, and three of these same warriors were published in another photograph by Hobley as Plate XXXc (page 358) in his article 'British East Africa: Anthropological Studies in Kavirondo and Nandi' Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 33 (Jul-Dec), 1903, with the caption 'Karungu warriors (Ja-Luo)' This, combined with the fact that the rocky outcrop also appears in 1998.209.44.7 described as 'Karinga station', all suggest that the location of this photograph is also Karungu in South Nyanza. [CM 24/04/2007].

Date of Photograph

1902?

Accession number

1998.209.43.8

Further Information

Photographic Process

Print gelatin silver

Date Acquired

Donated

For citation use:
Pitt Rivers Museum Luo Visual History "1998.209.43.8" 6 Jun. 2008. Pitt Rivers Museum. Accessed 19 Nov. 2015 <http://photos.prm.ox.ac.uk/luo/photo/1998.209.43.8/>.

© Pitt Rivers Museum