Girl's apron made from a hide strap hung with iron chains and decorated with iron beads, and a single perforated nut and red glass bead [RTS 1/3/2005].

Collection type: Object
Description: Girl's apron made from a hide strap hung with iron chains and decorated with iron beads, and a single perforated nut and red glass bead [RTS 1/3/2005].
Geographical reference: Uganda
Africa > Eastern Africa > Uganda; Karamoja
Cultural groups: Labwor
Person: Field collector Samuel Peach Powell; PRM source Samuel Peach Powell
Date / Period: Date made: Before 1940
Date collected: By 1940
Acquisition information: Loaned: 1940
Materials and processes: Material Animal Hide Skin, Material Iron Metal, Material Glass, Material Plant Nut, Material Bead, Process Strung, Process Forged (Metal)
Dimensions: Length: max 880 mm
Object numbers: Accession number: 1940.7.047
Research and responses: The Labwor live on the border between Acholi and Karamoja; Labwor is a dialect of Acholi and the Labwor appear to have adopted much of their lifestyle as well. Presumably they are associated with the area known as the Labwor Hills, a mountain range in northeastern Uganda; the surrounding area is also known as Karamoja after the former name of the district [sources: http://www.country-studies.com/uganda/eastern-nilotic-language-groups.html; http://www.min.uni-kiel.de/petrographie/schenk/ugandaweb/index1.html?/petrographie/schenk/ugandaweb/labwor.html].
This type of apron has similarities to the chain aprons worn by the Lango (see 1925.14.7-8 and possibly 1940.12.599) [RTS 9/8/2004].