1998.9.14.5

Collection type

Object

Description

Elongated crocheted doily with star and shell design in cream coloured wool, used for placing on tables or over the backs of chairs [RTS 17/2/2005].

Long description

Large doily for using as a table-mat or placing over the back of a chair, crocheted from a pale cream-coloured 4-ply wool. This has an elongated body, with a tightly crocheted 6 pointed-star pattern as its focal point, featuring a small hole at the very centre. A more loosely knotted scallop shell pattern has been added at the top and the bottom, set into the spaces between 2 points of the star and leaving an almost triangular gap at their bases. This is more tightly woven on its inner edge, with the pattern becoming wider and looser as it moves outwards. Long leaf-shaped sections have been added to either side of this central star, beginning with a repetition of the scallop design in the spaces between each point, that then becomes a loose net or lattice pattern. The scallop and star elements mirror those used on the circular doilies in this set. The object is complete and well made, although some of the wool has begun to separate into its individual strands. There are some minor surface stains, suggesting that the mat has been used, although the colour has not faded. It has a weight of 80.2 grams, and is 1000 mm long and 482 mm wide; the central star measures 375 mm across its maximum length, while the central hole has a diameter of 6 mm [RTS 17/2/2005].

Geographical reference

Uganda

Africa > Eastern Africa > Uganda

South Sudan

Africa > Eastern Africa > South Sudan

Cultural groups

Acholi

Person

Maker Members of the Pentecostal Church women's group

Field collector Tania Kaiser

PRM source Tania Kaiser

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1997

Date collected

1997

Acquisition information

Purchased: 19/01/1998

Materials and processes

Material Wool Textile Animal, Process Crocheted

Dimensions

Width 482 mm, Length 1000 mm, Length: max 375 mm star, Weight 80.2 g

Object numbers

Accession number: 1998.9.14.5 Other numbers: Kaiser no. 15 Other numbers: PRM invoice item 14 (see RDF)

Research and responses

This object is one of a collection made by Tania Kaiser, a D.Phil. student of Linacre College, during her fieldwork in the Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement. She conducted fieldwork in the camp from October 1996 to March 1997, and between June and November 1997. The population of the camp had originally come from Parajok in the Torit district of Southern Sudan, and was a mix of Acholi from that area and previously displaced Sudanese refugees (For details of her work, see: T. Kaiser, 1999, Living in Limbo: Insecurity and the Settlement of Sudanese Refugees in Northern Uganda (Unpublished PhD); T. Kaiser, "Making Do and Making Beautiful: Recycling in an African Refugee Settlement", in: J. Coote, C. Morton and J. Nicholson (eds), Transformations, the Art of Recyclying, 44-47; T. Kaiser, 2000, UNHCR's Withdrawal from Kiryandongo: Anatomy of a Handover, New Issues in Refugee Research Working Paper No. 32, 1, 3) [RTS 18/7/2005].

Search terms: Furniture Dwelling, Ornament, Textile, Table-mat, House-ornament