1998.9.13

Collection type

Object

Description

Crocheted square made from flourescent pink wool, with navy blue edging and central rosette, used as a food cover [RTS 16/2/2005].

Long description

Food cover made from European style wool. This consists of a square body, crocheted in fluorescent pink (Pantone 204C), with a close-knit design that divides the area into 4 sections, drawing the eye towards the centre of the piece where a crocheted rosette made of royal blue wool has been stitched in place (Pantone 2748C). This has 8 petals on its upper face; there is a second smaller rosette on the underside directly below whose body shape is less well defined. It is not clear if these 2 parts are physically joined or made separately. A border has been added around the outside edge of the square, using a much looser type of stitch in the same blue coloured wool, that loops over the edge of the pink body section at 2 cm intervals. This stitch creates a lattice pattern with large lozenge-shaped gaps. The object is complete and intact. There are some patches of discolouration over the surface, including some orange stains that look as though they may be traces of food, suggesting the cover had been used. There is also some dirt on the underside. The cover has a weight of 57.9 grams, and is 393 mm long and 385 mm wide; the blue border is 30 mm wide and the central upper rosette has a diameter of 32 mm [RTS 16/2/2005].

Geographical reference

Uganda

Africa > Eastern Africa > Uganda

South Sudan

Africa > Eastern Africa > South Sudan

Cultural groups

Acholi

Person

Maker Christine Lakot Martin

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, Process Stitched

Dimensions

Diameter 32 mm rosette, Length 393 mm, Width 30 mm border, Width 385 mm, Weight 57.9 g

Object numbers

Accession number: 1998.9.13 Other numbers: Kaiser no. 14 Other numbers: PRM invoice item 13 (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 Recycling, 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: Food and Drink, Furniture Dwelling, Textile, Food Accessory, House-ornament