ABSTRACT

This article develops an approach for working with vernacular texts in ethnographic archives. It examines Dinka song texts collected in (South) Sudan by the anthropologist Godfrey Lienhardt (between 1947 and 1951), now archived at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. Songs were central to developing Lienhardt’s ethnographic analysis; they are also an exciting and unique record of popular and artistic expression at the time of his research. The songs he transcribed offer perspectives on life under colonial rule that are often occluded in the documentary and ethnographic record (including Lienhardt’s own writing). In this article, I examine a selection of songs, showing that to be understood today they must be seen as both a product of Lienhardt’s data collecting practices and works of art in their own right. It is possible to usefully recontextualize these songs by triangulating between Lienhardt’s published work, his unpublished field notes and other academic studies in South Sudanese history and anthropology. Importantly, these songs must be treated as verbal arts – and read with an appreciation of their aesthetic and stylistic qualities. Their meaning and significance is not always straightforward, in fact they are often deliberately opaque. Any interpretation must embrace these ‘difficult’ aspects.

摘要

本文开发了一种处理民族志档案中的白话文本的方法。它研究了人类学家戈弗雷·莱恩哈特（1947 年至 1951 年）在（南）苏丹收集的丁卡歌曲文本，这些文本现在保存在牛津的皮特河博物馆。歌曲是发展 Lienhardt 的民族志分析的核心。在他的研究期间，它们也是流行和艺术表达的令人兴奋和独特的记录。他转录的歌曲提供了对殖民统治下生活的看法，这些观点经常被记录在纪录片和民族志记录中（包括 Lienhardt 自己的作品）。在这篇文章中，我检查了一些歌曲，表明要在今天理解它们，它们必须被视为 Lienhardt 数据收集实践的产物和本身的艺术作品。通过在 Lienhardt 已发表的作品、他未发表的田野笔记和其他关于南苏丹历史和人类学的学术研究之间进行三角测量，可以有效地重新背景化这些歌曲。重要的是，这些歌曲必须被视为语言艺术 - 并在欣赏它们的审美和风格品质的情况下阅读。它们的含义和意义并不总是直截了当的，事实上它们往往是故意不透明的。任何解释都必须包含这些“困难”方面。事实上，它们通常是故意不透明的。任何解释都必须包含这些“困难”方面。事实上，它们通常是故意不透明的。任何解释都必须包含这些“困难”方面。