{"id":"MUS2026-033","label":"Kura, the hyena that calls dogs","people_or_site":"Hausa","country_current":"Nigeria","historic_region":"Katsina, northern Nigeria","macroregion":"Africa / West Africa","local_name":"KURA","source_term":"bull-roarer","source_language":"English","object_description":"Bull-roarer of the Hausa, collected by Percy Graham Harris at Katsina, northern Nigeria; Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford (acc. 1933.69.3).","function_summary":"Hunting dog-call: a corn-stalk instrument whirled on a string to call dogs; no ritual function stated.","attestation_type":"museum_specimen","source_key":"pitt_rivers","source_type":"museum_collection","source_url":"https://prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-39576","page_or_plate":"1933.69.3","map_confidence":"low","plot_status":"plot","coordinate_basis":"approximate culture/locality centroid","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"Among Hausa hunters around Katsina, the kura was a dog-call: a length of guinea-corn stalk, perforated and whirled on a string to summon the pack for the hunt. Its name means 'hyena.' It entered the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1933 alongside corn-stalk clarinets, tsiriki, that served the same purpose.","pull_quote":"tsiriki of corn-stalk with open ends and reed cut near one end to blow horizontally, used as dog-calls in hunts, Hausa, Sokoto; kura of corn-stalk, perforated and whirled on a string, used as above, Hausa (Katsina)","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"Pitt Rivers Museum Annual Report 1933–34 (donation of P. G. Harris; PRM acc. 1933.69.3)","term_gloss":"","cls":"play_practical","class_label":"Play / practical","color":"#24766D","is_candidate":false,"flags":[],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"etymology":"Hausa kūrā, 'hyena': the Katsina hunters' whirled dog-call carries the beast's name.","literal_gloss":"hyena","semantic_cluster":"animal_name; hunting_signal","etymology_confidence":"medium","sources":[{"citation":"Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, acc. 1933.69.3","url":"https://prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-39576","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20260917174840/https://prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-39663"}],"source_citations":"Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, acc. 1933.69.3","source_display":"Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, acc. 1933.69.3","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"Bull-roarer of the Hausa, collected by Percy Graham Harris at Katsina, northern Nigeria; Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford (acc. 1933.69.3).","function_display":"Hunting dog-call: a corn-stalk instrument whirled on a string to call dogs; no ritual function stated.","confidence_display":"low","attestation_label":"museum specimen","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"hausa","display_name":"Kura, the hyena that calls dogs","image":{"full":"assets/objects/MUS2026-033_prm_1933-69-3_hausa.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/MUS2026-033_prm_1933-69-3_hausa_thumb.jpg","alt":"Hausa kura (“hyena”) made from guinea-corn stalk by a man from Katsina, with a short crosspiece and a thick loop of fibre cord near one end.","credit":"Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford (1933.69.3)","license":"© Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford","source_page":"https://prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"Hausa kura ('hyena'): bullroarer-like whirled instrument of guinea-corn stalk, made by a Hausa man from Katsina."},"slug":"mus2026-033-hausa"}