The Bullroarer Atlas

MUS2026-159 - museum specimen

Garoua circumcision bullroarer

Garoua - Bénoué Department - Northern Cameroon - Africa

Restricted

Malcolm's published line drawing of the Eghap rig (JRAI 53, 1923, fig. 1).
Representative — not this record’s object. · Malcolm's published line drawing of the Eghap rig (JRAI 53, 1923, fig. 1) · Public domain Image source

Source term: Rhombe

In February 1932, while the Dakar-Djibouti mission's musicologist recorded reed pipes and drums around Garoua, a man named Maunde made this bullroarer for the collectors: blade, plant-fibre cord, and wooden hand grip, still together. The card gives its purpose in four words: for circumcision. Garoua was a Fulani river port on the Bénoué, a crossroads of Kirdi and Fulbe worlds; which of them Maunde cut the blade for went unrecorded.

Pour la circoncision

For circumcision.

Quai Branly object 71.1931.74.2654
Object
Wooden blade, 27.5 x 7 x 2 cm and 52 g, with a long plant-fiber cord and separate wooden hand grip preserved together in the exact photograph.
Function
Made by Maunde for circumcision.
Map confidence
high - Approximate Garoua municipal anchor; the catalog records the city but not a collection address or rite location.
Source location
Page references

object 71.1931.74.2654; acquired 30 January 1932

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