{"id":16067,"date":"2024-10-06T21:10:08","date_gmt":"2024-10-06T19:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/detlev.von.graeve.org\/?p=16067"},"modified":"2026-03-25T11:27:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T10:27:58","slug":"f-kramer-and-g-marx-witnessed-lost-festivals-of-the-southern-luba-sudan-1974","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/detlev.von.graeve.org\/?p=16067","title":{"rendered":"F. Kramer and G.Marx witnessed lost Festivals of the Southern Luba (Sudan) 1974"},"content":{"rendered":"
Translation of the German post from 2015 and 2021 (LINK)<\/a> with Google and DeepL on October 6, 2024<\/span><\/p>\n

Fritz W.Kramer und Gertraud Marx : \u201aZeitmarken \u2013 die Feste von Dimodonko\u2019 in der Reihe \u201aSudanesische Marginalien\u2019 im Trickster Verlag, 189 Seiten, M\u00fcnchen 1993 (deutsch)
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Fritz W. Kramer and Gertraud Marx: ‚Time marks – the festivals of Dimodonko‘ in the series ‚Sudanese Marginalia‘ published by Trickster, 189 pages, Munich 1993<\/em><\/p>\n

The essay became a memorial for the people of ‚Dimodonko‘, the ‚Kodenko‘ or ‚Kronko‘ in the south of the Kordofan mountains. ‚Southern Nuba‘ was the term that caught my attention through frequent repetition in his Jensen memorial lecture at Frankfurt University in 2009 and was already a compromise with the language used in Germany, where ‚the Nuba‘ have long been a term. But basically Kramer, as a precise ethnologist, always meant ‚the people of Dimodonko‘.<\/p>\n

The authors apologize for a philological approach – it is particularly evident in the introduction in lexical style, the notes and the long list of literature. Already in the first chapter, they give us an idea of \u200b\u200bhow beautiful the book could have been, whose broad foundations we are admiring here. The result is a scientific paperback, with map sketches in irritatingly high resolution, but without pictures.<\/p>\n

It is an intimate book, touching in its announcement that from now on the grammatical present tense will be used for past situations. How Fritz Kramer and Gertraud Marx would have loved to have experienced the entire annual cycle that they bring to life in the story, as well as the large and carefree celebrations that they were told about when they were invited to something like emergency editions in 1987. The intensity of the descriptions and discussions suggests that this period of classic field research between two acts of the civil war in southern Sudan was a formative experience, despite its premature end. The authors stayed with the people in 1987 for more intensive research, but the authors‘ first impression dates back to 1974. Back then, in those two decades, there was a great willingness to idealize alternative ways of life in West Germany. The book was published in 1993. Today I find it difficult to read the slim book in one sitting; I have long since lost the ability to tolerate social utopias. Any utopianism has been driven out of me.<\/p>\n

The necessarily sketchy depiction offers a model of society and suggests, in summary, a ‚paradisiacal‘ state of ’noble savages‘ or, in Karl Marx’s words, a ‚primitive society‘ that made optimal use of the available resources in a small ecological niche – on the slopes of table mountains in the middle of the vast Sudanese plains. Embedded in nature – even if ‚hunger‘ or ‚malaria‘ had their place in the annual cycle – in general the circular character prevailed in everything. Communal work and enjoyment, the institution of ‚trusteeship‘ and finally an institutionalized ‚friendship‘ based on the inclinations of individuals, generally the consideration of human nature, especially gender and the need for intoxication or the channeling of creative and aggressive impulses in competition. How do you keep young people busy and happy with limited resources? A central question everywhere! All adversities of life, all human passions and peculiarities should be given meaning, made understandable. All possible conflicts should be, if not avoided, then at least embedded. That gave a lot to talk about. Life was never boring.<\/p>\n

There were no formal hierarchies, not even those based on individual achievement.<\/span><\/span> There was no more or less centralized rule.<\/span><\/span> It was a culture in which the seasons were honored with festivals as ‚time markers‘ and social ties were thus periodically renewed.<\/span><\/span> Corresponding motifs in ‚time markers‘ act like incantations: „…and celebrate their festivals, at which they hold wrestling competitions, play drums or lyres, dance and sing songs.“ (78).<\/span><\/span> But there were people who left the nest, neighbors and, finally, supra-regional ‚modern‘ conflicts.<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

To see such a society collapse while efforts were being made to gain access and understand it must have been very painful.<\/span><\/span> After a stopover with ‚Nuba‘ refugees stranded in Khartoum, they set about scientific reconstruction – on the shoulders of a few informants – with all the relevant literature in mind.<\/span><\/span> There was too little space in the paperback for the ‚making of‘.<\/span><\/span> The series of publications provided a sparse framework.<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

In the following two decades, Fritz Kramer has repeatedly illuminated and reflected on the culture of the people of Dimodonko in his publications, but from a rather increasing distance, as in his most recent book publication: Art in Ritual – Ethnographic Explorations on Aesthetics“ (in German), the elaboration of the 2009 lecture, published by Reimer Verlag in 2014. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Documentary photos from Dimodonko are missing in ‚Zeitmarken‘. Visual experiences have to be obtained from elsewhere (literature list), but they are also from elsewhere. Even powerful literary prose cannot replace them. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The authors thus avoid a dilemma when they use strong metaphors alone to convey the cult of athletic, supple bodies and relaxed sensuality among the people of Dimodonko. Can attractive photos even successfully distance themselves from the suspicion of a ‚voyeuristic‘ gaze or a body cult labelled as fascistoid by a Leni Riefenstahl (‚Nuba‘)?<\/span><\/span> I thought that the public scandal they caused thirty years ago (\u201cSPIEGEL\u201d, \u201cSTERN\u201d) was exaggerated and I was curious to see the photos by George Rodger, which are referenced in the bibliography of \u201cZeitmarken\u201d.<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

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Image from G. Rodger, Le Village des Noubas, Paris 1955, Robert Delpire Editeur <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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See George Rodger: \u201cOn the road 1940-1949 \u2013 diary entries of a photographer and adventurer\u201d, Hatje-Cantz 2009 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

See \u201cMagnum Opus\u201d, Nishen 1987, Colin Osman (ed.)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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