Murle Bride - South Sudan is a painting by Gloria Ssali which was uploaded on July 8th, 2015.
Murle Bride - South Sudan
Murle in most cases practice a blend of animism and Christianity. Elders and witches often function as trouble fixers. But they are pastoralists in a... more
by Gloria Ssali
Title
Murle Bride - South Sudan
Artist
Gloria Ssali
Medium
Painting - Acrylics On Ceramics
Description
Murle in most cases practice a blend of animism and Christianity. Elders and witches often function as trouble fixers. But they are pastoralists in a country where localized and unpredictable shortages occur in rain, drinking water, bush fruits and cattle grass. This necessitates a partly nomadic lifestyle over large distances. As a result, in times of shortages they have frequently come into conflict with numerically larger groups, including the Dinka and Nuer.
The Murle (like the Dinka and Nuer) have a tradition in which men can only marry when they pay a bride wealth of several dozens of cows. Education and jobs are almost absent and there are very few possibilities to earn money by producing for domestic or foreign markets. As a result, the only way to acquire cows for marriage, quicker than through breeding them, is by stealing. With roads absent and normal policing almost impossible in a vast territory, Murle, Dinka and Nuer raid each other equally, unlike the more widespread notion by the Dinka and Nuer in the Government that only the Murle are the offenders.[no cite, and the contrary has been held true by at least one anthropologist who has studied the Murle]
The Murle have a traditional history of how their people have migrated over the years in a clockwise direction around Lake Turkana (Arensen 1983). In the 1930s they have negotiated small pockets of 'homeland' in Pibor, where they are always allowed to graze their cattle and grow crops, even when in conflict with neighbors. This homeland is far too small for their survival, so they have a common interest to be at peace with Dinka and Nuer, so that they can graze their cattle over wider areas. But the smallness of their homeland and the almost absence of police protection makes them very vulnerable in conflicts. When some of them believe that they will not get peace and sufficient water and grazing rights, survival instincts align with 'bride hunger', sometimes driving the young men into risky cattle rustling adventures against their larger neighbors.
In the north-south war since the Murle were mainly underrepresented and neglected by the SPLA, they sought protection by forming arm Group to protect themselves between the former rebel SPLA and the Northern Sudanese Militias.
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July 8th, 2015
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Comments (18)
Madalena Lobao-Tello
CONGRATULATIONS!! Featured on Women Painters. Fabulous artwork. Love the colours and composition !!