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Theme
headdress, body modifications, clothing/ornament, object, colonial administration, local authority, portrait, body art
Photographer
Armand Joseph Oscar Hutereau (°1875 - †1914)
Place of production
Democratic Republic of the Congo > Equateur > Ubangi
Legend
The colonial government tried to counteract polygamy through to the introduction of an official marriage registration and extra tax on having more than one wife. Medals were handed out to be able to prove that one had paid the tax. The efforts of the colonizer to adapt the Congolese population to a more western pattern of life wasn’t always a success and sometimes had the opposite effect, as the medals were considered as signs of power and prestige. This indicated that collecting was a two-way thing: Europeans collected for the museum in Tervuren, but Africans also collected a variety of European products as signs of a new era.
Original legend
Chef Monga dit Bula-Matadi
Inventory number
AP.0.0.12160
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