Nigerian handcraft here offers an example of an African pair of slippers – here are Tuxen’s sparse notes on this pair: “Mandingo sandals from Nigeria, bought for the price of 20 Danish Crowns from antiquity trader Suude in Copenhagen, on September 12th 1957. No further information. Six […]
Did you know that the ethnographic collections of Moesgaard Museum also contain a large number of photographs and film clips? And did you know that the collection is still growing? Julie Dalsgaard Jespersen,a fellow student of mine at visual anthropology, just recently returned from her fieldwork in Holland and is […]
Do you love the feeling of new shoes? We do! But Tuxen was actually more into old worn ones. In his notes he always seems slightly disappointed, if the shoes are new, or if he hasn’t been able to spot them worn around the country […]
Tetepeku – one of the rare female ancestor figures from Papua New Guinea, of great importance to the Abelam people of Wosera. As a central part of male initiation rites, the novice is to crawl between the legs of Tetepeku, placed inside the ceremonial house, haus tambaran. […]
With time, Tuxen not only ventured out worldwide to collect shoes himself – he had trusted helpers in this endeavour, like in the case of these Greenlandic kamik boots, which were provided by a rather noble figure. As appears from Tuxen’s notes in 1957: “Greenlandic children’s kamik […]
So, a chair is basically something to sit on, right? Well actually, there is so much more to chairs than just that. There’s a chair for every occasion, but apart from the myriad different everyday chairs you’ll find around the world, you’ll also find more […]
Imagine walking through the beautiful green fields of Mykines in these traditional shoes! “Faroese cow skin shoes. Stud.mag. Arne Nørrevang procured them in July 1957 in exchange for 5 Danish kroner. They are made at Mykines by an old man, accustomed to the tradition, even […]
Looking at this figure, what creature would you think it represents? Man? Animal? Both? Collected in 1999 by Rane Willerslev, during his fieldwork in the blistering cold of Siberia, this figure tells the story of an important link in the complex process of the Yukagir hunters’ preparation for killing […]
At first we had difficulty in recognizing these as shoes, but after a closer look the design started making sense (notice they are placed on a mirror in the photograph). They are merely elevated slippers made from wood, and beautifully decorated! Wearing them, we imagine quite […]
