Doll "ngide" ·  Kenya, Turkana · ID: 3034910

Description

body of a tripartite palm nut, dressed with a small leather cape and strings of glass beads, the coiffure consisting of leather strips, min. dam., slight traces of abrasion;
such dolls emphasize the interaction between a woman and her lover or husband, not between mother and child. A woman’s mother makes a doll from large nuts that replicate the shape of male genitalia and decorates it with beads donated by the man’s best friend. The doll, named after this friend, becomes the young couple’s son. During the day, the woman wears the doll, which is attached to a string, around her neck or over her shoulder. At night, she hangs it by the string safely inside her house. When a woman calls out her “son’s” name while dancing, her lover responds by dancing with her.

Comparing literature

Cameron, Elisabeth L., Isn't she a doll? Los Angeles 1996, p. 31, ill. 24