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Image / Anselma Salas cooking a turtle, San Basilio de Palenque, 1977

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Title
Anselma Salas cooking a turtle, San Basilio de Palenque, 1977
Creator
Cross, Richard, 1950-1983
Date Created and/or Issued
1977-03
Publication Information
California State University, Northridge
Contributing Institution
California State University, Northridge
Collection
Richard Cross Photographs (Bradley Center)
Rights Information
Use of images from the collections of the Tom & Ethel Bradley Center is strictly prohibited by law without prior written consent from the copyright holders. The responsibility for the use of these materials rests exclusively with the user.
The Bradley Center may assist in obtaining copyright/licensing permission to use images from the Richard Cross collection. http://www.csun.edu/bradley-center/contact
Description
Anselma Salas "Niñita" rolls a dead turtle on its back so that she can skin and declaw it before cooking. Colombian slider turtles were collected from nearby swamps by men and then handed to women for them to cook into a traditional dish that was served over rice with shredded coconut. San Basilio del Palenque, a town located 31 miles from Cartagena, is considered the first community to officially free enslaved people in the Americas because, on August 23, 1691, the Spanish King Charles II signed a royal charter recognizing the freedom of the runaway communities in the María Mountains. Local authorities, however, did not sign a treaty with the communities of free slaves until January of 1714 acknowledging their freedom and ordering the establishment of the town of Palenque San Basilio Magno. People in San Basilio del Palenque speak a Spanish-based creole language known as Palenquero. According to local public records, in 1975 the village had 2,400 residents (mostly farmers or day laborers) and 388 houses. Colombian anthropologist Nina S. De Friedemann had been studying the Afro-Colombian community of San Basilio del Palenque since 1973 for the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and Richard Cross joined her to do work as a visual anthropologist in June 1975. This image illustrates Cross’s anthropological category: Inventory of male-female work roles.
Anselma Salas "Niñita" gira una tortuga muerta sobre su espalda para poder quitarle la piel y las garras antes de cocinarla. Los hombres recolectaban tortugas hicoteas de los pantanos cercanos y luego las entregaban a las mujeres para que las cocinaran en un plato tradicional que se servía sobre arroz con coco rallado. San Basilio del Palenque, un pueblo ubicado a 31 millas de Cartagena, se considera la primera comunidad en liberar oficialmente a personas esclavizadas de América porque, el 23 de agosto de 1691, el rey español Carlos II firmó una cédula real que reconocía la libertad de las comunidades de personas fugitivas en el Montañas de María. Sin embargo, las autoridades locales no firmaron un tratado con estas comunidades sino hasta enero de 1714, reconociendo su libertad y ordenando el establecimiento del poblado Palenque San Basilio Magno. La gente en San Basilio del Palenque habla una lengua criolla con base en español conocida como palenquero. Según los registros públicos locales, en 1975 el pueblo tenía 2,400 residentes (en su mayoría agricultores o jornaleros) y 388 casas. La antropóloga colombiana Nina S. de Friedemann había estado estudiando la comunidad afrocolombiana de San Basilio del Palenque desde 1973 para el Instituto Colombiano de Antropología y Richard Cross se unió a ella para trabajar como antropólogo visual en junio de 1975. Esta imagen ilustra la categoría antropológica de Cross: Inventario de roles de trabajo masculino-femenino.
Type
image
Format
Photographs
image/jpeg
Black-and-white negatives
Extent
35 mm
Identifier
99.01.RCr.N35.B4.85.01.23
http://digital-collections.csun.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p17169coll1/id/6141
Subject
Turtles as food
Cooking
Women, Black--Colombia--San Basilio del Palenque
Place
San Basilio del Palenque (Colombia)
Relation
99.01.RCr.N35.B4.85.01.23.tif
Richard Cross Photographs
California State University Northridge. University Library. Special Collections & Archives. Tom & Ethel Bradley Center

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