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Image / Boy sitting on a donkey, San Basilio de Palenque, ca. 1978

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Title
Boy sitting on a donkey, San Basilio de Palenque, ca. 1978
Creator
Cross, Richard, 1950-1983
Date Created and/or Issued
1978
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
A boy is sitting on a donkey. Boys have the obligation to learn from a very young age to ride horses and to herd cattle for pasture and milking. Livestock management learning is a game and is the exclusive work of men, and young boys would ride on the cattle, frolic, caress it, talk to it and each calf, cow and bull have a name: Candelaria, Vinotinto, Chupete. Children would wake up very early in the morning, around 5:00 a.m., go up in the mountains to take care of the cows, and then come back to town to go to school from 8:00 a.m. to noon. San Basilio de Palenque, located 31 miles from Cartagena, is considered the first community to officially free enslaved people of the Americas because, on August 23, 1691, the Spanish King Charles II signed a royal charter recognizing the freedom of the 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 de Palenque speak a Spanish-based creole language known as Palenquero. According to 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 de Palenque 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 categories: Inventory of male-female work roles.
Un niño está sentado en un burro. Los niños tienen la obligación de aprender desde una edad muy temprana a montar a caballo y criar ganado para pastoreo y ordeño. El aprendizaje de la gestión ganadera es un juego y es un trabajo exclusivo de los hombres, y los niños montan en el ganado, se divierten, lo acarician, hablan y cada ternero, vaca y toro tienen un nombre: Candelaria, Vinotinto, Chupete. Los niños se levantaban muy temprano por la mañana, alrededor de las 5:00 a.m., subían a las montañas para cuidar las vacas y luego volvían a la ciudad para ir a la escuela de 8:00 a.m. a mediodía. San Basilio de Palenque, ubicada a 50 kilómetros de Cartagena, es considerada la primera comunidad en liberar oficialmente a las personas esclavizadas en las Américas pues el 23 de agosto de 1691, el rey español Carlos II firmó una cédula real que reconocó la libertad de las comunidades libres en las montañas de María. Las autoridades locales, sin embargo, no firmaron un tratado con las comunidades de personas esclavizadas sino hasta enero de 1714 reconociendo su libertad y ordenando el establecimiento de la ciudad de Palenque San Basilio Magno. La gente en San Basilio de Palenque habla un idioma criollo basado en el español conocido 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 de Palenque desde 1973 para el Instituto Colombiano de Antropología y Richard Cross se unió a su equipo para trabajar como antropólogo visual en junio de 1975. Esta imagen ilustra la categoría antropológica de Cross: Inventario de roles de trabajo entre hombres y mujeres.
Type
image
Format
Photographs
image/jpeg
Black-and-white negatives
Extent
35 mm
Identifier
99.01.RCr.N35.B6.118.2A
http://digital-collections.csun.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p17169coll1/id/11403
Subject
Portraits
Boys--Colombia--San Basilio del Palenque
Donkeys--Transportation
Place
San Basilio del Palenque (Colombia)
Relation
99.01.RCr.N35.B6.118.2A.tif
Richard Cross Photographs
California State University Northridge. University Library. Special Collections & Archives. Tom & Ethel Bradley Center

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