Wahima men (by Max Weiß)

by

Benjamin Gollasch

The German solider and photographer of the above picture Max Weiß (1874 - ?) was part of the “Mecklenburg-Expedition” across East- and Central-Africa in the years of 1907/08. Most information given here was taken from his book: Weiß, Max: Die Völkerstämme im Norden Deutsch-Ostafrikas. Berlin 1910. Weiß took this monochrome picture with the title “Wahima-Männer” (part of another approx. 2.000 pictures) in the region between the Lake Victoria and the Lake Kiwu while visiting a Wahima-Village. We can see 10 male members of the Wahima-Community, some fully naked, some dressed. The surrounding is a natural grassland with some bushes and hills in the background. On the left side of the picture two more crouching people are present. Obviously the men feel very uncomfortable, especially the naked ones. Their faces and bodies appear cramped. We can see that nudity was not normal in this community, because dressed men are present too. Purpose of this picture was the “need” of “scientific material” for ethnographical studies. Weiß placed the four naked men in a 3-side view: front, side and from behind, to show their physique and shape in an “anthropological sense”. Violence is still present in this picture, as well as in many others of him. In his book, he tells us how “difficult” (sometimes “impossible”) it was, to take pictures of the Wahima-Society. He used his “boys” (assistants) to force the people remaining in front of his camera, because the inhabitants of the village thought, his camera could be a rifle. Nonetheless he needed to convince the local chief that he would make some more photographs available. Summarized, we can say that the given picture is a good example for the colonial situation in the early 20th century. The absolute intention of “scientific ethnographical” researches and the power gap between the actors combined with the unwillingness of the local residents are well reflected here.