Hans Cory

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Hans Cory
Born1889, Vienna, Austrian-Hungarian Empire
Died1962 (aged 72–73), Dar es Salaam, Tanganyika
Occupationcolonial officer, author, sociologist, ethnologist

Hans Cory OBE (born Hans Koritschoner; 18 March 1889 – 24 April 1962)[1] was a British colonial officer of Austrian descent, farmer and sociologist with a special interest in traditional lifestyles of ethnic groups in former Tanganyika, now Tanzania.

Born in Vienna, Austria, and having lived most of his adult life in Tanganyika, he died at age 73 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Hans Cory had arrived before the First World War in the former colony of German East Africa. After the German defeat in World War I, Great Britain took over Tanganyika as mandate territory, and Cory was sent to a British prison camp in Palestine as a prisoner of war. After this, he returned to Tanganyika and became a British colonial officer.[2]

Speaking Swahili and several local dialects, he had a special interest in the cultural traditions of different ethnic groups, at the time called "Tribes". A self-taught ethnologist, Cory collected extensive ethnographic field data, traditional paintings or sculptures. Based on this, he published several books in English about such subjects as traditional law, ethnic histories and beliefs, initiation rites, food and plants, traditional songs or poetry.[3][4] In particular, he collected numerous clay figurines used for initiation rites and published several works on this topic.[5] According to the German ethnologist Elisabeth Grohs who studied initiation rites and figurines in Tanzania in the 1960s, Cory donated a large number of these figurines to the Dar es Salaam National Museum.[6]

From the 1950s onwards, he was conducting a government project to collect and codify the customary law of a number of ethnic groups, such as the Sukuma, Nyamwezi, Haya, Gogo and others. His unpublished papers are collected in the University College Library of the University of Dar es Salaam.[7] – In Ernest Hemingway's account of his safari in Tanganyika, Green Hills of Africa, the author tells of his encounter with the Austrian farmer "Kandisky", who shared his knowledge of local culture and who in reality was Hans Cory.[8]

Published works[]

  • Hans Koritschoner. Some East African Native Songs. Tanganyika Notes and Records 4: 51–64, 1937
  • Hans Cory. African figurines: their ceremonial use in puberty rites in Tanganyika. London 1956
  • Wall-paintings by snake charmers in Tanganyika. London 1953
  • The indigenous political system of the Sukuma and proposals for political reform. Nairobi 1954
  • Customary law of the Haya Tribe, Tanganyika territory. London 1945
  • History of the Bukoba district. Mwanza 1959

Notes and References[]

  1. ^ "Hans Cory". geni_family_tree. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  2. ^ Tracey, Hugh (1962). "Obituary: Hans Cory, O.B.E. 1889–1962". African Music: Journal of the African Music Society. 3 (1): 111. doi:10.21504/amj.v3i1.742.
  3. ^ Listen to the sound archives from the 1950s, where he read Swahili poetry in a dramatic style and with his German accent. "Hans Cory, South African Music Archive Project". samap.ukzn.ac.za. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  4. ^ Koritschoner, Hans (1936). "Ngoma Ya Sheitani. An East African Native Treatment for Psychical Disorder". The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 66: 209–219. doi:10.2307/2844124. ISSN 0307-3114. JSTOR 2844124.
  5. ^ Cory, Hans (1961). "Sumbwa Birth Figurines". The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 91 (1): 67–76. doi:10.2307/2844469. JSTOR 2844469.
  6. ^ Grohs, Elisabeth (1995). "Tanzania oder die längst fällige Aufwertung der künstlerischen Tradition dieses Landes". Anthropos (in German). 90 (4/6): 567–574. ISSN 0257-9774. JSTOR 40463202.
  7. ^ Miller, Norman N. (1968). "Tanzania: Documentation in Political Anthropology – The Hans Cory Collection". African Studies Bulletin. 11 (2): 195–213. doi:10.2307/522924. JSTOR 522924. Hans Cory produced a collection of papers and monographs in the general field of political anthropology that rank as an important primary research source concerning that nation. The documentation, as do Cory's published writings, reflect the diverse interests of the author and the many sides of his character. The son of a Viennese musical family, his early interests were in African songs and dances, in composing Swahili poetry, and in collecting African drawings and figurines.
  8. ^ Walsh, Martin. "Bad Swahili and pidgin Swahili in Hemingway". East African Notes and Records Blog. In his family history, written in 1956, Hans Cory referred to his encounter with the Hemingways and his appearance in Green Hills of Africa: "I am Kandinsky [sic], and though the conversation did not take place exactly as quoted, the events happened as described, and the breakdown of my lorry, etc. is true. Hemingway and his wife were very kind to me. I was their guest for three days, and we had many amusing and interesting conversations."
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