Porridge Gourd


Amongst many African cultures, the calabash, a type of large gourd, is used as both decoration and a functional tool. A calabash that has been dried and hollowed out can be used as a bag, a bowl, or a spoon. The outside can be lightly carved, painted, or encased in beads to add a decorative aspect to the piece. This calabash was made by the Meru as a porridge container. The Meru are an ethnic group in Kenya located northeast of the country’s capital, Nairobi. The neck of the calabash has been cut and fashioned into a lid and the rest of the calabash remains undecorated, suggesting that the piece was mostly used as a container as opposed to a decoration.

A gourd container with a wide body and long thin neck and lid. The lid fits into the neck of the container. There are pieces of aluminum used for repairs in several areas of the body.




Resources

Resource 1

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Save Scrap For Victory! poster- Library of Congress

Scrap drives were important ways for the public to support the US war effort in WWII. People could recycle old items which could then be made into ships, planes, and other sorts of equipment.

However, these scrap drives also resulted in items such as records being recycled. Record companies were provisioned with a limited supply of shellac (needed to make new records). In order make up for the shortage, scrap drives were organized where citizens could discard old records, and the record companies would do their patriotic duty by making new music to boost public and military morale.

Resource 2

Roman Colosseum Reconstruction- Italy Guides

Though it is a protected historic site today, the Roman Colosseum has not always been held in such regard. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the structure fell into disrepair and people began removing its marble for uses in other construction projects. Various restoration projects have taken place throughout the colosseum’s history. These restoration projects make us ask similar questions as the repaired gourd: how do people preserve historical artifacts; how do our understandings of buildings and household objects change over time; and what do preservation and restoration projects tell us about objects in our world?

Resource 3

Filipino Sakalot- Natural History Museums of LA County

Just like the porridge container, the salakot is a clear example of how people transform natural resources into a wide variety of usable items. Salakots can be made from palm leaves, bamboo, cotton, paper, and other natural fibers. Although they take on many sizes and shapes, they all serve the same function: protecting the wearer’s head. In a tropical area such as the Philippine Archipelego, protection is usualy from the sun or rain. 

And just like the porridge container, salakot were connected to conflict. European and American colonists adapted the design of the salakot into pith helments. These helments became so widespread that during the Philippine-American War (when the Philippines fought for independence from the United States), both sides of the fighting were equiped with salakot helments!