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Keywords: visual anthropology, MakharbekTuganov, ethnographic sketches, graphic drawing, maternity rite.
In the traditions of any people, the rites associated with the birth of a child occupy a special place. High female and especially child mortality rate predetermined the formation of complex maternity rites based on ancient religious beliefs and protective magicamong many peoples of the world. The cycle of rites under consideration was substantially discussed and described in the Ossetian studies, with the involvement of field materialretaining archaic notions, which was recorded by researchers of 1950-1960.
However, reconstruction of the maternity rite, its in-depth analysis requires the involvement of additional sources. This article aims to consider the maternity rite of the Ossetians using the method of visual anthropology. Visual evidence gives a vivid picture of the traditional aspect of peoples' lives, opening up new ways to understand the past, enriching the way data is analyzed. Photography and filming are usually used as a visual source. We propose to consider the information potential of sketches and graphic drawings as a visual ethnographic source. Sketching as a document, as a fixed text created in reality, is a narrative, which requires interpreting its symbols and characters sublimating the information. The article attempts to study the complex of maternity rites of Ossetia through the prism of ethnographic sketches by Makharbek Safarovich Tuganov – the first professional Ossetian artist, the founder of the realistic direction in the Ossetian fine arts. His sketches of the late 20s – early 30s of 20th century: "Childbirth in the barn" and "The ceremonial entry of the bride with a newborn from the barn to the hædzar" are considered in the context of the rites of the childbirth cycle of the Ossetians. The details recorded by the artist, their correlation with field and written ethnographic sources significantly complement the existing ideas of the maternity rite. Individual features of sketches, which have not been “unveiled” so far, stimulate further scientific search, pose new questions to informants and confirm the possibilities of using of sketch as an ethnographic source.
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