Anthropologists continue to disagree about the significance of kinship and patrilineal descent in the organization of nuer political and domestic life. Kinship is one of the main organizing principles of society. The institution of the family, marriage, kinship and descent systems chapter pdf available january 2015 with 35,077 reads how we measure reads. Doss evanspritchard and segmentary structures amongst. Radcliffebrown 1964 insisted on the study of a kinship system as a field of rights and obligations and saw it as. By people we mean all persons who speak the same language and have, in. Kinship and marriage among the nuer edward evan evans. Some might say that they represent a very primitive form of human social organization. His later writings were often theoretical essays and lectures on the relations between anthropology and other social sciences. But the whole of the nuer are brought into a single kinship or pseudo kinship system and all the territorial segments of nuerland are interconnected by that system p.
But it makes it difficult to keep track of our kin. Pdf nuer in the united states dianna shandy academia. An alternative interpretation, based in transactionalism, also presents some. No one can stay without someone transnational networks. Lynne rienner publishers, 1996 dont be fooled, advised a senior zambian bureaucrat. They are concentrated in south sudan, and also constitute a majority in ethiopias gambela region. Lineages constructed on the basis of acknowledged descent lines occur in various sizes according to their generational depth, ranging from small, shallow lineages made up of the descendants of a single living grandfather or greatgrandfather to extensive systems with histories of several dozen generations including thousands of members. Apr 12, 2012 i have never heard of a nuer stealing a cow from a fellow tribesman merely because he wanted one points out evanspritchard. In fact, ep described the nuer social system as ordered anarchy. Perhaps the most famous ethnographic example of a society organized based on such a kinship structure is the nuer, studied byevanspritchard1940a in the 1930s.
Kinship and marriage among thenuer is the second of his trilogy on the society and culture of this pastoral people. In it, the author vividly portrays the experience of growing up in a nuer community, describing daily life, marriage,sex, death, and birth. This schematic diagram depicts the generation of the system. The nuer people are a nilotic ethnic group primarily inhabiting the nile valley. The field data for this volume was gathered by the author in the years 1930, 1931, 1935, and 1936. Kinship and marriage among the nuer clarendon paperbacks. Kinship is the web of relationships woven by family and marriage. Their sons your brothers and your male cousins could be founders of more sublineages. One of the largest ethnic groups in southern sudan, the nuer people are pastoralists who herd cattle for a living. It tends to vary from one culture to another culture. In addition, the importance placed on a societys kinship system, as well as the associated responsibilities and obligations, also vary widely. Between 1905 and 1928, there were twentysix nuer raids on the dinka, but only three dinka raids on the nuer.
In kinship system, egocentric systems of social identities and statuses are described whereas in descent system, it is ancestororiented. Since kinship ties form the basis of nuer community organization, this source is indispensable to an understanding of the nuer society as a whole, and particularly of their system of property ownership. Ever since power struggles within the sudan peoples liberation army split the movement into two warring factions in august 1991, rural nuer and dinka communities of the south have been grappling. The second part discusses the more important fields in which social anthropologists have advanced our knowledge of other cultures.
Pdf the institution of the family, marriage, kinship and. Mckinnons article offers an interrogation of the theoretical underpinnings of the work of one of the most influential. The nuer, best known for their cattlekeeping mode of. These conquests have often been attributed to demographic pressure. Cultural anthropologyuniversity of minnesota duluth. The nuer is more an interpretation than a description. A hypothetical ancestor i, the founder of the entire group, has two sons a and b, each of whom serves as a focal point for the division of the larger unit into two smaller subgroups.
If the characterization of world politics as mere anarchy is an exaggeration, surely anarchy rnoaerated or inhibited byabalance of power is a fairl y accurat e descriptio n of th rivalr betwee sovereign nationstates. The nuer of the southern sudan universitetet i oslo. Full text of african systems of kinship and marriage see other formats. Nasa images solar system collection ames research center. A man uses payments of cattle to his wifes lineage to establish his connection with and rights in his children c. Within this system alliances and mutual assistance are determined based on the closeness of descent groups. The system of meaning and power that cultures create to determine who is related to whom and to define their mutual expectations, rights, and responsibilities. The nuer and neighbouring peoples introductory the nuer political system includes all the peoples with whom they come into contact. In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. The topic of kinship remained unexamined in these pages for another decade with the exception of susan mckinnons article, domestic exceptions. We anthropologists have assumed that kinship is universal, that all societies have kinship systems. The nuer are a cattleraising people devoted to their herds, although milk and meat must be supplemented by the.
Anthropologist robin fox states that the study of kinship is the study of what man does with these basic facts of life mating, gestation, parenthood, socialization, siblingship etc. The system of kinship, that is, the way in which relations between individuals and groups are organised, occupies a central place in all human societies. Evanspritchard relates the social organization of the nuer to. To be outside the kinship system is to be inhuman or nonhuman. Schneiders comments contrast strongly with ward goodenoughs observation made about the same time. The nuer, a primitive african people, have been described as living in an. When the writings were first published half a century ago, they created a new agenda for social anthropology. He took a very definite and extreme position on how to understand nuer lineage and territorial relationships. Traditional relations of kinship have affected the lives of african people and ethnic groups by determining what land they could farm, whom they could marry, and their status in their communities. The nuer, living in what is now the south sudan, became the archetype of what anthropologists call a segmentary lineage society. Although evanspritchard was throughout his life a prolific writer, especially on kinship, religion, and the history of anthropology, his later writings were eclipsed by his earlier work.
This was achieved by outlining the interaction of the people and the physical environment, the political system, the lineage system and the age set. It is in this sense that anthropologists say that primitive society is, to a large degree, organized and regulated by kinship chagnon, page 142. Evanspritchard kinship and marriage among the nuer. Evanspritchard and the creation of nuer patrilineality and equality. Ultimately, it appears that this kinship structure was key to the nuers amazing expansion into dinka territory. Nuer imagine that all adult males can claim ancestry to all other adult males, although in actuality neither domestic settlement patterns nor territorial segments conform to this ideal. They speak the nuer language, which belongs to the nilotic language family.
Bilateral descent gives us the largest kinship network of any descent system ever invented. African systems of kinship and marriage, london, new york, toronto. In other words, we must rethink at the most basic level, what is kinship. The paper analyses evanspritchards writing on the nuer. One thing that struck me about the descriptions of nuer life was the lack of discussion about the role of women. Although the theory of the book is an abiding part of anthropological discussion and controversy, having become a model for the study of other societies, we should still return to the facts, asking to what extent the nuer model fits the way of life of the nuer of the southern sudan. In it, the author vividly portrays the experience of growing up in a nuer community, describing daily life, marriage, sex, death, and birth.
Every kinship system is significantly a cultural system. The nuer is a superb ethnographic work done by evanspritchard. A description of the modes of livelihood and political institutions of a nilotic people. And it is this divi sion that substituted evanspritchards own cultural affinities for those of the nuermaking it possible for him to create the nuer as both patrilineal and. I have never heard of a nuer stealing a cow from a fellow tribesman merely because he wanted one points out evanspritchard. This institution establishes relationships between individuals and groups. African family and kinship brian siegel from family and kinship, pp. The nuer of the southern sudan1 south sudan humanitarian project. Full text of african systems of kinship and marriage.
This fact was already evident in his use of the term affinity within his concept of the system of kinship. Marriage the life cycle everybody has kinship in one form or another. Essentially focused on a descent in the male line from the ancestor. Evanspritchard 21 september 1902 11 september 1973 was an english anthropologist who was instrumental in the development of social anthropology. Radcliffebrown 1964 insisted on the study of a kinship system as a field of rights and obligations and saw it as part of the social structure. Kinship within the nuer is formed off of ones neighbors or their entire culture. Its kinship system will be looked at from the economic. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. Evanspritchard i write shortiy of the nuer because i have at ready recorded a considerable part of my ob servations on their political constitution and the whole is about to be published as a book.
One of the largest ethnic groups in southern sudan, the nuer people are pastoralists who. The term nuer has been used for over two hundred years, but its origin is unknown. Despite their patrilineal descents, the nuer see maternal kinship as much more natural i. What perversity accounts for the fact that the nuer state the relationship the other way around. All legal marital unions are recognized through the exchange of bridewealth, in the form of cattle, between the husbands kin and the rightful claimants of these goods among the family of the bride. Even so, morgan found that members of a society who are not close genealogical relatives may nevertheless use what he called kinship terms which he considered to be originally based on genealogical ties. The father has to overcome his childrens natural connections to their mother ii. Anthropologists are often swayed by a single key case a. People in all societies are bound together by various kinds of bonds.
Though the nuer were perfectly happy to steal from a neighboring tribe. Kinship and credit among the nuer1 africa cambridge core. Nuer, people who live in the marsh and savanna country on both banks of the nile river in south sudan. This system is able to fuse large numbers of people into a single cohesive system, so that all nuer can ostensibly fit within a single genealogy. There no particular pattern in this world for any kinship system. The nuer clan is not an undif ferenriated group of persons who recognize their common kinship, as are many african are genealogical structures. And it is this divi sion that substituted evanspritchards own cultural affinities for those of the nuer making it possible for him to create the nuer as both patrilineal and. Kinship in sudan buth and mar among the nuer, sociology, free. The nuer 1940a, kinship and marriage among the nuer 1951, and nuer religion 1956. Kinship and marriage among the nuer is the second of his trilogy on the society and culture of this pastoral people. Doss evanspritchard and segmentary structures amongst the. Kinship and marriage among the nuer edward evanspritchard.
The study of nuer of southern sudan done by evans pritchard was determined on kinship groups. Unlike in a segmentary lineage society, where lineage and kinship are of the utmost importance, in many societies other structures, like social class or location of residence, are more important. Kinship and descent university of minnesota duluth. Weakness in that this is an obviously inadequate sample. Strength in that rich analysis, really can tell you a lot.
Kinship and marriage among the nuer on ehraf world cultures. This system is imposed on seemingly natural patterns b. The nuer, the first of this trilogy, is a selfconfessed topical account that focused principally on the social structure of the greater nuer tribe. It deals primarily with nuer family structure, marriage customs and kinship system. The forms we find in africa are not unique to africa, but they are an important part of african social organization. Sir edward evanspritchards classic writings on the nuer of southern sudan have made them one of the most famous peoples in ethnographic literature. But when you realize the forces behind his work, its really difficult to not read the book as a military report. Among kenyan and ugandan nilotes, the segmentary lineage system, or the system of. They speak an eastern sudanic language of the nilosaharan language family. With the model of segmentary lineage system, evanspritchard thus accounted for the manner in which a society without. He was professor of social anthropology at the university of oxford from 1946 to 1970. It is likely that the term came from neighboring groups, especially the dinka.