Book
The Nuer: a description of the modes of livelihood and political institutions of a Nilotic people
At the Clarendon press • Oxford • Published In 1940 • Pages:
By: Evans-Pritchard, E. E. (Edward Evan).
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Evans-Pritchard presents an analytical description of the Nuer, focusing on political structure and function: the Nuer are an 'acephalous kinship state.' The ecological information is well detailed in respect the transhumance and annual cycle. Extensive ethnographic detail on material culture, rituals, etc. has been omitted in favor of general description of tribal and lineage segmentation and political functions of Leopard Skin chiefs, Prophets, etc. In 1957, the author was Professor of Social Anthropology at Oxford University. A student of Radcliffe-Brown, he was a distinguished exponent of the British functional approach in its emphasis on the structural-functional analysis of social organization. He also studied other Sudan peoples of East Africa, particularly the Azande, and the Muslim nomadic pastoralists and Sanusi sect of Libya. He also made contributions to general ethnological theory.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Domesticated animals
- Pastoral activities
- Settlement patterns
- Age stratification
- Lineages
- Clans
- External relations
- Ordering of time
- Puberty and initiation
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Nuer
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2002
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Africa
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Eastern Africa
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Social Anthropologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Louise Sweet ; 1957
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1931-1936
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1930-1936
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Sobat and Jonglei Provinces, Sudan
- NotesAdditional notes
- By E. E. Evans-Pritchard
- Includes bibliographical references
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- a 40003181
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Nuer (African people)