article
Observations on the Shilluk of the Upper Nile. Customary law: marriage and the violation of rights in women
Africa • 23 • Published In 1953 • Pages: 94-109
By: Howell, P. P. (Paul Philip).
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This article deals with marriage among the Shilluk. The manner in which a marriage is arranged and legalized, the circulation and distribution of bridewealth, and rules governing divorce and widowerhood are treated in some detail. In particular the rules governing the return of cattle in cases of divorce and death are described. Material on legitimacy of children, and data on penalties for adultery, pre-marital intercourse, and sexual realtions with royal women are included. Some criticisms are offered of other accounts of Shilluk marriage practices and materials from several authors are used. Howell notes that the development of Native Courts has crystallized customs and brought about rigidity in rules that once had greater flexibility.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Basis of marriage
- Regulation of marriage
- Arranging a marriage
- Mode of marriage
- Termination of marriage
- Celibacy
- Family relationships
- Inheritance
- Illegitimacy
- Kinship regulation of sex
- Premarital sex relations
- Extramarital sex relations
- Sex and marital offenses
- Special courts
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Shilluk
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2010
- 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
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- 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.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Betty Potash ; 1960
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1937, 1948
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1930-1952
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Sudan
- NotesAdditional notes
- P. P. Howell
- Includes bibliographical references
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 29010790
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Shilluk (African people)