Evans-Pritchard and Tsing on Nilotic political institutions and livelihoods

Anthro

If Anna Tsing, author of In the Realm of the Diamond Queen, were to apply her methodologies, theories, and approaches to ethnography to the Nuer people, the result would be a far different book than E.E.E. Pritchard's (1969) The Nuer. Flipping the perspective would completely alter Tsing's goals in the research, and the view the researcher takes on what the appropriate role of the ethnographer is to provide context and meaning to the work. Both Tsing and Pritchard would remain concerned about issues like kinship, lineage, and basic socio-political structures. Both would also include explication of economic institutions and processes, and might mention gender roles, norms, and hierarchies, too. However, Tsing would bring multiple dimensions to the Nuer study that Pritchard misses. Tsing starts her analysis of the Meratus people by describing how they are perceived not by the foreign ethnographer, but by the modern nation-state in which they find themselves: Indonesia. Applying this initial point of reference to the Nuer would mean that Tsing would first place and describe the Nuer in terms of their being a part of Sudanese culture. Tsing would find ways of describing the role of the traditional cattle-based economy within the framework of globalization, and would show how colonialism, nationalism, urbanization, and population migration have all impacted the Nuer before devising methods of describing kinship and social organization. Tsing might say about the Nuer something similar to what the ethnographer starts to say about the Meratus, which is that the Nuer might find themselves in the position of complex negotiations with a nation-state establishment that does not recognize or acknowledge the legitimacy of alternative worldviews, social orders, or economic institutions.

Tsing could not ignore the issues of colonization and cultural hegemony that impact Nuer life. Like Pritchard, Tsing might choose to remain an observer rather than engage in participant-observation. Tsing would apply rich, layered feminist critical theory to the location of the Nuer within 20th century Sudanese society, discussing the means by which social relations may need to be re-negotiated. Rather than focus on the structures and lineages alone, though, Tsing would take into account other expressions of society and culture. Tsing might introduce storytelling, shamanic ritual, and non-linear methods of understanding the Nuer. Pritchard's photography provides one means by which to gather data, and Tsing would add to that by providing some surveys and interviews as well.

Working within the alternative framework of cultural relativity, Tsing would note the ways that acculturation to the dominant Sudanese societies were going to impact the worldview and individual self-concepts of the Nuer. The impact of globalization, oil, and other issues on Nuer economy would need to be addressed within a critical framework. And there would be express derision for systematic oppression. Just as the Meratus have been marginalized, so too were the Nuer, and Tsing would point out how ethnology does not describe a culture in a vacuum at one singular point in time. Rather, the ethnographer needs to consider a broader historical and socio-political framework. Issues related to power, subjugation, and legitimacy of authority need to be taken into account when addressing the tools and objectives of the anthropologist. Nuer women would also be re-located in the society, viewed not just in terms of their relationships with men but independently. This would require interviews, surveys, and potentially a shift into the participant-observer stance. However, Tsing would acknowledge the limitations of the participant-observer stance in offering anything approaching authenticity, as the observer changes that which is being observed.

Applying his traditional ethnographic methods to the Meratus, Pritchard would totally transform the ethnography that Tsing had applied and generated with In the Realm of the Diamond Queen. Applying the tools, techniques, goals, objectives, and methods used in The Nuer to the Meratus would leave a totally different impression on the reader. The ethnographer would remove the Meratus from their position within the historical, cultural, social, and economic context they are found in. They will be viewed in isolation of these external elements, in an attempt to discover some purity of cultural expression such as how kinship lineage and social structures have evolved internally within the bukit/Meratus society. An observer but not necessarily a participant, Pritchard might choose to enhance the narrative with photography and surveys, but would not rely on interviews, storytelling, or other methods of Meratus narration. The objective is to analyze Meratus culture from Pritchard's Euro-centric perspective, not to tell history from the perspective of the Meratus. Moreover, the author does not need to discuss the impact of colonization, imperialism, or other factors that might have a bearing on the evolution of Meratus migratory patterns. It would also be unnecessary to use comparison or cultural relativity, because Pritchard wants to present the Mertus only on their own terms.

Flipping the perspective would still allow Pritchard to examine the structure of kinship and social organization among the Meratus people. Pritchard would analyze in detail the nature of marriage relations, and place such social institutions as a central component to the narrative. Avoiding aspects related to gender binaries and their political implications, Pritchard would emphasize more the economic institutions under which the Meratus operate. It would be difficult to pinpoint the precise places where Meratus institutions and more global ones diverge, but Pritchard would be able to rely on simple descriptions and not worry overly much about documentation or interviews with the Meratus people involving difficult translations, or the collection of documentary evidence in film. Likewise, there would be no real need to delve deeply into systems of shamanism and religion, unless they could lend insight into the social and political structures that delimit membership in Meratus society. Shamanism would be addressed, albeit in an objective and escriptive manner and to illustrate which members of the community become shamans and how shamanic leadership is conveyed, constructed, and communicated.