E.E. Evans-Pritchard's "The Nuer": Livelihood and political institutions

Nuer People and Cattle

Three of the most prominent pieces of literature to explore the relationship between the Sudanese tribe of Nuer people and cattle include Sharon Hutchinson's "Nuer ethnicity militarized," the same author's "The cattle of money and the cattle of girls among the Nuer," and E.E. Evans-Pritchard's The Nuer: A Description of the Modes of Livelihood and Political Institutions of a Nilotic People. All of these works examine, either directly or indirectly, the relationship between this particular tribe and cattle from a variety of perspectives. The first mentioned work of Hutchinson's does so through examining the exacting civil war in Sudan during the 1990's and its causes in the time period preceding that decade. The second mentioned work of Hutchinson's does so by considering the social and economic implications of this relationship while primarily focusing on this latter aspect. Evans-Pritchard's book covers this topic extensively from a variety of angles including the social, the political, the spiritual and a number of different subsets of these categories.

There are several different facets that account for the principle difference between Evans-Pritchard's manuscript and the pair of articles by Hutchinson. The scope the former covers is substantially more exhaustive than that of the latter, for the simple fact that Evans-Pritchard dedicated an entire book to the subject whereas Hutchinson merely wrote articles of a couple of pages ("Nuer ethnicity militarized," for example, is only nine pages). However, the most eminent of these distinctions pertain to the time frame that both authors completed their works in. Whereas Evans-Pritchard's depicted the culture of the Nuer as it was during the early part of the 20th century, his counterpart articulated facets of that culture during the latter portion of the same century. The difference produced upon the Nuer people during 50 or so years that distinguishes the publication of these works, then, is staggering. This is particularly true from the economic perspective that Hutchinson considers in "The cattle of money and the cattle of girls among the Nuer." During the epoch in which Evans-Pritchard wrote his book, "literally no one parted willingly with a cow for money" (Hutchinson, 1991, p. 296). Yet during the time that Hutchinson composed this article, there was an alignment of currency with the valued possession of cattle among the Nuer people.

Additionally, one of the chief differences between the time frames during which Hutchinson and Evans-Pritchard composed their articles pertains to the tribal interactions between the Nuer and the Dinka. When the latter's book was published, there was some regularity in belligerent actions between the pair of tribes largely for the contestation of cattle -- which is the single source that Nuer spirituality, politics, and social life was based upon. The author comments that "the warlike Nuer could always restore their losses by raiding Dinka" (Evans-Pritchard, 1969); the losses referred to were cattle. During the time in which Hutchinson composed "Nuer ethnicity militarized," the two tribes were engaged in a prolonged, gruesome war in which women, children and elders were wantonly slaughtered by each group related to oil reserves and colonial influences in the form of Westernization and Arabian forces who were fighting for control over the Sudan (Hutchinson, 2000, p. 8). Such warfare definitely showed the impact of Westernization and indeed globalization upon the Neur, which drastically influenced their relationship with other tribes such as the Dinka, with whom they had previously intermarried (Hutchinson, 2000, p. 8).

Yet the primary connection between all three of these readings is the fact that they allude to the value of cattle in the lives and livelihoods of the Neur. This fact is demonstrated most poignantly and expansively in Evans-Pritchard's manuscript, in which the author demonstrates that "cattle are a Nuer's most prized possession, being an essential food-supply and the most important social asset" (Evans-Pritchard, 1969). From a social perspective, it is interesting how large a part cattle play in the lineage system and the kinship systems of the Nuer people. One of the chief usages of cattle is that they are used as a form of dowry in weddings. In fact, the ebb and flow of Nuer wealth in the form of cattle largely pertains to the nature of weddings within a particular family. Once a family has accumulated a substantial amount of cattle, it can deliver these to the family of the daughter that the former's son desires to marry. Marriages generally do not occur until a plentiful amount of cattle can be delivered to the family of the daughter (Evans-Pritchard, 1969). Additionally, the possession of a family's cattle is attributed to the father of the family, and then to the first born son followed by the second born and so on.