Product Description

First published in 1940, this study has become one of the classic works in social anthropology. The Nuer of the Southern Sudan are predominantly a pastoral people and the first part of the book describes their life as herdsmen, fishermen and gardeners. Their economic life is related to the absence of chieftainship and their democratic sentiment. The second part of the book describes this political system which lacks government and is without legal institutions. Numerous photos, maps, charts, tables and drawings. Fully indexed and cross referenced - a work of extraordinary scholarship.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #99360 in Books
• Published on: 1969-07-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 271 pages

Review
"Amazed that it went out of print briefly. I plan to use it again."--P. Shipton, Harvard University

"An excellent example of British social anthropology. Useful as a teaching tool for social organization."--Michele Gamburd, Portland State University

"The best ecology and anthropology ever written." -- Whole Earth Review

"We used this as an ethnographic example of structural-functionalism for our introductory theory course. Very useful."--Margaret S. Johnson, University of Colorado


"An excellent example of British social anthropology. Useful as a teaching tool for social organization."--Michele Gamburd, Portland State University
"We used this as an ethnographic example of structural-functionalism for our introductory theory course. Very useful."--Margaret S. Johnson, University of Colorado
"The best ecology and anthropology ever written." -- Whole Earth Review
"Amazed that it went out of print briefly. I plan to use it again."--P. Shipton, Harvard University

About the Author
The late Edward E. Evans Pritchard was a Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford.

Customer Reviews

Nuerific!
This book is one of the classics of ethnography - indeed, one of the works which defines what ethnography and anthropology are.

The Nuer is an account of a group of pastoralists living in the Sudan as Evans-Pritchard knew them when he did field work in er... uh... the late 30s early 40s. The first half of the book is a detailed and lively (for an academic) account of their way of life, the seasonal rhythms of the year, and their intense interest in cattle.

The second half of the book than deals with the main subject of the book: the social organization of the Nuer. E-P moves to a greater and greater level of abstraction, creating a more and more crystalline view of the patterns of kinship and marriage that underlie Nuer life. The main structure is the lineage system - a group of people all related from a common ancestor through an unbroken line of male succession.

This book is famous because of E-P's account of the lineage system. The concept of the lineage and descent became key in anthropology, and E-P's Nuer materials helped provide the perfect example of the lineage as theorized by Radcliffe-Brown, E-P's teacher.

As a result of this book, anthropologists spend the next two decades running around all over the world looking for lineage systems. As it turns out, this sort of system is not particularly widespread across the world - at least not in its pure form. Indeed, it turns out that E-P's formulation was too neat and clean and too crystalline. As one pundit put it, "not even the Nuer are like The Nuer". So one drawback of the book is the false clarity that it provided. This was useful in the forties and fifties, but meant that eventually the study of kinship and social organization would have to move out of the paradigm E-P had set up.

Another problem with the book is the fact that it takes place in a vacuum. It is easy not to notice that the Nuer are under the sway of British authority and had recently been bombed when E-P arrived. The colonial context of the book is supressed.

There are other critcisms that could be made of the book - it is now a half-century behing the times - but it stands up today as a good read and a fascinating argument. The fact that reactions to it have been so extreme - overwhelming enthusiasm, abiding hatred, quizzical puzzlement, cow obsession - point to the fact that a book doesn't have to be loved forever to be read forever. Like all classics, The Nuer both good to read and good to think.

An Enduring Classic
The Nuer is a challenging but supremely rewarding study of a people who, with minimal technology and living a way of life that is very primitive by the standards of Westerners, achieve a perfection of ecological harmony with their environment. Evans-Pritchard's (E-P) description of the Nuers' rich and multifaceted relationship with their cattle is unforgettable. E-P writes with elegance, brilliance, compassion, and respect for the proud and dignified Nuer who, because of this great monograph, are among the most famous people ever studied by anthropologists.

A turning point is Social Anthropology
I disagree completely with the "reader from Washington" who wrote it is a boring book. Probably he/she didn't read more than the first two, more descriptive chapters. This book became "a classic" because it was a turning point in the history of Anthropology, specially because of its analysis of the political system of the Nuer.