The Nuer: A Description of the Modes of Livelihood and Political Institutions of a Nilotic People

Evans-Pritchard begins this chapter with an assessment of the geography of Nuerland, which he suggests has “no favourable qualities” (51) from a European perspective, while the Nuer themselves view it as “the finest country on earth” (51). Given the territory’s position on both the upper Nile swamplands and the edge of the desert, it revolves between overly wet and overly dry periods each year, with both droughts and floods a regular feature of the terrain. It is flat land, usually covered in thick, waist-high grass, and interspersed with depressions and channels that fill up during wet periods. Evans-Pritchard believes that the nature of the Nuer’s territory exercises a significant influence on their culture, both directly affecting their seasonal movements and also reinforcing their predisposition for a pastoral lifestyle: “[T]heir country is more suitable for cattle husbandry than for horticulture, so that the environmental bias coincides with the bias of their interest and does not encourage a change in the balance in favour of horticulture” (57). This ties in with the theme of Ecological Influence on Human Culture, as well as the centrality of cattle in Nuer society. Evans-Pritchard portrays the environmental constraints of Nuer territory as a reinforcing influence on their own preference for cattle husbandry.

The variation in water throughout the year drives the Nuer’s movements. As the dry season sets in around December, they move away from their villages to a different area, which Evans-Pritchard refers to as their camps. These camps are not as fixed in location as the villages, and minor movements take place throughout the dry season from the smaller early camps to the larger final camps. The latter of these can reach populations of several hundred people, and upward of a thousand when near ample water supplies. When the seasons change again, they move back to their villages, which are better defended against floodwaters and mosquitos. While villages are more permanent in location, often consisting of elevated series of huts built into a windscreen and together forming a byre for the cattle and surrounded by commonly-held pasturage, it is nonetheless common for individual family groups to move from one village to another for social or environmental reasons. Among those environmental reasons are the quality of the pasturage, which may vary from year to year, and local outbreaks of insects or cattle diseases.

During the dry season, fishing becomes a major food source in the Nuer diet, at times replacing the usual diet of milk and millet. Despite their frequent use of this food source and their enjoyment of it, they do not consider themselves a fishing people, but view it rather as an extraneous addition to their cultural practice. Despite the richness of wild game in their territory, millet (sorghum)—rather than hunting antelope or other animals—is the chief supplement to their milk-based diet. Millet grows well in the clay soil of Nuerland and is often eaten in a porridge form or brewed into beer. Despite the important place which millet holds in their diet, the Nuer appear to resent it: “Nevertheless, they consider that horticulture is an unfortunate necessity involving hard and unpleasant labour and not an ideal occupation” (80).

The Nuer dietary practices of raising family-size cattle herds, fishing, and growing small plots of millet—none of which are resources suitable to hoarding—exercises an egalitarian influence on Nuer culture, in which almost no one has too much or too little. The habit of sharing food resources is a central feature of Nuer life and provides a social form of insurance against scarcity. Not only food, but other resources and possessions are likewise not easily adaptable to hoarding for wealth. Most possessions are simple tools derived from plant or animal products, and the relative scarcity of such items imbues them with more significant social value. Material objects become central features of sharing and gifting between relationships, and at times find their most significant use in ritual functions.

Evans-Pritchard describes the life of the Nuer as one of ecological equilibrium. Ecological concerns dictate a certain balance between food sources, between migration and fixed residency, and between the excesses and scarcities of one’s possessions. Thus, the theme of ecological influence is apparent yet again, this time underscoring the sub-theme of Relativity and Equilibrium in Social Groupings.

The supplementary illustrations provide valuable additions to the text in this chapter. The charts showing environmental fluctuations and dietary changes are particularly helpful, as are the photographs showing Nuer engaged in spear-fishing activities. Evans-Pritchard also provides maps illustrating the seasonal movements of various tribes between village-territories and their seasonal camps. For most readers, these maps will serve only as a further demonstration of the principle of transhumance, but for anthropologists interested in the history of Nuer movements or for students of Sudanese geography they may prove a far more valuable source of information.