The Nuer: A Description of the Modes and Livelihood and Political Institutions of a Nilotic People by E. E. Pritchard

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

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. 

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