ANTH 1031 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Endogamy, Weather-Related Cancellation, Distant Relatives
24 Feb 2017
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Document Summary
Last week (week #5) we had a snow day and a midterm. That is why week #5 is missing from my notes. Cattle = cultural core of nuer existence (like pigs among the kawelka) Nuer kinship is referenced by age-sets (the adult male population falls into strati ed groups based on age) Tribes are de ned as the largest group that rallies socially. Tribal identity is a very problematic category because it is not xed. Nuer men tend to live close to male relatives. The general alliance principle amongst the nuer: myself against my brother, my brother and i against our cousins, our cousins, my brother, and myself against more distant relatives, the nuer tribe against the dinka tribe. Tribal groups were described as isolated, static, and without history. Most of the africanists took on board a. radcliffe-brown"s idea that society is more important than the individual. Social systems were believed to be in a state of equilibrium.
