The Nuer

"Portrays the Nuer, Nilotic herdsmen of the Nile basin. Shows how their daily lives revolve about their cattle, and depicts the psychological bonds between them. Includes extensive use of Nuer music and poetry."

"A poetic film concentrating on evocative images of life among a group of Nuer living in Ethiopia. Creates a strong and memorable impression of the people, their cattle, their artifacts, and their land. On occasion, an English narration is used to give a more anthropological account of events, especially; a bride price dispute, a ghost marriage, a revitalistic ceremony intended to combat a smallpox epidemic, and the climax of the film, a gar initiation where two boys receive the forehead incisions of manhood."

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Terms / Concepts:

• pastoralism
  • transhumance
    
    
• East African cattle complex
  • "cultural focus"
    
    
• patrilineage
  • Segmentary Lineages -- Brian Schwimmer
    
    
• tribes
  
  
• bride price
  
  
  • Nuer Bridewealth
    
    
• rites of passage
  • gar
  • age set / age grade

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Notes:

• The Nuer, The Film Study Center at Harvard University
  
  
• Film Study Guide -- Whitney A.M. Leeson

   

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Cultures:

• Nuer Peoples of Africa -- University of Wisconsin Green Bay
• Sudan, the Nuer, and Minnesota -- Mary Beth D. Trubitt
  • Austin, Faribault, Mankato
• Dinka

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Sites:

• Nuer Field Notes -- Eleanor Vandevort
• Ethiopia -- CIA World Facts Book
• Ethiopia -- Lonely Planet maps and information
• Sudan -- University of Pennsylvania African Studies Program
• Sudan -- Lonely Planet maps and information
• Sudan -- CIA World Facts Book

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Individuals:

• . . . Karl G. Heider
• FILMMAKER: Hillary Harris, George Breidenback, and Robert Gardner
• PRODUCER: Robert Gardner and Hillary Harris, for the Film Study Center, Harvard University

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References:

• "AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL CRITIQUE OF THE FILMS OF ROBERT GARDNER," by JAY RUBY, from Journal of Film and Video 43.4 (Winter 1991).
  
  
• Beidelman, T. A.

  1966 "The Ox and Nuer Sacrifice." MAN 1:453-467/

  1968 Some Nuer Notions of Nakedness, Nudity and Sexuality." AFRICA 38:113-121.

• Evans-Pritchard, E. E.

1940 The Nuer: A Description of the Modes of Livelihood and Political Institutions of a Niloltic People. New York: Oxford University Press.

• Book Review -- Danny Yee

1940 "The Nuer of the Southern Sudan," in African Political Systems, Eds. Fortes, M. and E. E. Evans-Pritchard. New York: Oxford University Press.

1945 SOME ASPECTS OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY AMONG THE NUER. Livingstone.

1950 "Kinship and the Local Community Among the Nuer," in A.R. Radcliffe-Brown and D. Fords (Eds.). AFRICAN SYSTEMS OF KINSHIP AND MARRIAGE, London, New York, Toronto.

1951 KINSHIP AND MARRIAGE AMONG THE NUER. Oxford.

1956 NUER RELIGION. Oxford.

1967 "Some Features of Nuer Religion," in GODS AND RITUALS. Ed. Middleton, John. New York: The Natural History Press.

• Herskovitz, M. J.

1962 "The Cattle Complex of East Africa," AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, n.s., Vol. 28, 1926.

• Howell, P. P.

1954 A MANUAL OF NUER LAW, London, New York.

• Sahlins, Marshall D.

1967 "The Segmentary Lineage: An Organization of Predatory Expansion," in COMPARATIVE POLITICAL SYSTEMS. Eds. Cohen, Ronald and John Middleton. New York: The Natural History Press, 1967.

• Service, Elemn R.

1968 "The Nuer of the Upper Nile River," in PROFILES IN ETHNOGRAPHY.