Kinship and Marriage among the Nuer

Sir Edward Evans-Pritchard's writings on the Nuer of southern Sudan have made them one of the most famous peoples in ethnographic literature. When his writings were first published a half a century ago, they created a new agenda for social anthropology.

Kinship and Marriage Among the Nuer is the second of his trilogy on the society and culture of this pastoral people. In it, the author vividly portrays the experience of growing up in a Nuer community, describing daily life, marriage, sex, death, and birth. He also makes clear the essential difference between the discourse of political association, which he examined in The Nuer, and that of kinship, and shows the part played by the kinship system in Nuer society as a whole.

Now published for the first time in paperback, this edition has a substantial introduction by Wendy James, in which she assesses the importance of Evans-Pritchard's work and places it in the context of recent developments in social anthropology.

'A most important and stimulating contribution to social anthropology.' Man

'A masterpiece of scientific interpretation.' Nature

'This book is to be warmly recommended to all who are interested in the role of kinship in social integration.' Listener