The Nuer Conquest; The Structure and Development of an Expansionist System

Kelly, Raymond C.

ISBN 10: 0472080563 / ISBN 13: 9780472080564

Published by The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, MI, 1985

About this Item

viii, 320 pages. Maps. Figures. Tabular data. Appendix: A Chronology of Nineteenth-Century Nuer Expansion Contact History. Notes. Selected Bibliography. Index. Decorative front cover. Inscribed by the author on the half-title page. Inscription reads For John, with thanks for the leads on archeological materials--Ray. Also name in ink on half-title page. Minor chipping to bottom right of front cover and several early pages. This is a study of Nuer expansionism with implications for research into the relationship between social and material causes of change. Raymond Case Kelly is an American cultural anthropologist and ethnologist who has written on the origin of warfare, and on the basis of social inequality in human societies. Raymond C. Kelly was born February 16, 1942, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago in 1965 and his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Michigan in 1974. He taught at the University of Michigan for 33 years and retired in 2002. His Ph.D. research was in Papua New Guinea, where he spent 16 months doing ethnographic research with the Etoro tribe. This research was the basis for many of his publications. He is the author of four books. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2005. The Nuer people are a Nilotic ethnic group concentrated in the Greater Upper Nile region of South Sudan. They also live in the Ethiopian region of Gambella. The Nuer speak the Nuer language, which belongs to the Nilotic language family. They are the second largest ethnic group in South Sudan. The Nuer people are pastoralists who herd cattle for a living. Their cattle serve as companions and define their lifestyle. The Nuer call themselves "Naath". The Nuer people are said to have originally been a section of the Dinka people that migrated out of the Gezira south into a barren dry land that they called "Kwer Kwong", which was in southern Kordofan. Centuries of isolation and influence from Luo peoples caused them to be a distinct ethnic group from the Naath. The arrival of the Baggara and their subsequent slave raids in the late 1700s caused the Nuer to migrate from southern Kordofan into what is now Bentiu. In around 1850, further slave raids as well as flooding and overpopulation caused them to migrate even further out of Bentiu and eastwards all the way into the western fringes of Ethiopia, displacing and absorbing many Dinka, Anyuak and Burun in the process. British colonial expansion in the region during the 19th century greatly halted the Nuers aggressive territorial expansion against the Dinka and Anyuak. There are different accounts of the origin of the conflict between the Nuer and the Dinka, South Sudan's two largest ethnic groups.

Seller Inventory # 86792

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Nuer Conquest; The Structure and Development of an Expansionist System
• Publisher: The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, MI
• Publication Date: 1985
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0472080563
• ISBN 13: 9780472080564
• Binding: Trade paperback
• Edition: First Printing [Stated].
• Condition: Good
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)

About this title

Synopsis

A study of Nuer expansionism with implications for research into the relationship between social and material causes of change