Reading The Nuer [and Comments and Reply]

Abstract

The argument of Evans-Pritchard's classic The Nuer has been subject to conflicting interpretations. We examine these interpretations and then present a reading of the work that treats it as a whole. A key conclusion is that Evans-Pritchard distinguishes among three aspects of the "systems" he describes: (1) logical possibilities immanent in all forms of action, (2) cultural or local idioms in terms of which action is formulated and expressed, and (3) conditions and patterns of action. With this framework he develops, through an examination of the way interests in cattle are translated into political practices, an analysis in which the central theoretical problem is the relationship of structure to human agency. Our reading raises questions about the utility of standard classifications of theoretical orientations in social and cultural anthropology, particularly of the category of structural-functionalism, of which The Nuer is taken to be a central text.