Nuer

Nuer, people of the southern Sudan, who live on either side of the River Nile. In 2000 their population was estimated as at least 1 million. The Nuer speak a Nilotic dialect, and practise transhumance (seasonal movement from one place to another) during the wet and dry seasons. During the former they move to the land above the flood line of the river and live in circular huts with mud walls and thatched roofs; women cultivate crops of millet and maize. In the dry season, men, divided according to their agnatically conscripted groups (that is, according to patrilineal, or male, descent), take the cattle away to pasture.

Bridewealth (given to the bride’s parents) in the form of cattle accompanies marriage, and commensality is the most consistent measure of moral solidarity at the domestic level. Disputes are settled between patrilineal lineages by feuds and mediators. The Nuer believe that all life comes from and returns to the creator divinity, Kowth. The people were under British colonial rule in the first half of the 20th century, and are now caught up in and playing an active part in the civil war in the Sudan.