Atuot age categories and marriage

Bibliographic Data

ID2510232
AuthorsJohn W Burton (corresponding author)
Year1980
Volume50
Issue2
Pages146-160
Publication date1980-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAfrica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0001-9720 • E-ISSN: 1750-0184
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/1159008
OpenAlexW2122588609
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited28

Opening ParagraphAn obvious technique to employ in assessing the age of a non-literate individual among the Atuot is to pose the question, 'how many years do you have' (teke yin ruon na di) which invariably results in the simple response, 'I've really no idea at all' (cf. also Evans-Pritchard 1939). Age classification in Atuot society as in most others is a matter of social prescription and is evidenced in the course of daily life by divergent economic and symbolic attributes which accrue to distinct age classes. Often in Nilotic societies the factor of physiological maturity is self-evident (seeegFischer 1964). The literature includes excellent descriptions of the economic tasks which accompany growth toward adulthood in pastoral Nilotic societies of the Southern Sudan (egLienhardt 1963; Evans-Pritchard 1936, 1951; see also Santandrea 1977) so it is not the primary concern of this essay to contribute to an already rich body of ethnographic data. Rather, I wish to consider certain aspects of Atuot age categories and how these are related to processes leading to marriage. This discussion is prefaced by some brief comments regarding eastern-African age set systems and a synopsis of the ethnography on this topic for a number of the Nilotic speaking peoples of the Southern Sudan

Ethnography · Ethnology · Genealogy · Paragraph · Political science · Sociology · Anthropology · Gender Studies · History · Law · Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology

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