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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Answers and Questions: Evans-Pritchard on Nuer Religion
Author:Burton, John W.ISNI
Year:1983
Periodical:Journal of Religion in Africa
Volume:14
Issue:3
Pages:167-186
Language:English
Geographic term:Sudan
Subjects:African religions
Nuer
Religion and Witchcraft
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1594913.pdf
Abstract:E.E. Evans-Pritchard's book 'Nuer religion' appeared in 1956. Though a considerable body of his writing is focused on the examination and understanding of the religious phenomenon in its diverse manifestations, Evans-Pritchard never proposed a single definition of 'religion'. It is not Evans-Pritchard's account of Nuer custom regarding symbolism that invites comments nearly thirty years leter. Enough has been said already on this account in the numerous essays written about the Nuer second-hand. It may be more valuable to reconsider and reviev how he reached the conclusions which continue to perplex those unfamiliar with the Nuer, and why he may have seen things as he did. As suggested elsewhere (Burton 1983) this may be an insurmountable undertaking for one who never knev him personally. But by his own admission, the Nuer touched him deeply, so he must have recognized something of himself in them (Lienhardt 1974). Consequently, there is reason to agree with Geertz that we are also seeing Evans-Pritchard when we are reading about the Nuer. But that we can understand them at all entails at the same time an understanding of the methodology by which Evans-Pritchard was guided. - Notes, ref.
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