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Atuot age categories and marriage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

John W. Burton
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Extract

An 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 (see eg Fischer 1964). The literature includes excellent descriptions of the economic tasks which accompany growth toward adulthood in pastoral Nilotic societies of the Southern Sudan (eg Lienhardt 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.

Résumé

Classes d'âge et mariage chez les Atuot

Cet article examines les données ethnographiques recueillies parmi les pasteurs Atuot, peuple Nilotique vivant au sud du Soudan, et concernant la nature et la fonction des classes d'âge. Les démarches pre-maritales, y compris l'initiation et les fiançailles officielles, sont envisagées en relation avec les normes de componement et de pensée jugées appropriées par les Atuot pour les membres des differentes classes d'âge. Dans la société Atuot, les classes d'âge, originellement, n'ont pas de signification politique ou militaire. Leur fonction, telle qui elle est décrite ici, est de répartir les individus en classes maritales. Et cet aspect a été négligé au cours des précédentes études sur les classes d'âge en Afrique.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 50 , Issue 2 , April 1980 , pp. 146 - 160
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1980

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