Political Functions of Kinship

1. Political Functions of Kinship Principles of Segmentary Opposition Segmentary Opposition

2. Kinship institutions are total social facts: • This means not only that they have many functions, but that kinship groups are the sole defining principle of social organization. • Descent groups can be divided into very small and then larger and more inclusive groups. • These are termed: • Minimal lineages: the unit above the household, consists of several households related through descent. • Maximal lineages: can trace exact links of descent • Clans: related, but are so large they cannot trace exact lines of descent • Phratries: agglomeration of clans into two opposed groups • Tribes: combinations of lineages and clans. • IN Nuerland, they are termed lineages, tertiary sections, secondary sections and primary sections. Segmentary Opposition

3. Political Features of the Nuer of southern Sudan • No centralized government; blood feuds are quite common. • Vengeance is expected by slain kinsmen of the deceased. • Bloodweath is required of those kinsmen who did the slaying. • Male children are raised to be ‘courageous’ in fighting. • Fights therefore have the potential always to encompass an entire set of descent groups. Segmentary Opposition

4. Segmentary Opposition Amongst the Nuer • For each blood feud, the descent group will tend to combine and support its members. • If the blood feud is between lineages of the same tertiary section, then these will combine to deal with the matter, and either fights will ensue or bloodwealth will be paid and the feud will subside. • If individuals from different secondary sections are involved, then the entire set of lineages within that secondary section will unite. • If individuals from different primary segments are involved, then the entire set of secondary sections within that primary section will unite. • Descent and locality are combined; hence sections tend to be associated with villages. • Problem of blood feuds in villages; people will try to avoid them and solve them through the leopard-skin chief if they occur. Segmentary Opposition

5. Segmentary Opposition

6. Sections and Tribes • A tribe is a group within which bloodwealth must be paid. Cattle raiding generally occurs between tribes, e.g. the Nuer and the Dinka, but not within them. • A section is a group that comes into action as a political entity. • Each segment: lineages, sections, or tribes come into existence in relation to each other and only under circumstances that warrant it, e.g. a feud or a cattle raid. • The notion of a tribe is therefore very fuzzy and relational. • If primary sections in a tribe wars continually, they will often break up into separate ‘tribes’ and one group will move away. • Yet segments also come together and unite to support each other. • Evans-Pritchard sees this as a system in equilibrium. Segmentary Opposition

7. Segmentary Opposition

8. Other examples of segmentary structures • Swat pathans, in nw pakistan (Barth) • Political leaders are khans (landowners), however, the valley was acephalous. Saints are political mediators. • Land is distributed through each patilineage by the khan. • Groups of patrilineages form alliances with each other, resulting in a ‘balanced equilibrium’ of competing political blocs. Segmentary Opposition