Tribal Boundaries and Border Wars: Nuer–Dinka Relations in the Sobat and Zaraf Valleys, c. 1860–1976

Abstract

Nuer–Dinka relations are usually described as being based on constant mutual hostility. An examination of Nuer–Dinka relations along the Sobat and Zaraf valleys since the beginning of Nuer eastward expansion in the nineteenth century reveals a different pattern. Conflict during the immediate Nuer conquest of Dinka territory was followed by assimilation of individual Dinka into the Nuer social and political system. Through kinship ties connecting both communities a number of Nuer segments began to have closer relations with various Dinka groups than they had with related but more distant Nuer segments. Such relations inhibited the expansion of hostilities, and Nuer raids against the Dinka became increasingly selective. By the end of the nineteenth century a number of religious leaders deliberately fostered the growth of a Nuer–Dinka community. With the arrival of the Anglo-Egyptian administration an attempt was made to separate the Nuer and Dinka into discrete political units, and this policy exacerbated tensions between some of the neighbouring Nuer and Dinka settlements. The policy of separation ultimately failed due to the strength of the ties linking the two peoples. The model of structural opposition between Nuer and Dinka which Evans-Pritchard presented is based on data gathered during the early 1930s when separation was in force. It must now be modified by an examination of evidence covering a longer historical period.

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