Hutchinson, Sharon E. : University of Wisconsin-Madison
Sharon E. Hutchinson is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin Madison.
Review
"Not just a brilliant restudy of one of anthropology's most famous 'peoples' but an exemplary historical
ethnography that will be a landmark in the discipline. . . . With extraordinary sensitivity Hutchinson reveals
how the Nuer have confronted the most profound moral, social, and political dilemmas of their--and our--changing
world."
- Lila Abu-Lughod, author of Writing Women's Worlds
University Of California Press Web Site
March, 2000
Summary
Through the pioneering efforts of the famed British anthropologist E. E. Evans-Pritchard, the Nuer of southern
Sudan have become one of anthropology's most celebrated case studies. Now Sharon Hutchinson combines fresh ethnographic
evidence and contemporary theoretical perspectives to show not only what has happened to the Nuer since their 1930s
encounters with Evans-Pritchard, but, more importantly, what is to be gained from a thoroughly historicized treatment
of ethnographic materials. Hutchinson's work provides a vision for what anthropology has become in the 1990s.
Concentrating on Nuer perceptions, experiences, and evaluations of change, Hutchinson traces the historical conditions
that have led contemporary men and women to reconsider fundamental aspects of their lives. She raises a number
of important issues that Evans-Pritchard did not: How can we move beyond static structural models based on notions
of cultural "boundedness," "homogeneity," and "order"? How have Nuer people been
actively reshaping and reassessing local forms of power in light of dramatic economic shifts, religious proselytizing,
civil war, and colonial and postcolonial rule?
Hutchinson has produced a rich ethnographic document that offers a new rhetorical strategy for writing ethnographies
that is processual, dialogical, and reflexive all at once.