From the Mountains to the Plains: The Integration of the Lafofa Nuba into Sudanese Society Book

	Preface	7
	General Introduction	15
	The Nuba of Liri: some major changes	16
	Developments producing change	18
	Differentiated change	20
	The Nuba within a wider social field	20
	The emergence of new economic opportunities	22
	Dynamics of change among the Lafofa	24
	An analytical outline	25
	Fieldwork and methodology	30
	The organization of this book	31
1	The Liri Region: Some Historical Trends	34
	The Liri region	34
	Settlement processes	40
	Establishing administrative structures	47
	The Nuba-Arab distinction	51
	Relations in the economic field	55
2	The Hill People	64
	Lafofa as a cultural tradition	64
	Basic elements of social organization	65
	Social organization and the agricultural system	70
	The ritual cycle and agriculture	71
3	Contemporary Lafofa Society	78
	Some major socio-cultural changes	78
	The new importance of marriage	79
	Marriage customs and relations between groups	83
	Wrestling in a contemporary context	84
	New ritual leaders	85
	Succession to office	87
	Changes in economic life	88
	Continuity and change in the matrilineal system	91
	The contemporary pattern	96
4	Variations in Adaptive Strategies	97
	Growing commercialization of the economy	97
	Wage labour	98
	Adaptive variation among units	100
	Changes in the productive role of men and women	108
	The needs of the household	109
	Changing relations within the household	110
	Changes in access to land and labour	112
5	Economic Effects of Adaptive Choices	114
	Economic performance	114
	The importance of mobilizing labour	115
	Increasing cost of labour	115
	Some implications	120
	Alternative investment opportunities	122
	Limits to economic growth	123
6	Participating in a Plural Region: Some Implications	126
	Major themes defining plurality in Liri	126
	Plurality as part of an interactional game	130
	How the Lafofa participate in the plural region	130
	The changing meaning of signs	136
	Local cultivation and labour mobilization	136
	Changes in the Lafofa use of beer	141
7	Maintenance and Change of Lafofa Cultural Traditions	145
	Matriliny and change	145
	From descent to kinship	146
	Transition ceremonies as identity markers	146
	The new meaning of wrestling	148
	The significance of new ritual forms	149
	Theoretical considerations	150
	Glossary	156
	Bibliography	160
	Index	172