The Pastoral Son and the Spirit of Patriarchy: Religion, Society, and Person Among East African Stock Keepers

Identified as a hallmark of pastoral societies the inherent tension between notions of authority on one hand and of individual autonomy on the other, Meeker sets out to explore the effects of this tension on particular socio-religious structures and concepts of masculine identity. Although the main focus is on two Nilotic communities of southern Sudan, the Dinka and the Neur, a wide range of other societies, mainly from eastern and southern Africa, are considered comparatively as well.