Baggara Arabs: power and the lineage in a Sudanese nomad tribe

This book is a general account of Humr social organization centring on these changes in the political field. The Humr have always had some men occupying positions of leadership and having power at their disposal. Last century these leaders often changed, the range of their following altered swiftly with passing events, and the distribution of leadership throughout the tribe was irregular. The Condominium Government in contrast established positions of power at the head of the larger lineages, and, since it administered the tribe through these positions, saw to it that they were filled at all times. These new and relatively stabilized positions of power came to co-exist with the traditional segmentary lineage system, and it is to the resulting problems that this account gives most attention. These problems could not be considered without reference to the way leaders arise from the milieu of camp, lineage, and family, and this in tum depends upon an appreciation of men's economic responsibilities and the means of fulfilling them. These considerations have set the plan of tl1e book.