11/07/2022
LOCATION AND HOMELAND Of The Nuer People
Nuerland is located in the southern Sudan between 7° and 10° north and 29° and 34° east. The main channel of the Nile River divides the country into western and eastern regions. The vast majority of the Nuer today live in their traditional homeland, located in the east Upper Nile Province around the junction of the Nile River with the Bahr el Ghazal and Sobat Rivers, and extending up the Sobat across the Ethiopian border. Nuer are geographically located in the heartland of the Upper Nile towards the Eastern Region of Jonglei state in Southern Sudan. They are bordered by the Gawaar of Ayod from the West, Dinka of Bor from the South West, Murle from the South, Anyuak from the East, Jikany of Nasir from the North East, Dinka of Ngok, and Luach from the North.
The region receives heavy rains—about 50 to 100 cm (20 to 40 in) per year—which falls almost entirely from May through October, with average daily maximum temperatures about 30° to 32°c (86° to 90°f). Dry winds blow from the north from November until April, bringing clear, sunny skies, with March and April being very hot months with high temperatures in the range of 38°c (100°f). The Nuer homeland is very flat, causing slow drainage and widespread flooding during the rainy season. Those same lands offer lush grazing for cattle during the dry season. The landscape also includes a few trees, such as small groves of thorny acacias and lalob trees, a very large shade tree, and a few palm trees.
While most Nuer still live in their home area, many have migrated to urban areas at various times to take advantage of job opportunities. During the civil wars in the period since 1955, and especially since 1983, thousands of Nuer have also fled north to the national capital, Khartoum, to other cities, or even to other countries to seek refuge from the fighting. Since the 1960s, thousands of rural Nuer have lived outside Sudan, particularly in western Ethiopia along the upper stretches of the Sobat river.
It is difficult to assess how life has changed in the traditional territories of the Nuer along the upper Nile and Sobat rivers because of the disruption of life in the region. However, in the time since the end of the colonial period, many Nuer have come to live outside their homeland, particularly in the cities of the north, where they have led very different lives. Taxes imposed by the British, as well as measures restricting Nuer raids on other groups for cattle, led to the first significant migrations of Nuer in search of work for pay. Most migrants intended to return home after a brief period, with enough money to buy a herd large enough to support a family in the traditional way of life; but the dislocations of the civil war and a devastating flood in 1964 that destroyed many herds have made returning increasingly difficult for many Nuer.
In seeking wage employment in the north, the Nuer men looked for work that they considered in keeping with their proud heritage as brave warriors. Much of the work available was in domestic service and other menial work that Dinka and other refugees from neighboring southern communities accepted, but which most Nuer rejected as demeaning. Instead, many Nuer found their way into construction labor, where they became the core labor of the labor force in many northern cities and on construction crews for irrigation dams and other structures. Women eventually began to accompany the men, and whole families would live on construction sites in shelters built from available scrap material. This reduced the living costs of the workers, but it created problems because the conditions were not compatible with the standards of female modesty and seclusion common among Muslim northerners.
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