The Human Being

The Anyuak live in one of the most remote areas of the southern Sudan. They are close relatives of the better known Shilluk, Dinka and Nuer but have turned into fervent agriculturists. The Anyuak are a highly intellectual people who have succeeded in creating, in the middle of wilderness, a centre of humanity. If their sociopolitical system is of a particular interest, their philosophy is equally fascinating: it centres on the human person and governs his or her relationship not only within human society but also with animals, earthly matters and spiritual forces. Thanks to their stubborn, almost desperate belief in the essential goodness of existence and the positive forces of life, the Anyuak have – in spite of all pressures from outside – up to now succeeded in preserving their cultural identity and maintained their pride of being “pure human beings”.

The monograph on the history and the culture of the Anyuak is the result of more than five years’ fieldwork. It is a well-documented, detailed and sensitive description of the Anyuak’s spiritual and material world; numerous myths, oral traditions, stories, photographic pictures, maps, genealogies and records make the study of an easy and pleasant access even for readers who are more generally interested in foreign cultures.

While the first two volumes of the monograph described the relationship between the humans and the spiritual forces residing in the sphere of the above (volume I) or in the earth (volume II), the third volume focuses on the Human Person who has a difficult stand between the two contrasting spheres of existence and who can only survive because of his or her self-consciousness of being neither a purely spiritual being nor an animal. What is a truly Human Being? The third volume tries to answer this question. The volume includes notes on kinship which is the basic human condition to eternal life.