Countries and Their Cultures: Dinka Kinship

"Dinka" is a term that has been used for centuries to refer to a people who speak of themselves as "Moinjaang," or "the people of the people." They live over a wide area in southern Sudan, amid the many streams and small rivers that feed into the main channel of the Nile River. Kin groups are defined in association with named, totemic descent groups and are extended bilaterally through marriage. At marriage, women leave their natal birth groups to become members of their husbands' agnatic lineages. The Dinka practice a mode of horticulture that complements and balances their cultural devotion to pastoralism. Millet provides the staple crop; Maize, sesame, pumpkins, okra, and cassava are also cultivated. Although men engaged in the heavy work of clearing forest for gardening sites, women perform the far greater part of the horticultural labor. Men in their twenties and thirties manage and tend the large herds of Dinka cattle.