ABSTRACT
A modified chart, similar to that produced by Evans-Pritchard in The Nuer (page 3) indicates what seems to be the position of the Nilotes in relation to the other East African ethnic groups.
The structural and organisational aspects of the Nilotic tribai groups, their religious, magieal, and ritual beliefs and actions must also be examined for purposes of classification arrd will be con~idered in as much detail as the literature allows. To the social anthropologist these are the most interesting and most rewarding of all the approaches which may be made in the study and comparison of societies. This general outline will
provide a framework into wh ich may be fitted the account of the relations between groups and individuals, the patterns of behaviour and the methods of organisation which each tribal group has developed over a long period of time through constant interaction between its members within a certain environmental and historical context.
