The Nuer people are a Nilotic ethnic group concentrated in the Greater Upper Nile region of South Sudan.

The arrival of the Baggara and their subsequent slave raids in the late 1700s caused the Nuer to migrate from southern Kordofan into what is now Bentiu.

In around 1850, further slave raids as well as flooding and overpopulation caused them to migrate even further out of Bentiu and eastwards all the way into the western fringes of Ethiopia, displacing and absorbing many Dinka, Anyuak and Burun in the process.

[9] There are different accounts of the origin of the conflict between the Nuer and the Dinka, South Sudan's two largest ethnic groups.

He argues that hundreds of years of population growth created expansion, which eventually led to raids and wars.

The classical Nuer institution of ghost marriage, in which a man can "father" children after his death, is based on this definition of relations of kinship and descent by cattle exchange.

British anthropologist E. E. Evans-Pritchard wrote, "They depend on the herds for their very existence...Cattle are the thread that runs through Nuer institutions, language, rites of passage, politics, economy, and allegiances.

Evans-Pritchard wrote, "I have already indicated that this obsession—for such it seems to an outsider is due not only to the great economic value of cattle but also to the fact that they are links in numerous social relationships.

"[15] All their raw materials come from cattle, including drums, rugs, clothing, spears, shields, containers, and leather goods.

The dung is chopped into pieces and left out to harden, then used for containers, toothpaste, or even to protect the cattle themselves by burning it to produce more smoke, keeping insects away to prevent disease.

There is the danger of the ox’s spirit visiting a curse on any individual who would slaughter it without ritual intent, aiming only to use it for food.

If a young girl gets engaged at an early age,[clarification needed] the wedding and consummation ceremonies are essentially delayed.

He also observed that, "The network of kinship ties which links members of local communities is brought about by the operation of exogamous rules, often stated in terms of cattle.

The entire Nuer society is basically watching after each other, for example, as Evans-Pritchard noted that, "When one household has a surplus, it is shared with neighbors.

Although a man who owns a large herd of cattle may be envied, his possession of numerous animals does not garner him any special privilege or treatment".

Conflict over pastures and cattle raids have been happening between Nuer and Dinka as they battle for grazing ground for their animals.

The soul that signifies the human individuality and personality remains alive as a shadow or a reflection, and departs together with the ox sacrificed, to the place of the ghosts.".

She also found that as a result of endemic warfare with the Sudanese state, guns had acquired much of the symbolic and ritual importance previously held by cattle.

[24] Typical foods eaten by the Nuer tribe include beef, goat, cow's milk, mangos, and sorghum in one of three forms: "ko̱p" finely ground, handled until balled and boiled, "walwal" ground, lightly balled and boiled to a solid porridge, and injera / Yɔtyɔt, a large, pancake-like yeast-risen flatbread.

In the early 1990s about 25,000 African refugees were resettled in the United States throughout different locations such as South Dakota, Tennessee and Minnesota.

They use different means ranging from letters to new technologically advanced communication methods in order to stay connected to their families in Africa.

In the Military is Bol Nyawan who fought against the Khartoum government in Bentiu; he was killed in 1985 by the current president of Sudan.

Commander Ruai and Liah Diu Deng were responsible for the attack that forced Chevron to suspend activities in the oil field around 1982.

In 1984 guerrillas of SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) attacked the drilling site of the north at Bentiu.

In return, Chevron cleared Nuer and Dinka people in the oil fields area to ensure security for their operations.

[31] • Katarzyna Grabska 2014 "Gender, identity home: Nuer repatriation to Southern Sudan," James Currey: Oxford.