Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site lanl.ARPA Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!lanl!crs From: crs@lanl.ARPA Newsgroups: net.nlang.africa Subject: Re: tribes Message-ID: <25960@lanl.ARPA> Date: Thu, 16-May-85 16:58:17 EDT Article-I.D.: lanl.25960 Posted: Thu May 16 16:58:17 1985 Date-Received: Fri, 17-May-85 06:05:35 EDT References: <906@hou2h.UUCP> <729@ssc-vax.UUCP> <735@gloria.UUCP> Sender: newsreader@lanl.ARPA Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory Lines: 28 > > > Does anyone out there know why people talk about tribes only when referring > > > to African peoples? > > > > It seems to me that one speaks about 'tribes' when talking about African > > people primarily because that is the method of organization that those people > > have chosen. I'm not an anthropologist, but I think that there are segments > > of the Arabic and Semitic people that use the term tribe. There are tribes > > in Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and Borneo. There are tribes in > > South and Central America. There are even the remnants of once proud tribes > > in North America. Perhaps we are all members of a tribe? Certainly this is > > not unique to Africa, black or any other color. > > A tribe is a social unit organized by direct communication--for example, > face-to-face speech. The "nations" of the world have discarded tribalism > for central nationalism, which is organized by print communication. > Electronics is undoing this, and promises to organize the whole world into > one big "tribe." > -- American Heritage Dictionary: tribe 1. A social organization or division comprising several local villages, bands, lineages, or other groups and sharing a common ancestry, language, culture, and name. 2. A group having a common distinguishing characteristic. [