A tribe is viewed, historically or developmentally, as a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states. Many anthropologists used the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups (see clan and kinship).
Some theorists hold that tribes represent a stage in social evolution intermediate between bands and states. Other theorists argue that tribes developed after, and must be understood in terms of their relationship to, states.
'Tribe' is a contested term due to its roots in colonial anthropological foundations and the connotations that these hierarchical definitions have. It is common practice to use alternative terms like 'ethnic group', or nation.
Other articles related to "tribe, tribes":
... when the first tribe to call itself Chalca migrated to the region ... This tribe was followed by others, ethnically and linguistically diverse, who added the name Chalca to their own ... In the early 14th century the Mexica tribe of the Aztecs settled in nearby territory and began to build their city of Tenochitlan, now Mexico City ...
... The Severians or Severyans or Siverians were a tribe or tribal union of early East Slavs occupying areas to the east of the middle Dnieper river around the rivers Desna ... for "north" (sěver), the Severians never were the northernmost tribe of Slavs ... More probable is that the name is of an Iranian (the Sarmatian tribe of "Seuer", from Iranian "seu" = black) ...
... ELHMEN - A water-loving tribe who practise aquatic magic, dwelling in the mountains northwest of Ferike ... FERIKE - A castle-dwelling tribe of hara, very learned and refined in literature and the arts, set in western Jaddayoth ... GARRIDAN - A tribe of Jaddayoth notorious for their poisons ...
... The islands were earlier inhabited by Māori of the Ngāti Wai tribe who grew crops and fished the surrounding sea ... The tribe traded with other Maori ... A chief of the tribe named Tatua led his warriors on a fighting expedition to the Hauraki Gulf with Ngā Puhi chief Hongi Hika in the early 1820s ...
... debate takes place over how best to characterize tribes ... stems from perceived differences between pre-state tribes and contemporary tribes some reflects more general controversy over cultural evolution and ... In the popular imagination, tribes reflect a way of life that predates, and is more "natural", than that in modern states ...
Famous quotes containing the word tribe:
“Poor and content is rich, and rich enough,
But riches fineless is as poor as winter
To him that ever fears he shall be poor.
Good God, the souls of all my tribe defend
From jealousy!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The tremendous outflow of intellectuals that formed such a prominent part of the general exodus from Soviet Russia in the first years of the Bolshevist Revolution seems today like the wanderings of some mythical tribe whose bird-signs and moon-signs I now retrieve from the desert dust.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)