tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post5687161131197801045..comments2024-03-28T23:22:41.774-05:00Comments on TYWKIWDBI ("Tai-Wiki-Widbee"): "Tribalism" becoming more intense on islands and vacation areas - updatedMinnesotastanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382888179579245181noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-31850884441618461112020-04-18T06:29:21.010-05:002020-04-18T06:29:21.010-05:00words do have meanings ... so use the words that g...words do have meanings ... so use the words that get the meaning across and if some one gets offended that is there problem ... snarkyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14267669253750315778noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-88851026990908038052020-04-17T22:31:54.453-05:002020-04-17T22:31:54.453-05:00It's the same in Texas re people trying to ent...It's the same in Texas re people trying to enter from Louisiana.Minnesotastanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01382888179579245181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-71514890772681162202020-04-17T19:58:50.109-05:002020-04-17T19:58:50.109-05:00Anonymous makes excellent points about why the ter...Anonymous makes excellent points about why the terms "tribe" and "tribalism" are anthropologically meaningless, but this is also a perfect example of how the recent use of "tribalism" to describe all conflicts serves as political weasel words.<br /><br />The idea of "tribalism" as it is used in these kinds of political conversations serves to strip all context from conflicts and attribute them to some ill-defined aspect of human nature. Well, no. Everything about these situations is rooted in class differences, economic needs, and medical concerns. It's not just out-of-towners arriving and potentially needing some of the limited medical resources, it's *wealthy* out-of-towners. We are in the worst economic crisis in generations as well as a pandemic, obviously there is going to be some (frankly perfectly understandable) hostility to the relatively wealthy minority who own two homes. (And the locals only have access to the limited local medical facilities, while those who have two houses obviously have access to medical resources elsewhere.) <br /><br />The comparatively wealthy using their second homes to flee a plague in an idyllic vacation retreat has some shades of The Masque of the Red Death, even.<br /><br />Conversely, those who still have a shot at staying afloat on tourism income if out-of-towners come want them to come, because they're staring down looming May rent and maybe coronavirus-related medical bills too. The point made in the second article about the hypocrisy of white settlers fearing outsiders bringing dangerous diseases is also well made, and quite pointed.<br /><br />Conflict makes no sense without context, and this particular use of the word "tribalism" (which seems to have gotten more common over the past decade) buries that under an appeal to some abstract human nature of splitting into tribes, which of course you can't challenge or question further - human nature is by definition "just the way things are". I think most of the people using "tribalism" in this way are doing so in good faith, but I can't help but be suspicious about who benefits.Another Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-85524682505855131232020-04-17T17:17:52.659-05:002020-04-17T17:17:52.659-05:00RI state police has been stopping about 1000+ NY c...RI state police has been stopping about 1000+ NY cars a day and telling them that if they plan to stay in state, they have to self quarantine for 14 days.<br /><br />I-)<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-47697663194808806742020-03-25T18:00:08.480-05:002020-03-25T18:00:08.480-05:00Minnestastan: What term should you use? That is e...Minnestastan: What term should you use? That is exactly the problem. <br /><br />And it’s not that the term “tribe” is pejorative, it’s that it is meaningless. It’s not that we’re not suppose to use it, BUT we have to be clear about our meaning. As a commenter on a paper I recently submitted [2017] to a mainstream Anthro journal noted, “Define what you mean by "tribe," . . . and justify their continued use in light of recent criticisms of such classification.”<br /><br />As Fried pointed out, the problem is that the word has been used in different ways in different contexts, such that without being clear about which meaning you are using, implications from one context can be inappropriately applied to others. Robert Lowie noted way back in 1952, “The term ‘tribe’ may be used in a political sense . . . provided we remember that linguistic and political groups need not coincide. . . . It is necessary to be clear whether the term ‘tribe’ is to be understood politically or linguistically” (Indians of the Plains; emphasis in original).<br /><br />I have worked with a modern native tribe/nation [that’s another problem] for over fifty years [“quite a few”], and have written extensively about its emergence out of historically disparate sources. Some of those were culturally related, but others were not. The shared culture of which you write (“shared interests, lifestyles and habits”) is the result of diachronic cultural processes, not a precondition for its political existence. <br /><br />Indeed, the xenophobia commonly invoked in recent (non-anthropological) uses of “tribalism” is generally not a defining characteristic of historic/anthropological tribes. Or rather, fear of others may be invoked for specific political purposes, but once that context has passed, the fear disappears – or is re-stoked in other forms.<br /><br />What term should be used: NIMBYism might be a good alterative.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-44676579741634948282020-03-25T12:40:14.860-05:002020-03-25T12:40:14.860-05:00Huh, I've been an anthropologist for quite a f...Huh, I've been an anthropologist for quite a few years now and no one gave me the memo that we aren't allowed to use the word anymore.Sarahsighhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03334744017610096114noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-34263757927392615592020-03-25T06:15:34.508-05:002020-03-25T06:15:34.508-05:00It's an effective word that conveys your meani...It's an effective word that conveys your meaning to your intended audience. I wouldn't change it to appease what appears to be an entirely academic "can of worms."IronHorsehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01106255311347964531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-70769585700688374452020-03-24T20:55:21.281-05:002020-03-24T20:55:21.281-05:00I always have believed words have the meaning we p...I always have believed words have the meaning we pour into them. In this case, I think the words express the meaning your are trying to convey, as delineated in your opening sentence. This removes any ambiguity or meaninglessness at all.<br /><br />On the other hand, I do understand the desire in some to drop the term as these words are sometimes used in a pejorative sense to describe groups of people. But we can also use it in a positive way. My family is my "tribe", and I mean that in a loving ans sincere way with no negativity.<br />Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14797317910988407423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-46607040520509007692020-03-24T19:36:55.286-05:002020-03-24T19:36:55.286-05:00Nobody told Sebastian Junger: http://www.sebastian...Nobody told Sebastian Junger: http://www.sebastianjunger.com/tribe-by-sebastian-jungerescapefromwisconsinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369565788469048090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-8118062887284361152020-03-24T19:08:07.356-05:002020-03-24T19:08:07.356-05:00This is clearly not an area of competence for me. ...This is clearly not an area of competence for me. What word should I have used?Minnesotastanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01382888179579245181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-69918502063698502322020-03-24T17:17:05.382-05:002020-03-24T17:17:05.382-05:00In your invocation of “tribe” and “tribalism,” you...In your invocation of “tribe” and “tribalism,” you open a can of words [I meant to say worms but mis-typed; maybe “can of words” is just as well.]<br />Indeed, except for carefully considered situations, most Anthropologists have long dropped use of the term. The leading critic of any use of “tribe” in anthropology was Morton H. Fried, who in a series of papers and books inveighed against almost all uses of the word : <br /><br />“If I had to select one word in the vocabulary of Anthropology as the single most egregious case of meaninglessness, I would have to pass over ‘tribe’ in favor of ‘race’. I am sure however, that ‘tribe’ figures prominently on the list of putative technical terms ranked in order of degree of ambiguity.” [Morton Fried, _The Evolution of Political Society_, 1967:154]Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com