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RICHARD PRINCE OF JOURNAL-ISMS has raised an interesting question about
the journalistic use of the term "tribe." While viewed by some as
political incorrect, its widespread use is also often semantically
incorrect. Writes Prince:
"In 1990, the old Africa News Service wrote an editorial headlined, 'If
It's Africa, It Must Be a Tribe.'
"It began, 'Imagine how an Associated Press account of Soviet conflicts
might read if the dateline were Africa: "A state of emergency was
declared in eastern Uzbekistan Friday because of tribal warfare over the
distribution of plots of land, and the president of the republic asked
the Kremlin to help stem the wave of white-on-white violence. If the
story is about the Soviets or the Irish or the Afghans, or about Greek
and Turkish Cypriots or Hungarians and Rumanians, the word used is
ethnic. Similar conflicts in Africa are almost invariably labeled
tribal.'
NYT associate foreign editor Greg Winter gives a good description of the
term:
"The word 'tribe' is obviously fluid and subjective, but in academic
circles it has largely been used to describe people who have clear
kinship ties, who live in a proscribed geographic area and who live
under a commonly-recognized traditional authority, namely a chief.
"Given that many large ethnic groups in Africa are geographically mobile
and dispersed, have had a fair amount mixing as a result of that
mobility, have sometimes shifted their identities for political reasons
and don't always live under a traditional tribal authority, many
academics argue that 'tribe' is not the best term. There is no perfect
term, they acknowledge, and there are certainly people who still meet
the traditional definition of tribe, not to mention the many more who
refer to themselves that way. But, in general, many academics say
'ethnic group' is a more accurate term, since it incorporates more of
this dynamism and change."
Interestingly, Winter's definition is close to that of AJ Kroeber a half
century ago in his work, "Anthropology": "A characteristic folk culture
or tribal culture belongs to a small, isolated, close knit society, in
which person-to-person relations are prevalent, kinship is a dominant
factor, and organization, both societal and cultural, is there largely
on a basis of kinship - sometimes including fictitious kinship." In
other words, somewhat like what the Scots call one's "ilk." So if a
tribe actually exists, then calling it ethnic group is not accurate.
But the groupings, with the help of the media, have soared in size. For
example, AP claims that Kenya has 42 tribes, which makes for some pretty
big families. Still you at still left with the problem described by AP
International Editor John Daniszewski: "It would, however, be a
distortion to ban the terms 'tribes' and tribal'" entirely, especially
when ethnic groups or nations in Africa also often refer to themselves
as tribes."
But, adds Prince,
"From South Africa, John Allen, managing editor of AllAfrica.com, which
collects Africa-related news reports from around the world, told
Journal-isms, . . . 'In our own copy, we try to avoid using 'tribes' or
'tribalism' because we believe the term often reflects simplistic
stereotyping of Africans and their polities. We prefer 'ethnic group'
and 'ethnicity', but even those terms are often used too loosely in the
Western media to assert or imply that conflicts on the continent are
related to ancient animosities rather than contemporary conflicts over
access to land and resources.
"'Many of the differences between various ethnic groups do not date back
centuries or even decades, but occurred after independence," added Sunni
Khalid, managing news editor at Baltimore's WYPR-FM.
JOURNAL-ISMS ARTICLE
http://www.maynardije.org/columns/dickprince/080109_prince/
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RICHARD PRINCE OF JOURNAL-ISMS has raised an interesting question about
the journalistic use of the term "tribe." While viewed by some as
political incorrect, its widespread use is also often semantically
incorrect. Writes Prince:
"In 1990, the old Africa News Service wrote an editorial headlined, 'If
It's Africa, It Must Be a Tribe.'
"It began, 'Imagine how an Associated Press account of Soviet conflicts
might read if the dateline were Africa: "A state of emergency was
declared in eastern Uzbekistan Friday because of tribal warfare over the
distribution of plots of land, and the president of the republic asked
the Kremlin to help stem the wave of white-on-white violence. If the
story is about the Soviets or the Irish or the Afghans, or about Greek
and Turkish Cypriots or Hungarians and Rumanians, the word used is
ethnic. Similar conflicts in Africa are almost invariably labeled
tribal.'
NYT associate foreign editor Greg Winter gives a good description of the
term:
"The word 'tribe' is obviously fluid and subjective, but in academic
circles it has largely been used to describe people who have clear
kinship ties, who live in a proscribed geographic area and who live
under a commonly-recognized traditional authority, namely a chief.
"Given that many large ethnic groups in Africa are geographically mobile
and dispersed, have had a fair amount mixing as a result of that
mobility, have sometimes shifted their identities for political reasons
and don't always live under a traditional tribal authority, many
academics argue that 'tribe' is not the best term. There is no perfect
term, they acknowledge, and there are certainly people who still meet
the traditional definition of tribe, not to mention the many more who
refer to themselves that way. But, in general, many academics say
'ethnic group' is a more accurate term, since it incorporates more of
this dynamism and change."
Interestingly, Winter's definition is close to that of AJ Kroeber a half
century ago in his work, "Anthropology": "A characteristic folk culture
or tribal culture belongs to a small, isolated, close knit society, in
which person-to-person relations are prevalent, kinship is a dominant
factor, and organization, both societal and cultural, is there largely
on a basis of kinship - sometimes including fictitious kinship." In
other words, somewhat like what the Scots call one's "ilk." So if a
tribe actually exists, then calling it ethnic group is not accurate.
But the groupings, with the help of the media, have soared in size. For
example, AP claims that Kenya has 42 tribes, which makes for some pretty
big families. Still you at still left with the problem described by AP
International Editor John Daniszewski: "It would, however, be a
distortion to ban the terms 'tribes' and tribal'" entirely, especially
when ethnic groups or nations in Africa also often refer to themselves
as tribes."
But, adds Prince,
"From South Africa, John Allen, managing editor of AllAfrica.com, which
collects Africa-related news reports from around the world, told
Journal-isms, . . . 'In our own copy, we try to avoid using 'tribes' or
'tribalism' because we believe the term often reflects simplistic
stereotyping of Africans and their polities. We prefer 'ethnic group'
and 'ethnicity', but even those terms are often used too loosely in the
Western media to assert or imply that conflicts on the continent are
related to ancient animosities rather than contemporary conflicts over
access to land and resources.
"'Many of the differences between various ethnic groups do not date back
centuries or even decades, but occurred after independence," added Sunni
Khalid, managing news editor at Baltimore's WYPR-FM.
JOURNAL-ISMS ARTICLE
http://www.maynardije.org/columns/dickprince/080109_prince/
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