Introduction

The notion of ‘tribe’ is notoriously vague. For some, ‘tribes’ are what anthropologists study, for others a ‘tribe’ is a very specific form of economic and political group. In fact the term has been used in such a variety of ways in social anthropology, as in other fields, that, as with ‘race’ in physical anthropology, it has almost ceased to be of analytical or comparative value. The issues are conceptual, terminological, and to some extent methodological. Can we talk of ‘tribal society’ as a particular stage of social evolution? Is ‘tribal culture’ an identifiable complex? Are ‘tribes’ groups with particular features and functions? Are they found at particular levels in a political structure? How far can ‘tribes’ or ‘tribal groups’ be analysed in isolation from wider political, economic and cultural contexts? Are ‘tribes’ the creation of states? Is it useful to contrast ’tribal’ with ‘peasant’ society? Or ‘tribalism’ with ‘feudalism’, or with ‘ethnicity’? Or ‘tribe’ with ‘clan’ or ‘lineage’ or ‘state’? Is ‘tribe’ merely a state of mind? ¹