TRIBE

in cultural anthropology, theoretical type of human social organization based on small groups defined by traditions of common descent and having temporary or permanent political integration above the family level and a shared language, culture, and ideology. In the ideal model of a tribe, members typically share a tribal name and a contiguous territory; they work together in such joint endeavours as trade, agriculture, house construction, warfare, and ceremonial activities. Tribes are usually composed of a number of smaller local communities (e.g., bands, villages, or neighborhoods) and may be aggregated into higher-order clusters, called nations. As an ideal type, the tribe is regarded by cultural evolutionists as the form of social organization that developed into a stratified society and, eventually, into the type of social organization known as the primitive state. As an ideal type, the tribe derives its unity not from a territorial identity but from a sense of extended kinship. Few ethnographically known tribes possess all the characteristics of the ideal, or model, tribe. The Amba of Uganda are considered to be one tribe although they speak two mutually unintelligible languages; the Zuni tribe consists of only one community; the Dorobo of Kenya live scattered among the Nandi and Masai, for whom they hunt and perform ritual services. As an anthropological term, the word tribe fell out of favour in the latter part of the 20th century. Some anthropologists rejected the term itself, on the grounds that it could not be precisely defined. Others objected to the negative connotations the word acquired in the colonial context. African scholars, in particular, felt that the term was pejorative as well as inaccurate. Thus, many modern anthropologists replaced it with the designation ethnic group, usually defined as a group of people with a common ancestry and language, a shared cultural and historical tradition, and an identifiable territory. The use of the term ethnic group is particularly appropriate in the discussion of modernizing countries, where a person's extended kinship ties may be less important than his village or region of origin in establishing his identity and claim to landownership. Latin Tribus, plural Tribi, in Roman history, a unit of the Roman state. The first Roman tribes were probably ethnic in origin and consisted of the Titienses (Tities), Ramnenses (Ramnes), and Luceres. They were superseded by the creation of new local tribes (date uncertain) consisting of 4 urban tribes and 16 rural, or rustic, tribes. The latter were probably named after pagi (country districts) that were, in turn, known by the principal gentes (clans) settled on that territory. The number of rural tribes was increased until by 241 BC they totaled 35. The additional tribes were instituted in new Roman territory on the Italian peninsula where Romans settled; moreover, original inhabitants who had been granted Roman citizenship were also enrolled in those added rural tribes. In later times there was no geographic significance involved with the enrollment of citizens in tribes. The lower classes and freed slaves, however, seem to have been enrolled mostly in the less-numerous urban tribes. Provincial communities (civitates) as well as individuals who were granted Roman citizenship under the empire (from 27 BC) were all enrolled in a particular tribe. The tribes served as units for purposes of taxation, military conscription, and census taking.