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Tribe

In anthropology, a tribe is a human social group. Exact definitions of what constitutes a tribe vary among anthropologists. The concept is often contrasted with other social groups concepts, such as nations, states, and forms of kinship. In anthropology, a tribe is a human social group. Exact definitions of what constitutes a tribe vary among anthropologists. The concept is often contrasted with other social groups concepts, such as nations, states, and forms of kinship. In some places, such as India and North America, tribes are polities that have been granted legal recognition and limited autonomy by the national or federal government. The word tribe first occurs in English in 12th-century Middle English-literature, in reference to the twelve tribes of Israel. The Middle English word is derived from Old French tribu and, in turn, from Latin tribus (plural tribūs), in reference to a supposed tripartite division of the original Roman state along ethnic lines, into tribūs known as the Ramnes (or Ramnenses), Tities (or Titienses), and Luceres, corresponding, according to Marcus Terentius Varro, to the Latins, Sabines and Etruscans respectively. The Ramnes were named after Romulus, leader of the Latins, Tities after Titus Tatius, leader of the Sabines, and Luceres after Lucumo, leader of an Etruscan army that had assisted the Latins. In 242–240 BC, the Tribal Assembly (comitia tributa) in the Roman Republic included 35 tribes (four 'urban tribes' and 31 'rural tribes'). According to Livy, the three 'tribes' were squadrons of cavalry, rather than ethnic divisions. The term's ultimate etymology is uncertain, perhaps from the Proto-Indo-European roots tri- ('three') and bhew ('to be'). The classicist Gregory Nagy says, citing the linguist Émile Benveniste, that the Umbrian trifu (equivalent of the Latin tribus) is apparently derived from a combination of *tri- and *bhu-, where the second element is cognate with the Greek root phúō φύω “to bring forth” and the Greek phulē φυλή 'clan, race, people' (plural phylai φυλαί). The Greek polis ('state' or 'city') was, like the Roman state, often divided into phylai. In Europe during the late medieval era, the Bible was written mostly in New Latin and instead of tribus the word phyle was used, derived from the Greek phulē. In the historical sense, 'tribe', 'race' and 'clan' have often been used interchangeably. The term and concept of a tribe is controversial among anthropologists and other academics active in the social sciences. The term tribe was in common use in the field of anthropology until the late 1950s and 1960s, during which time scholars began to reassess its utility. In 1970, anthropologist J. Clyde Mitchell writes: Writing in 2013, scholar Matthew Ortoleva notes that 'like the word Indian, ribe is a word that has connotations of colonialism.' Survival International says 'It is important to make the distinction between tribal and indigenous because tribal peoples have a special status acknowledged in international law as well as problems in addition to those faced by the wider category of indigenous peoples.' Considerable debate has accompanied efforts to define and characterize tribes. When scholars use the term, they may perceive differences between pre-state tribes and contemporary tribes; there is also general controversy over cultural evolution and colonialism. In the popular imagination, tribes reflect a way of life that predates, and is more natural than that in modern states. Tribes can also refer to primordial social groups that are clearly bounded, homogeneous, parochial, and stable. Tribes are an organization among families (including clans and lineages), which generates a social and ideological basis for solidarity that is in some way more limited than that of an 'ethnic group' or of a 'nation'. Anthropological and ethnohistorical research has challenged all of these notions.

[ "Ecology", "Anthropology", "Botany", "Zoology", "Law", "Gochnatioideae", "Malcolmieae", "Psydrinae", "Subfamily Poeciliinae", "Printzia" ]
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