TRIBAL

An anthropologist examines ways in which ingrained notions of belonging and difference can be put to work for the good.

The notion that humans are by nature tribal beings fell into some disrepute after World War II, before which it was common to essentialize: Germans are naturally warlike, Americans naturally forward-looking. “These approaches reduced cultures to stable patterns,” writes Morris, but cultures are instead in constant change, especially with globalization. So to with tribes—around the world, a sort of default form of social organization, bound by associations of families and clans into larger but still manageable polities. “In these nested groups our forebears first felt the exciting and empowering experience of connection to myriad individuals and ideas, the ongoing experiment that we call ‘society,’” Morris writes. Some of those ideas yield “in-group” pressures to conform, while others help create traditions, formal or informal, that are often quite revealing. In this last regard, it’s interesting to learn that sales of macaroni and cheese skyrocketed after 9/11, a reversion to comfort food in the wake of catastrophe. Given that in-group pressures can turn deeply negative in some instances, such as the current anti-immigration impulse sweeping the U.S. and Europe and indeed the inability of “red” and “blue” constituents to talk with each other, Morris counsels seeking ways to make room for other tribes, altering, as he puts it, a “culture fit” stance to a “culture add” policy. While such talk is sure to rile the anti-DEI crowd, Morris urges readers to remember that, again, cultures evolve to adapt to new situations and can do so positively—as when, in one of his examples, Catalonians figured out a way to incorporate Muslims into a traditional festival that featured local pork sausage by broadening the celebration to include locally made but also halal cheeses.

Somewhat repetitive, but with useful lessons on cultural accommodation and coexistence.