Tribal Tendency

What happens when we meet someone for the first time?

I meet a lot of people these days and I see myself putting this new person through filters, fishing to see if there is some commonality. Where from? What are you into? Do you like Trump? Are you Liberal? Do you eat meat? Do you think climate change is real? Friend? Foe?

I just started reading a book called “Our Tribal Future,” after hearing an interview with the author – David R. Samson. It’s about human evolution and how we evolved living in tribes. And how much of the tribe drive is very evident in modern societies; not surprising since 99.9% of our evolution was living as members of tribes.

For me this book helps me reflect on how evolutionary tendencies that drive my behavior, exposing the unconsoius choices about who I associate with and who I am repelled by. It asks questions to help me reflect on my unconscious biases – so I can make conscious choices.

He talks about the signals we give to inform others of who we want to associate with. In the pre modern world, tribes provided very obvious signals and symbols to communicate who was safe to associate with, who has the same world view and who was not one of “us”

Two Maasai. Me holding a Maasai rungu which all men carry. For warfare and hunting.

Traditional Maasai in Tanzania still retain their symbolic association through clothing. The tribe is still very strong. Originally nomadic, they are now a pastoralist society with settlements. A traditional Maasai lifestyle concentrates on grazing cattle. I see Maasai grazing cattle along the highway and Maasai men wandering through villages and cities selling leather goods. The measure of a Maasai man’s wealth is in terms of children and cattle – the more the better. I met the guys above at a rice growing trial where several varieties were being tested. Their herd of cows were grazing on the road side.

I work with many Chagga people. The Chagga are a tribe from the north part of Tanzania around Mount Kilimanjaro. Because of their access to Mount Kilimanjaro’s fertile volcanic soils the Chagga became the richest of all Tanzania’s tribes. Although they grow beans, bananas and maize – their Arabica coffee brings in most of the tribe’s earnings. They are the most educated tribe in Tanzania. Chagga are Tanzania’s business people and their reputation is their desire to make money.

A Chagga friend recently accepted a job with the Tanzanian government as an agricultural extension officer. The job is located in the very southern part of Tanzania, about 30 hours bus trip from Mount Kilimanjaro. She was very concerned about being so far away from her people, but when she met her boss she found out he is Chgga and that her immediate supervisor is also Chagga. Instantaneously she felt supported and protected and knew she be taken care of for any needs she may have. This I find very appealing – to know that complete strangers can be instant friends.

This bond is felt amongst all tribes. When I ask young people I work with how they feel about fellow tribe members, their faces change and talk about instant connection. Even today, tribe members are brothers and sisters.

This powerful force holds people together with support and is missing in western developed cultures where individualism dominates ethics and values. Our drive towards individualism separates us and isolates us. It seems we are all seek belonging, needing commonality and shared values.. An expression of this is the MAGA movement.

I suppose we all have different tribes, various concentric circles of people close and far away that we associate ourselves with and feel bonded to. I find it fascinating how human evolution, the 99.9% of the history of our species we spent with family groups, bands and tribes expresses itself in modern behaviour.