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This article is about the
social structure. For other uses, see Tribe (disambiguation).
Look up tribe, tribal in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a
social group existing before the development of, or outside of,
states, though some modern theorists hold that contemporary
tribes can only be understood in terms of their relationship to
states. The term is often loosely used to refer to any
non-Western or indigenous society. Many anthropologists use the
term to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of
kinship, especially corporate descent groups (see clan and
lineage). |
