David, I'm an anthropologist interested in online gaming but my primary specialization is on kinship in Papua New Guinea, so your question actually falls pretty squarely in my line of speciality. The wikipedia entry on 'tribe' is actually pretty good -- the term 'tribe' comes originally from the latin _tribus_, a way that Romans organized themselves (see the Wikipedia entry on 'tribal assembly'). It then kicked around 19th century social science until it came to mean 'a group where people feel they are related by descent from a single ancestor but cannot trace that relationship in terms of a concrete genealogy'. In the 20th century we realized that 'tribes' as such rarely exist -- indigenous people did not historically organize themselves in this way. However, when indigenous people came into contact with European colonial powers, the result was the creation of 'tribes' as a unit of social organization created to meet the expectations of the colonizer. As a result 'tribes' did come into existence -- as the result of culture contact, not as something that preexisted it. Today the term 'tribe' is popular amongst first world people as a way of imagining a sort of pure, unmediated solidarity based on authentic face-to-face contact. This conception is based on a very culturally particular anglo-protestant desire for authentic community -- the Book Of Acts as acted out in the jungle, as it were. Use of the term is complicated by the fact that people interested in living 'tribally' often draw on the hundred or so years of out of literature (now out of date) which is floating out there. There isn't a lot of actual consideration of how indigenous people actually live or lived. While many indigenous groups living in settler colonies (the US, Australia) find white appropriation of the concept of 'tribe' offensive, many other indigneous people find it useful to take their existing social forms and relabel them as 'tribes' as a short hand way to explain who they as a collectivity are to potential aid donors, tourists, journalists etc. It's a complicated situation. This all got nailed down in anthropology decades ago. The main sources on this are: The Notion of Tribe, Morton Fried Essays On The Problem of Tribe, ed. June Helm (the essay by Dell Hymes in here is quite good) The Illusion of Tribe, Aidan Southall The main expert in Australia you might want to consult would be Francesca Merlan at the ANU. Yasmine Musharbash at Sydney Uni would also be good to talk to. Both are aboriginalists. hth, -A On Tue, Jan 8, 2013 at 4:03 PM, Reid, David <dareid@csu.edu.au> wrote:

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Hello In 1871 Charles Darwin mentioned the notion of tribes in his book 'Descent of Man'. I am conducting some preliminary secondary research into the nature and activities of online, primarily social media based 'tribes'. I am looking for: 1. sources of literature from a general Social Sciences / Humanities perspective 2. any research or case studies that exist (preferably qualitative) Please note my interest and future focus is Australasian in nature, however any sources would be helpful. I am also particularly interested in any data on youth based (or managed social media) tribal activity. Any assistance / guidance at this very preliminary stage would be greatly appreciated. Regards David W Reid Lecturer, Advertising SCCI, Faculty of Arts Charles Sturt University Australia dareid@csu.edu.au http://au.linkedin.com/in/dwreid

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