Tribalism
As we descended the steps into the tunnels below, the air became noticeably damp. We were following a guide below Camerano, Italy as she led us through an underground maze of tunnels. The tunnels were hollowed out around 900 B.C. as a place to hide in the event that neighbouring city states came to sack their town. It is amazing to think that they have been here for nearly 3000 years! They were painstakingly dug out by pick, hand, sweat & tears – and in fear.
The tunnels demonstrate tribal rivalries that have existed in Italy for millennia. The fact that outsiders never knew about them right up through World War II highlights the fear of being discovered and being taken over by armies from other lands.
I reflected that tribalism can take many forms: my town versus yours, my political party versus yours, my religion versus yours, my race or ethnicity versus yours, my university versus yours, my team versus your team … . Each one feels threatened. Each one is equally on guard.
As we wove our way through 800 meters of these hidden masterpieces in sandstone, I couldn’t help but wonder about a world that could conquer the tribal spirit. What would it take? How could it look?
I asked myself:
- How do I contribute to tribalism in little ways in my own circles?
- Do I give value to that which is different around me?
- Do I go beyond my own comfort zone in ways that build bridges in relationships?
- or do I construct walls?
- Is a new or different idea an immediate threat to me or do I view it as a chance to modify traditions I have mindlessly embraced?
- Does everybody really count for me, or only the ones who think like I do and who share my values?
Tribal spirit and attitudes seem to come quite naturally. Working against them seems to take conscious effort and often a change of heart.
Alex, Sept 2020
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Thanks for this contribution Alex – such an important issue to consider right now – ‘debates’ in the public domain are so easily reduced to a binary slanging match from one bunker to the other!
Yes, thank you Alex for this rich metaphor and these very practical questions to reflect on. I have to say that when you’re in the tribe that seems to be winning tribalism can feel pretty good. Feeling ignored or defeated on the otherhand, sucks of course.
Alex, thanks so much for this stirring picture that highlights such a troubling issue. The image of being “carved in stone” seems so appropriate for our tribal and almost instinctive fears. What will give us/me the courage to see “the other” as our/my neighbor and not our enemy is a question that weighs on my heart and mind. I appreciate your thoughtful reflection.
Yes, for me, tribalism is a constant challenge in so many ways. Sometimes it shows up as a sense that ‘my city makes me feel secure and other worldviews are strange’. When that shows up I feel sad that tribalism means we cannot see other views. It is true that we should be proud of what we love, our context, but how to grasp that others are also proud of their world and worldview? The more I hear the stories of other cultures, the more I feel I can almost understand their viewpoint. I am so thankful for acquaintances from many different places who share their worldviews, so I can realize that mine is a very partial view of the world, from a certain vantage point, but not all encompassing. I like my view, but maybe other views are also informative about the diversity that exists under this same sun.
I wonder what to do when I feel attacked by a tribe that doesn’t respect my perspective as valid and in fact feels that my tribe needs to be conquered for them to feel safe? How do you converse where mutual respect isn’t granted?
That’s a really good and also relevant question, Kyle. No easy answers on this one. I suspect the only hope for change however is by example, showing respect and opennness even when it isn’t given in return. That attitude in itself can cause some to sit up and take notice, realizing that such an attitude comes from a deeper well than most people have.
This is a good question, and very relevant.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a good level of English, so I will send my post in Spanish. I hope it is easily understandable.
Creo que a un nivel individual la propuesta de Alex pudiera tener aplicación.
En cambio, en un nivel social, a un nivel de tribu, es una solución que se ha demostrado poco exitosa. ¿Podría ser el caso de la independencia de la India?
Hemos podido comprobar reiteradamente que si uno de los interlocutores no tiene verdadero interés en comprender e intercambiar puntos de vista, la cosa suele acabar mal. Me viene a la mente el caso de Chamberlain, “el pacificador”, o una escena de la película “Siete años en el Tibet”, cuando los generales chinos acceden al Potala para “tratar de resolver” la disputa territorial.
En todo caso, requiere un mínimo de sensibilidad y respeto por todas las partes. Si una de ellas “está en posesión de LA VERDAD”, y es su verdad o nada, o dicho de otro modo, si una de ellas no quiere comprender sino imponerse, la cosa no tiene buen arreglo.
Los contextos mentales y sociales en los que surgen ideas como las de estos post: escuchar, compartir, intentar comprender, respetar… son hermosos frutos del desarrollo del pensamiento humano, pero no tienen su existencia garantizada. Yo diría que hay que saber cuándo se pueden conectar los corazones y cuándo es preciso defender ese espacio de entendimiento, para que quizás en un futuro se pueda establecer esa conexión.
Aquí tenemos tantos temas interesantes que me voy a limitar a comentar uno de ellos, por lo sugerente que me pareció en el comentario de Alberto. Sobre el tema de la independencia de la India, me parece fascinante, pues de lo que poco que conozco del caso, yo diría que Gandhi quiso actuar de forma pacífica en esa situación pero que los intereses políticos y sobre todo religiosos del momento prevalecieron para llevar la situación a una violencia extrema entre religiones, y que resultó en la formación de distintos estados en el subcontinente indio. En tal contexto, se ve tanto la tensión de unos con otros, como la falta de entendimiento entre culturas, a la vez que Gandhi quiso intervenir como pacificador entre las partes. De todos modos, me parece que la violencia que estalló entre lo que serían Pakistaníes e Indios ha llevado a una falta de entendimiento a largo plazo.
Thanks for words of wisdom, Alberto! I like very much your ending words: “you have to know when hearts can connect and when it is necessary to defend that space of understanding, so that perhaps in the future that connection can be established.”
The difficulty in defending “the space of understanding” is that it is never in a vacuum. In any significant issue, whether personal, cultural or political there are forces seeking to destroy that space through fear. When legitimate concerns are transformed into fear driven positions, the possibility of understanding disappears. Unfortunately many groups and politicians maintain their influence principally through fear instead of seeking concrete solutions. In what I can control, I hope to be honest with my legitimate concerns and to avoid crossing the line into the ravages of fear. Much easier said than done.
Great comments everyone. I think tribalism (“social organization by tribe), as such, are not bad. In fact I think humans function best when in close community with people who share similar values, traditions and memories. The problem is that some tribes, like the native american Hopi people, have as a central to them “good” values of self-sustenance and non-aggression. However for their neighbors, the Apaches, the central values of the tribe was superiority and dominance of “non-Apaches” by violence and theft. This resulted in many decades of the Hopis being the victims of Apache aggression. In the end it was the the Hopi’s values that allowed them to survive the wave of European colonization that completely swept the Apaches away.
That’s a great and necessary point, Doug. Do you know much about how it was that their non-aggression allowed them to survive? It contradicts, of course, the usual eat-or-be-eaten rationalization of aggressors.