THE CLAY POT AND THE IRON POT. THE TRIBAL SOCIETY CONFRONTED WITH THE NATION AND THE GLOBAL SOCIETY

• Authors: Vorbrich Ryszard
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

In anthropological discourse the national society, which can be found in Fontaine's metaphor of the Iron Pot, is contrasted with the tribal society, which can be seen in a metaphor of the Clay Pot. In colonial and post-colonial countries tribe-peoples were often excluded from national society, they were adopting defensive approach and preferred to 'get out of their stronger partner's way'. Up against the globalization process there have been new points of reference in 'the tribal world'. The world outside begins to be perceived as one that can be domesticated and used to the local - tribal advantage. The study focuses on two main dimensions of tribal society modernisation, which are the consequences of the globalization: dimension of identity and dimension of institutions. It presents how the emergence of new foreign categories leads to 'modernisation' of cosmology and genealogy and to forming new ideologies referring to the category of tribalism. It also examines the way in which local people redefine their institutions, which results in ethnicization of politics and tribalization of NGOs. The paper shows also how tribal elites construct their status based both on old and new types of symbolic and social capital (blood ties and education). It presents how post-tribal societies acquire the language of the global village discourse. It has also been shown how the fragile structure of the tribal society becomes flexible in the context of the globalization process and how it is abated by supranational structures in reference to national society.

Keywords

EN

ETHNICIZATION OF POLITICS; GLOBALIZATION; TRIBAL SOCIETY MODERNIZATION; TRIBALIZATION OF NGO

Discipline

• ANTHROPOLOGY: ANTHROPOLOGY

• Publisher: Instytut Kultur Śródziemnomorskich i Orientalnych PAN
• Journal: Hemispheres. Studies on Cultures and Societies
• Year: 2009
• Issue: 24
• Pages: 143-154
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Vorbrich Ryszard

• Ryszard Vorbrich, Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza, Collegium Historicum, Instytut Etnologii i Antropologii Kulturowej, ul. Sw. Marcin 78, 61-809 Poznan, Poland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

10PLAAAA080230