America Knows No Tribe

June 22, 2004

America knows no tribe.

This fact was first brought to light for me by a Sikkimese businessman during a three hour interview I conducted with him on our trip to South Asia earlier this year.

We had a wide ranging discussion of South Asian politics, cultural dynamics and geopolitics.Having spent eight years in Switzerland, he had a broad based view of both Western and Asian cultures and politics, as well as countless generations of local ancestors to provide grounding and context.

It was during our discussion of geopolitics that the issue of America’s ignorance of the concept of tribe was mentioned.

My initial response was mixed between immediate interest in this insight and native defensiveness at such a broad brush indictment of American society as a whole. My interest won out, and I stifled my urges of self-righteous defensiveness in favor of learning what I could from those around me in foreign lands, an approach that has served me well during our travels. As he explained his position, I began to see that his contention was intellectually sound and arguably irrefutable.

America knows no tribe.

For the rest of the story please see the PDF document at:

http://www.hackneystravel.com/writing/2004/turkey/13-America-knows-no-tribe-10.pdf