Tribe Is Trouble

Rethink using the word tribe for your business

Tribe is Trouble. Robyn is a member of the VeganDesign.org community. She was born and raised in South Africa. She contacted us to let us know that she was offended by our use of the word “tribe.” We had a truly eye opening discussion with her about the term. She told us of its true meaning and why businesses must be aware about the words they choose. We were so appreciative that she took the time to teach us. Please listen to Robyn speak about the term “tribe.”. It’s three minutes long only and worth every second.

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Tribe is Trouble

#1 Reason The Word Tribe is Offensive

The term tribe is offensive when it’s used as its definition and to refer to a nation of people. The use of the word tribe is not only unreliable, it's quite obscuring of history. It also promotes harmful and inaccurate views of the people it's referring to.

Tribe is often used to refer to other groups of people that are wrongfully seen as primitive or unevolved through the eyes of the white settler. So the word tribe has many negative and incorrect connotations attached to it. Avoiding the use of the word tribe is not just about being politically correct. It's to be accurate and intellectually honest.

More often than not, there are many other words that you can use instead of the word tribe. They are often way more precise and historically correct. Examples of these could be; nation, community, people, village, chiefdom or kin group. It goes on and on. An example relative to the United States would be the Native American nations. An example of that in South Africa would be the Zulu nation.

#2 Reason The Term Tribe is Offensive

The way the term tribe was used in our course was insensitive. The way it's often seen, especially on social media is inappropriate. It’s insensitive to use the term when referring to your business team or your squad. Or referencing the word to your family, as a person, or people, who are not of an actual nation.

Using the word in the above contexts is essentially cultural appropriation. By using the term tribe as an informal collective noun, you are dismissing and inappropriately adopting various important, and sometimes sacred, customs, practices, ideas, and so on, of certain people.

So, as Robyn says, “the bottom line is, don't use the word tribe as a marketing tool.” “Don’t use the term when referring to your squad.” Because it is a play on the colonialist word used to oppress various marginalized ethnic and cultural groups of people from all over the world.

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