tribe or etnhicithy? what word is better? (school, to live)

[Roflguy2012]

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Some American friends told me that they would like to visit my homecountry in Africa, then they begged to show them some pictures, when i did so they told me that they wouldn't like to see the westernized part but they wanted to see Tribes(in their minds the naked people with arrows and spears).
I told them that it isn't tribe, it is ethnic groups, but they denied it. I had this argument with lots of my non Africans friends and they all come under same conclusion.

[elnina]

There is a difference between tribes and ethnicity: Tribes are a community of people, like a small village. It is a social group, sometimes made from families; clans.
Ethnic groups are wide ranges of people, like caucasian.

[Average Fruit]

Ethnic Groups is correct. Tribes sounds so primitive.

[jtur88]

What you are probably talking about is "Linguistic Group" In most of Africa, peoples are identified by the African language they speak, especially in West Africa.

[Roflguy2012]

I know right, Tribe sounds like something primitive and remote.

[kevxu]

Originally Posted by Roflguy2012

MODS IF THE THREAD IS BAD, OR GOES AGAINST THE FORUM RULES PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CLOSE IT RIGHT AWAY!

Some American friends told me that they would like to visit my homecountry in Africa, then they begged to show them some pictures, when i did so they told me that they wouldn't like to see the westernized part but they wanted to see Tribes(in their minds the naked people with arrows and spears).
I told them that it isn't tribe, it is ethnic groups, but they denied it. I had this argument with lots of my non Africans friends and they all come under same conclusion.

The only comparison I can make is with the native americans. The Iroquois are a tribe divided into subgroups, and the Sioux likewise, etc. But all of them together (as far as I know) would be considered a single ethnic group.

Having grown up in an area where the Iroquois people had several reservations....we whites considered the six tribes (Seneca, Oneida, etc.) as tribes, but the entire confederacy as a tribe as well. But ethnically we condsidered them as "Indians" along with all the other pre-Columbian natives of the U.S. There were two Seneca kids in school, and my recollection is that they called the Senecas a tribe, but referred to the entire six-tribe group as "the Iroquois people."

[Schwarzalb]

Originally Posted by elnina

Ethnic groups are wide ranges of people, like caucasian.

Except probably not the "Caucasian" you're thinking of. True Caucasians are peoples such as Georgians, Chechens, & Ingush. Germans, Irish, Italians, etc are not true Caucasians.

[danielsa1775]

Tribes and Ethnicy are entirley different things in my opinion. Take our aborigional people for instance, enthncially they are all quite similar.
The language they speak, their beliefs and laws etc however vary widley depending on which group of people they belong to. Still today most aborigional people refer to themselves as belonging to certain groups. Which is just a PC way of saying the T word.

[gwillyfromphilly]

Originally Posted by Roflguy2012

MODS IF THE THREAD IS BAD, OR GOES AGAINST THE FORUM RULES PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CLOSE IT RIGHT AWAY!

Some American friends told me that they would like to visit my homecountry in Africa, then they begged to show them some pictures, when i did so they told me that they wouldn't like to see the westernized part but they wanted to see Tribes(in their minds the naked people with arrows and spears).
I told them that it isn't tribe, it is ethnic groups, but they denied it. I had this argument with lots of my non Africans friends and they all come under same conclusion.

There surprised because they probably think all Africans live in village huts.

[theunbrainwashed]

Roflguy, tribe is a legitimate word here. They want to see the African people that prefer to live the traditional way, just like many still do across the continent. That's nothing to be ashamed of.