Sebastian Junger Tribe Summary

Community, a word we all know, but do not really think about when it could be a reason for the downfall of modern man. The problem with the community in the 21st century is that people have become complacent. They no longer have to be in fear. In the book Tribe, by Sebastian Junger, he gives the perspective of the Native American Indians in the time of colonialism. He claims that Indian communities were strong and that a community in todays world would not come close to the quality of the Indians. The thing is, though he states this and supports it with what he believes are facts, we cannot confirm the credibility if them. He gives numerous examples including instances where British people would abandon their village in order to join the Indian

One of these factors was that the suicide rate of Native Americans was extremely low. As Junger states in his book, “Among American Indians, for example, suicide was understood to apply in vary narrow circumstances: in old age to avoid burdening the tribe, in ritual paroxysms of grief following death of a spouse…” (Junger 19). As Junger says that the application of suicide was very narrow, it is safe to say that he believes that this means that the suicide rate of Native Americans was very small. There are many peer reviewed articles that would state otherwise. In the Scholarly article Reviewing Suicide in Native American Communities, the writers state that, “In addition, the age-adjusted suicide death rate for AI/Ans (American Indians and Alaskan Natives) is 20.2 per 100,000, approximately twice as high as the U.S. all-races rate of 10.6 per 100,000, with males accounting for the majority of suicide decedents”(Alcantara, Gone 461). As one can see these two quotes have contradictory statements. The only thing that separates them is that the first comes from a book with no direct citation and the second came from a scholarly, peer reviewed article. Junger does not make references to outside sources when it comes to the claims in question until the reader reaches the back of the book with a list of resources that he used. Because of a

He compares these two in regards to wealth or food and the accumulation of it. He states that “In hunter-gatherer terms, these senior executives are claiming a disproportionate amount of food simply because they have the power to do so. A tribe like the !Kung would not permit that because it would represent a serious threat to group cohesion and survival, but that is not true for a wealthy country like the United States.” (Junger 32). First off, there is no introduction to this claim about the !Kung tribe and so there cant be a credible source to back this statement up. The author seems to be talking like he knows the tribe personally, which we know is not the case. Saying this, nobody can actually prove this point unless there was someone that still practices the traditions of the !Kung tribe to verify the practices of the tribe would, indeed, act this way. This claim seems to have tones of personal emotion from the author in which it relates to his political beliefs. Even if this is not a claim that is tied to political beliefs, the comparison in general is not viable due to the fact the government in todays society is in drastically different conditions to that of which the !Kung were put under. The tribe had to worry about their survival and where their next meal would come from. If they were under