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Atribal chief,chieftain, orheadman is aleader of atribal society or of achiefdom.
There is no definition for "tribe".
The concept oftribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of westernAfroeurasia.
Tribal societies are sometimes categorized as an intermediate stage between theband society of thePaleolithic stage andcivilization with centralized, super-regional government based incities.[citation needed] AnthropologistElman Service distinguishes two stages of tribal societies: simple societies organized by limited instances of social rank and prestige, and morestratified societies led by chieftains or tribal kings (chiefdoms). Stratified tribal societies led by tribal kings are thought to have flourished from theNeolithic stage into theIron Age, albeit in competition withurban civilisations andempires beginning in theBronze Age.[citation needed]
In the case of tribal societies ofindigenous peoples existing within larger colonial and post-colonial states, tribal chiefs may represent their tribe or ethnicity in a form ofself-government.
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The most common types are the chairman of a council (usually of "elders") and/or a broaderpopular assembly in "parliamentary" cultures, the war chief (may be an alternative or additional post in war time), the hereditary chief, and the politically dominantmedicineman.
The term is usually distinct from chiefs at lower levels, such asvillage chief (geographically defined) orclan chief (an essentially genealogical notion). The descriptive "tribal" requires an ethno-cultural identity (racial, linguistic, religious etc.) as well as some political (representative, legislative, executive and/or judicial) expression. In certain situations, and especially in acolonial context, the most powerful member of either aconfederation or afederation of such tribal, clan or village chiefs would be referred to as aparamount chief.[1]
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Classical sources of information about tribal societies are external descriptions such as fromGreco-Roman ethnography, which identified societies, surrounding the societies of the ethnographers, as tribal.
States andcolonialism, particularly in the last centuries, forced their central governments onto many remaining tribal societies.
In some instances tribes have retained or regained partial self-government and their lifestyles, withIndigenous peoples rights having been fought for and some being secured on state or international levels.
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In Botswana, the reigningkgosis of the various tribes are legally empowered to serve as advisers to the government as members of theNtlo ya Dikgosi, the nationalHouse of Chiefs. In addition to this, they also serve as the ex officio chairs of the tribalkgotlas, meetings of all of the members of the tribes, where political and social matters are discussed.
The offices and traditional realms of thenanas of Ghana are constitutionally protected by the republican constitution of the country. The chiefs serve as custodians of all traditional lands and the cultures of the traditional areas. They also serve as members of the GhanaianNational House of Chiefs.
Although both theNigerian traditional rulers and the widerchieftaincy aren't mentioned in Nigeria's currentconstitution, they derive their powers from various so-calledChiefs laws and are therefore legally recognized. The traditional rulers and select chiefs usually serve as members of each federating state'sState Council of Traditional Rulers and Chiefs.
Such figures as theking of the Zulu Nation and therain queen are politically recognized in South Africa because they derive their status, not only from tribal custom, but also from the Traditional Leadership Clause of the country's current constitution. Some of them are members of theNational House of Traditional Leaders.
The pre-colonial states that existed in what is today Uganda were summarily abolished following independence fromGreat Britain. However, following constitutional reforms in 1993, a number of them were restored as politically neutral constituencies of the state by the government ofYoweri Museveni. Such figures as thekabaka of Buganda and theomukama of Toro typify the Ugandan chieftaincy class.
El caciquismo is a distorted form of government through which a political leader has total control of a rural society expressed as politicalclientelism. This concept was most widespread in Latin America in its different periods of history. In Spain and some Latin American countries, the wordcacique is used pejoratively to refer to those who hold the power through obscure networks of influence even though this type of fraud is not related topre-Columbian era civilizations
TheAfro-Bolivian people, a recognized ethnic constituency of Bolivia, are led by aking whose title is also recognized by the Bolivian government.
The band is the fundamental unit of governance among theFirst Nations in Canada (formerly called "Indians"). Most bands have elected chiefs, either directly elected by all members of the band, or indirectly by the band council, these chiefs are recognized by the Canadian state under the terms of theIndian Act. As well, there may be traditional hereditary or charismatic chiefs, who are usually not part of the Indian Act-sanctioned formal government. There were 614 bands in Canada in 2012.[7] There is also a national organization, theAssembly of First Nations, which elects a "national chief" to act as spokesperson of all First Nations bands in Canada.
Generally, a tribe or nation is considered to be part of anethnic group, usually sharing culturalvalues. For example, the forest-dwellingChippewa historically built dwellings from the bark of trees. On theGreat Plains, where trees were rare, some tribes typically dwelt in skin-coveredtipis, usually acquiring thelodgepoles by trade, while other Plains tribes, such as thePawnee, built their lodges of earth.[1] ThePueblo people of the Southwest built their dwellings of stone and earth.
A chief might be considered to hold all political power, say by oratory or by example. But on the North American continent, it was historically possible to evade the political power of another by migration. TheMingos, for example, wereIroquois who migrated further west to the sparsely populatedOhio Country during the 18th century. Two Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois,Hiawatha andthe Great Peacemaker, formulated aconstitution for the Iroquois Confederation.
The tribeswere pacified by units of the United States Army in the nineteenth century, and were also subject to forced schooling in the decades afterward. Thus, it is uncommon for today's tribes to have a purely Native American cultural background, and today Native Americans are in many ways simply another ethnicity of the secular American people. Because formal education is now respected, some likePeter MacDonald, a Navajo, left their jobs in the mainstream U.S. economy to become chairpeople of their tribal councils or similar self-government institutions.
Not all tribal leaders are or were men.Wilma Mankiller was a well-known chief of the Cherokee Nation. Also, the chief may not free to wield power without the consent of a council of elders of some kind. For example:Cherokee men were not permitted to go to war without the consent of the council of women.
Historically, the U.S. government treated tribes as seats of political power, and made treaties with the tribes as legal entities. Be that as it may, the territory of these tribes fell under the authority of theBureau of Indian Affairs as reservations held in trust for the tribes. Citizenship was formerly considered a tribal matter. For example, it was not until 1924 that thePueblo people were granted U.S. citizenship, and it was not until 1948 that the Puebloans were granted the right to vote in state elections in New Mexico. In Wisconsin, theMenominee has its own countyMenominee County, Wisconsin with special car license plates; 87% of the county's population is Native American.
Mainstream Americans often find pride and comfort in realizing that at least part of their ethnic ancestry is Native American, although the connection is usually only sentimental and not economic or cultural. Thus, there is some political power in one's ability to claim a Native American connection (as in theBlack Seminole).[citation needed]
Because the Nations were sovereign, with treaty rights and obligations, the Wisconsin tribes innovatedIndian gaming in 1988,[8] that is, on-reservation gambling casinos, which have since become a US$14 billion industry nationwide. This has been imitated in many of the respective states that still have indigenous American tribes. The money that this generates has engendered some political scandal. For example, theTigua tribe, which fled their ancestral lands in New Mexico during the Pueblo revolt of 1680, and who then settled on land inEl Paso County, Texas, has paid[9] for a low probable return to the tribe because of theJack Abramoff publicity.
Many of the tribes use professional management for their money. Thus, theMescalero Apache renovated their Inn of the Mountain Gods to include gambling as well as the previous tourism, lodging, and skiing in the older Inn.
The Navajo nation defeated bids to open casinos in 1994, but by 2004 theShiprock casino was afait accompli.
Arabs, in particularnomadic Bedouins, and some Iraqis and Syrians, are largely organized in tribes, many of whom have official representatives in governments. Tribal chiefs are known assheikhs or elders, though this term is also sometimes applied as an honorific title to spiritual leaders of Sufism.
Apo Rodolfo Aguilar (Kudol I) serves as the chieftain of theTagbanwa tribes people living in Banuang Daan and Cabugao settlements in Coron Island, Palawan, Philippines. His position is recognized by the Filipino government.
TheSolomon Islands have a Local Court Act which empowers chiefs to deal with crimes in their communities, thus assuring them of considerable effective authority.
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