Thrive Tribe: Boundaries Bootcamp

@Veronica K Freeman posted:

FYI- As a member of the Coharie, a state-recognized Native American tribe in NC, I would like to express my disapproval of the use of the term "Thrive Tribe" at this heightened level of education. I know saying and using the words "tribe" or "squad" in today's society is according to the Urban dictionary the trendy way of young professionals' group identification. However, due to to nature of this training regarding trauma,  I am prone to think this type of description is borderline to some of those microacgressions that we are trying to avoid and are frowned upon due to alienating and mimicking or popularizing Native American or Indigenous cultures that have historical traumatic implications attached. Please consider a different group title in the future, unless of course, you are celebrating your American Indian ancestry.

Hi Veronica,

I'd love for you to check this article out:

https://www.anthroencyclopedia...~:text=The%20word%20'tribe'%20itself%20is,English%20in%20the%20thirteenth%20century.

I'll highlight this:

Native Americans as politically independent societies, they commonly referred to them as nations, placing them thus on a par with European nations … As it became possible to ignore and inexpedient to recognize the full sovereignty of Native American rivals with whom the English settlements competed for land and political dominion, ‘nation’ gave way to ‘tribe’ which carried implications of lesser political status. Tribe thereafter became the term commonly used to distinguish among the populations being incorporated into colonial empires as these were created during the 19th century.

And this:

The word 'tribe' itself is derived from the Latin term tribus, the administrative divisions and voting units of ancient Rome (Cornell 1995: 117).^[2] It came to be used in biblical texts for the thirteen divisions of the early Israelites and appears with this meaning in Middle English in the thirteenth century. 

(this isn't a trendy word for me - it's been around for a very long time!)

I believe in the power of language and I also believe we must be careful not to wrongly attribute meaning. By definition tribe means "a social division in a traditional society consisting of families or communities linked by social, economic, religious, or blood ties, with a common culture and dialect, typically having a recognized leader." == it is in this context that we use the word tribe and in no way step on the toes of indigenous people in doing so, especially since "tribe" is an assigned label not one that was chosen!

And not that it matters, but yes, my grandfather was full blood Delaware Indian, I identify as Native American/White

Always happy to dialogue and learn and grow!

FYI- As a member of the Coharie, a state-recognized Native American tribe in NC, I would like to express my disapproval of the use of the term "Thrive Tribe" at this heightened level of education. I know saying and using the words "tribe" or "squad" in today's society is according to the Urban dictionary the trendy way of young professionals' group identification. However, due to to nature of this training regarding trauma,  I am prone to think this type of description is borderline to some of those microacgressions that we are trying to avoid and are frowned upon due to alienating and mimicking or popularizing Native American or Indigenous cultures that have historical traumatic implications attached. Please consider a different group title in the future, unless of course, you are celebrating your American Indian ancestry.