Summary Of Sebastian Junger's Tribe: On Homecoming And Belonging

In the book Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging written by Sebastian Junger he examines and evaluates certain Native American tribes before the colonization of Europeans, however, I believe he romanticizes the portrayal of the life and community within the tribes. He argues there was little to no inner conflict or quarrels within tribes. Junger states within the book in order to live a better life we should go back to our natural state and live a life as though the Native Americans once did. Although, within the tribes’ conflicts would arise, and there were many tensions amongst tribes who were adjacent and near one another. In summary, Junger says they were more ‘brotherly’ towards each other, nonetheless, they were enemies with each other.

Junger describes the troubles of modern western society saying, “On a material level it is clearly more comfortable and protected from the hardships of the natural world. But as societies become more affluent they tend to require more, rather than less, time and commitment by the individual, and it’s possible that many people feel that affluence and safety simply aren’t a good trade for freedom” (16). He believes that the modern society has become too obsessed with the material objects and less attracted to being a part of a community. In the novel written by James M. Volo, he writes, “All the material wealth of the Indians belonged to the women, including the fields, gardens, dwellings, and the village itself” (Volo 45). Now one reason he said it would be ideal to have no emotional attachment to material belongings was that it would be easier to move whenever the circumstances called upon it. However, in this short excerpt taken from, Family Life in Native America one can only assume the women of the village would have an emotional attachment to these said

One can only assume the vast difference between war then and war now, granite war is war, but the gruesomeness of war today is much more straining on the mind than in the Indian era. The programs he mentioned within the book were promising ideas to integrate the veterans into daily life rather than isolating them. Wars have been apart of Native American life for centuries, therefore, they have particular traditions such as, “The Kiowa Gourd Dance, in particular, was popularized across tribal boundaries in an attempt to heal the psychic wounds of war” (Junger 120-121). A tradition that has been kept around is believed to help people coming home for war, but not everyone has found comfort in the fact that this is a Native American tradition but for the community supporting them. This is not based on the people being Native American instead it is the people coming together. However, the Native Americans were not as accepting towards everyone as Junger depicts. Daniel R. Mandell describes in his novel how Native Americans felt about other races saying, “But as more Indian women like Prophetess married African Americans, he noted, Indian men developed a ‘very bitter feeling’ against blacks” (39). This shows the social disconnect between the Natives and those they felt who might have been intruding on their