An interesting note to add on this subject is an account of Hopi social organization that I read today in the foreward to Sun Chief: the Autobiography of a Hopi Indian (published 1942).

"Beyond the basic differentiation of relatives, the Hopi have numerous methods of extending the range of kinship, and an individual may be potentially related in some manner to the majority of persons in both the village and the tribe. In many instances there are multiple forms of relationship which the individual may utilize as he chooses. There are also means of extending kinship to other clans and even tribes by adoption and by the recognition of relationship through the same totemic names.

The kinship system is fundamental to both the social organization of the Hopi and the participation of the individual in his society. It regulates most of his interpersonal relations and may be said to afford a sort of blueprint of his 'social personality.' It establishes his potential status and role, formulates an elaborate network of relationships between himself and scores or even hundreds of other persons, provides standardized formulas of social interaction, and insures for him numerous rights, privelages, and obligations which are
in part reciprocal. It also specifies and conventionalizes the degree of permissible approach and necessary avoidance in more intimate personal affairs such as early childhood dependency, parental and sibling relations, courtship and marriage, and participation in fraternal life, as well as in economic, ceremonial, and recreational activities. No person in Hopi society ever makes use of all his kinship preogatives: he reciprocates in many, probably neglects a majority, exploits a few, and is in turn exploited. Whenever two or more individuals meet in Hopi society, the first act is to establish the relationship of each to the other, and from there on behavior usually follows a customary and almost ritualized course. Indeed, in the association of men with women, neglect to establish the fact of relationship may lead to critical consequences."

I am working on a book on this very subject, based on a lifetime of learning from elders, so could have a LOT to say on the subject, but my internet access is very limited, so just for now I will post part of a PM that I recently wrote to someone who was asking me about this subject.


...Basically what tribal life is about is kinship. A tribal society is a society that functions by kinship -- which is not limited to blood kinship, because all beings in the universe are kin, Just as all societies conceive of the universe based on their own social structure (example: medieval Europeans, who lived under kings, saw the universe as ruled by a Divine King; modern society, which functions like a machine in which people are more or less interchangeable parts, sees the universe as a machine, etc) indigenous tribal people, who live in an extended family where everyone is related and everyone has the obligation to take care of everybody else, see the universe as an extended family as well, in which everyone is obligated to take care of everybody else. The closer the kinship, the greater the obligation. An indigenous tribal society can be defined as one in which this sense of kinship extends beyond the human to all beings of the land one belongs to -- sun, wind, waters, animals, plants, all are relatives with the obligation to take care of one another and their human relatives. This is why "All my relations" is such a powerful phrase in a native context -- because kinship is the central principle of the universe and human life.

Another principle you may have heard is "balance." And reciprocity. And generosity. All these actually are connected together. "Balance" means that indigenous society is at the very root incompatible with capitalist society. Capitalist society is based on profit, which by definition is an imbalance (I get more than I put in). Balance means (in one manifestation of the principle) that whatever I receive, from other human beings or the universe, I need to balance that out, whether with something material or labor or spiritual energy or whatever I can. Generosity means everyone keeps the flow open -- it is called a gift economy. If i share my meat with other people, they will share with me when I am in need. If it happens that I am the best hunter and since I kill the most animals I end up giving away a lot more meat than I receive, then my generosity elevates my prestige. Whoever can give the most receives the most prestige (and prestige is what human beings really want, not stuff, in spite of the consumerist propaganda that constantly tells us we humans are naturally greedy for stuff) and the leaders of the community are those who do the most to take care of others. Someone who accumulates a lot of stuff and doesn't share is looked down on -- and people fundamentally want belonging and acceptance, and beyond that respect, and beyond that prestige. Any society or group can get its members to behave in whatever way simply by rewarding those behaviors with belonging and acceptance, and beyond that by respect and prestige. And tribal societies reward with respect and prestige those who share the most and think first of the well-being and harmony of the group, so that is why generosity and sharing and cooperation are the way of life in tribal societies -- not because tribal people are inherently more virtuous or "noble savages," but because the society rewards generosity and cooperation rather than rewarding greed and consumption.

You ask, was life idyllic and leisurely or was it a constant struggle for food? Well, obviously that is influenced by where you are, but to get some idea, go to a museum sometime that has Native American stuff from the days of freedom. Look at the cradleboards and dress yokes that are completely beaded, or quilled, which takes even more time. Hundreds of hours going into just making life more beautiful (because "the good life" is the beautiful life, not the life that is easy or full of stuff).

But, nevertheless, as you point out, there can always be periods when food is in short supply and survival is challenged. Is this "hardship"? Well, have you ever been in a situation, like a natural disaster, where people need each other to survive? You can probably feel what kind of bond there is when people, even strangers, depend on each other for survival. That is a flashback to the memory of tribal days, but in those days people were relatives and raised from birth with the ethic of taking care of each other. Yes, sometimes there was hunger, but if one person is hungry, everyone is hungry. If one person has food, everyone does, even if it is a small amount. Everyone's survival depends on that kind of unity and taking care of each other and supporting each other. That bonds people together very strongly.

So periodic hardship serves an important purpose, because if life becomes too easy the bonds of mutual dependence are not quite as tight. Balance also means that life isn't SUPPOSED to be idyllic, it isn't expected to be. it is SUPPOSED to include both pain and joy, ease and difficulty, death and life, and war and peace.

There are some things in the indigenous world that modern people have lost and long for. One thing is the profound, secure, unconditional sense of belonging -- to your family and tribe, to the land you belong to, to the entire community of life, the Creation and the universe. And the sense that humans belong to the family of Creation and to the universe. Modern people, in feeling "cast from the garden," are really sensing the loss of that deep sense of belonging.

... Having lost that sense of belonging, our species has gone on a long search for reconnection to the universe and and painfully gained new wisdoms along the way, and now we can bring those hard-won wisdoms with us as we rediscover our original belonging-hood to the family of Creation. I feel that today we are gathering together all the collective wisdoms of humankind and each one has certain "nutrients" like different foods have different nutrients, that make up for each other's deficiencies. And that indigenous people have something vital and absolutely necessary to contribute to this. ...