Ishmael Companion: Beyond Civilization -- resources for teachers and readers
Can't a tribe be a commune? · Can't a commune be a tribe? · "Let's do the show right here in the barn!" · Aren't the Amish a farming tribe? · Noble savages?
Have students look up and discuss the terms commune, communalism, and communism.
Why is it unnecessary for a tribe to be communal?
After doing some research on the communal movement, have students write a paper on this question: Was "making a living" an important issue or irrelevant to the success or failure of most communes?
In the lore of police drama as seen in films and on television, "partners" constitute a sort of tribe. The partners "make a living" together, at least in the sense that they depend on each other for their very lives. In fact, the tribal closeness of partners often interferes with their family lives. Why? Does each department (vice, homicide, and so on) constitute a sort of "tribe of tribes"?
What other tribes are the popular subject of television dramatic series? Lawyers? Emergency Room physicians?
Why are people "making a living together" the subject of drama while people "living together" are more likely to be the subject of situation comedy?
Who are the Amish?
Can you think of other examples of the "familiar bipolarity" Quinn mentions, which sees people as incapable of being anything but either totally selfish or totally altruistic?
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