feud

Lasting dispute, often leading to warfare, between two families, clans, or tribes.

In many societies, for example in East Africa and New Guinea, members of kin groups have lasting obligations of mutual aid. The group reacts as a whole, calling upon all its members to exact compensation from, or vengeance upon, any outside group that causes injury to one of its members. The other group may then seek compensation and in this way a cycle of injuries and counter-injuries may emerge.

The range and nature of violence usually depends on the nature of relations between the two groups: if intermarriage and trade exchanges are frequent, the retributions exacted are less violent, and, conversely, the greater the social distance between them, the more likely that the violence will endure. Most societies have mechanisms by which differences are reconciled after a certain time, usually by means of rituals during which various assets, such as food, tools, cloth, valuables, and women in marriage, are exchanged.