Recognizable identity artifacts solve the stranger problem in closed groups

Evidence

The Australians did have one slot for unrelated persons-the sacred messenger-who carried some agreed-upon visible artifact to signal his identity (Wood, 1934:66-68). In this, the Aborigines anticipated one urban solution to the problem of strangers. — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 1080

Categorization

• XREF: Directly parallels Lofland’s core argument about how the urban stranger problem is solved with visual/identity codes, and connects to Simmel’s stranger and the wrapped identity device later in the book.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing how sacred messenger / uniform-like visual markers differ from the urban anonymous codes Cole describes.