Anthropology Module 13: Spiritually, Religion and Worldview

Anthropology 101, in order of appearance in Chapter 12: Religion in Essentials Cultural Anthropology, Third Edition

religion

a set of beliefs and rituals based on visions of how the world out to be and how life ought to be lived

- often focused on a supernatural power and lived out community

martyr

a person who sacrifices his or her life for the sake of his or her religion

saint

an individual considered exceptionally close to God who is then exalted after death

Émile Durkheim (1858-1917)

French sociologist who explored ideas of the sacred, profane, and the practical effects of religious ritual

- his work in these areas provided key analytical tools for social scientists seeking to understand common elements in different religious movements and the practical application of religious ideas in the social life of religious adherents

- argued that religion, particularly religious ritual, plays a crucial role in combating anomie and addressing larger social dynamics of alienation and dislocation by creating social solidarity, cohesion, and stability

- through ritual, the community's sense of cosmic order is reaffirmed, its social solidarity is regenerated, and the group's continued survival and growth are ensured

sacred

anything considered holy

profane

anything considered unholy

ritual

an act or series of acts regularly repeated over years or generations that embody the beliefs of a group of people and create a sense of continuity and belonging

Arnold van Gennep (1873-1957)

French ethnographer and folklorist

- first theorizes a category of rituals called rites of passage

rites of passage

a category of ritual that enacts a change of status from one life stage or another, either for an individual or for a group

- religious rites of passage are life-transition rituals marking moments of intense change, such as birth, coming of age, marriage, and death

Audrey Richard (1899-1984)

Pioneering British anthropologist in early make-dominated British anthropology

- observed and recorded one such rite of passage in 1931 among the Bemba people of Zambia, Central Africa called chisungu

chisungu

a coming of age ceremony for young teenage women after first menstruation and in preparation for marriage

- exclusively a women's ritual

- performed to provide magical protection to the girl and her family from the physical dangers of puberty and the magical dangers associated with the first act of intercourse in legal marriage

Victor Tuner (1920-1983)

Built on Richard's pioneering work to explore why rituals and rites of passage are so powerful across religions and cultures

- drew on his own research in Africa and on extensive comparisons of cross-cultural data to theorize that the power of rituals come from the drama contained within it, in which the normal structure of social life is symbolically dissolved and reconstituted

- identified three primary stages in all rites of passage: separation, liminality, reaggregation

- believed that all humans experience the three afore mentioned rites of passage and that the experiences shape their perceptions of themselves and their community

- asserted that humans develop communitas

Separation

physically, psychologically, or symbolically from the normal day-to-day activities of the group

Liminality

a ritual participant experiences a period of outsiderhood, set apart from normal society, key to achieving a new perspective on the past, future, and current community

Reggregation

reincorporation, returning to the individual everyday life and reintegrating themselves into the ritual community, transformed by the experience of liminality and endowed with a deeper sense of meaning, purpose, and connection to the larger group

communitas

a sense of camaraderie, a common vision of what constitutes a good life, and a commitment to take social action to move toward achieving this vision that is shaped by the common experiences of rites of passage

pilgramage

a religious journey to a sacred place as a sign of devotion and in search of transformation and enlightenment

- creates a shared sense of communitas

Karl Marx (1818-1883)

German philosopher

- primarily known for his Communist Manifesto

- warned that religion was like a narcotic - it dulled people's pain so they did not realize how serious the situation was

- argued that it played a role in keeping the proletariat, the working poor, from emerging in the revolutionary social change that believed he needed to improve their situation

- he believed that throughout human history, economic realities have formed the foundation of social life and have generated society's primary dynamics, including class stratification and class struggle

Marvin Harris (1927-2001)

Anthropologist, built on Marx's analysis of the base, or infrastructure, and the way in which the material conditions of a society shape its other components

- theory of cultural materialism

- proposed that these practices might have developed in response to very practical problems as people sought to adapt to the natural environment

cultural materialism

argues material conditions, including technology, determine patterns of social organization, such as religious principles

- human culture is a response to the practical problems of earth existence

Max Weber (1864-1920)

German sociologist, philosopher and economist, considered religious ideas to be a key for understanding the unique development of societies worldwide and the rise of industrial capitalism, particularly in western Europe

- believed that ideas (including religious) can be as equally as economics in shaping society

- The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905), Weber suggested that the ascetic values of self-discipline that developed in western European Protestantism provided the ethic that was necessary for capitalism to flourish

- found evidence of the ethical and psychological framework necessary for the success of industrial capitalism

secular

without religious or spiritual basis

- less religious

shamans

part-time religious practitioners with abilities to connect individuals with supernatural powers or begins to provide special knowledge and power for healing, guidance, and wisdom

- derives from the name given to healing specialists among the semi-nomadic people of Siberia

- live as part of the local community but are called on at times to perform special rituals and ceremonies

- often gain their powers through special training or experiences

magic

the use of spells, incantations, words, and actions in attempt to compel supernatural forces to act in certain ways, whether for good or for evil

- part of cultural practices in every part of the world

imitative magic

a ritual performance that achieves efficacy by imitating the desired magical result

- manipulating a doll or some other representation of the target of magic in belief that the action will have a direct imitative effect

contagious magic

ritual words or performances that achieve efficacy as certain materials that come into contact with one person carry a magical connection that allows power to be transferred from one person to person

E. E. Evans-Pritchard (1902-1973)

British anthropologist, conducted extensive fieldwork in Africa's southern Sudan region

- challenged Weber's rationalization thesis that assumed modernization and the rise of science would bring increasing rationality in a culture and its religious practices

- Pritchard's research found instead that their use of magic wasn't irrational expression but a component of highly organized, rational, and logical system of thought that complemented science in understanding the way the world works

- Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic among the Azande (1937), describes in careful detail the elaborate religious system of the Azande in which magic, witchcraft, and poison oracles are central elements in daily life and conversation

- found that Witchcraft is inherited from a parent, and a witch's body contains a witchcraft substance that cannot be detected during life but can be found during an autopsy

- Azande describes it was an oval, blackish swelling or bag near the liver

Paul Stroller

Anthropologist

- Sorcery's Shadow (1987), Stroller and his co-author Cheryl Oikes extend Evan-Pritchard's commitment to respect and understanding others' systems of knowledge

- takes Evans-Pritchard's work on magic and sorcery (just another word for witchcraft) to a deeper, more personal level through direct engagement in the beliefs and practices of those he studied

Clifford Geertz (1926-2006)

Anthropologist, build on the themes of Max Weber's Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, suggesting that religion is essentially a system of ideas surrounding a set of powerful symbols

symbols

anything that represents something else

authorizing process

the complex historical and social developments through which symbols are given power and meaning

Talal Asad

Anthropologist

- Genealogies of Religion (1993), suggests religion and religious symbols are actually produced through complex historical and social developments in which power and meaning are created, contested, and maintained

Charlene Floyd (1996)

research on the role of the Catholic Church in a revolutionary movement in the Chiapas region of southern Mexico provides an example of how meaning and power are expressed in religion