Cultural Anthropology Test 4

Superstructure

Magic

Controlling Supernatural Power

Controlling Supernatural Power

• Sorcery: Magic to cause harm  

• Witchcrafts: similar to sorcery though individuals may inherit or acquire, sometimes without knowing  

• Imitative magic : Voodoo  

• Contagious magic: Pennsylvania German Contagious Magic "If you lay a bewitched gun into a creak, the witch can't urinate until she comes to you for forgiveness" 

Communicating with the supernatural 

• Prayers 

• Sacrifices  

• Spirit possession 

• Divination 

  • The Cows of Dolo Ken Paye

Religious specialists  

• Witches 

  • Use powers to affect people 

• Prophets 

  • Convey divine messages 

• Priests  

  • Mediate between people and supernatural  

• Shamans 

  • Cures and advice  

Syncretism 

• The merging or fusing of or practices 

• Contact and globalization 

• Often, the local and the global 

The supernatural and healing 

• Recall, it's difficult to distinguish between the natural and supernatural domains  

• Ex Ju/hoan healing dances 

  • Community 

  • Nu/um Tchai 

• Pennsylvania German powwowing  

  • Syncretism 

  • Culture specific diseases  

• Senegalese ndepp 

  • Syncretism  

  • Changing belief 

Specific rituals 

• Life cycle rituals: rites of passage 

  • Separations 

  • Transition/ liminality  

  • Reintegration 

• Rites of intensification: actions designed to bring a community together (communitas) 

• Rituals of inversion- inversion of normal roles/behavior. Ex. Halloween  

• Pilgrimage as ritual – journeys that alter a person; often return with a new status

Revitalization movements 

• Revitalization rituals- solving serious problems through supernatural intervention 

• Resulting in new religions 

  • "deliberate, organized, conscious efforts by members of a society to construct a more satisfying culture" 

  • Organized movement re-creating or re-establishing traditional elements of religions that have been threatened by outsider forces or through adoption of new ideas 

  • John Frum 'cargo cult'. During World War II islander who hosted bases for soldiers, did rituals to bring them back.  

Ras Tafari

• Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie as Raf Tafari 

• Return to homeland through him  

• African as Zion; West as  Babylon 

• Hebrew bible influence 

• Christian influence: Ras Tafari second coming of Jesus  

Boby ritual among the Nacirema  

A ritual among the Nacirema that involves intensive care of the body, highlighting their belief in the magical powers of certain practitioners and the importance of ritualistic practices to maintain health and beauty.

Etic and emic perspectives are essential for understanding cultural practices; etic is the outsider's view, while emic reflects the insider's perspective.

Mueller: The worst lover: boyfriend spirits in Senegal 

Mueller's concept discusses boyfriend spirits in Senegal, exploring the belief that these spirits interfere in women's lives making them docertain behaviors or causing emotional disturbances, thus affecting their romantic relationships and social lives.

• Who are the faru rab? What do they do? 

• How does one attract and get rid of faru rab 

  • Marabout and ndeppkat 

Gmelch: Baseball Magic 

Routine : a course of action regularly followed 

Ritual: prescribed behaviors w/o empirical connection between means and ends 

Taboo: prohibition 

Fetishes: charms or material objects 

Connection with the Trobriand Islanders  Baseball Magic refers to the superstitious practices and beliefs held by players in baseball, including rituals and fetishes, which are thought to enhance performance or bring good luck, drawing parallels to similar practices among the Trobriand Islanders.

Boueri: Everyday ritual on the Lebanon mountain trail 

A set of customs practiced by the people in the Lebanon mountain region, which reflects their cultural identity and community values through daily routines and spiritual engagements with nature.

• Separation 

• Liminality 

• Reincorporation 

Expressive culture

learned and patterned ways of creativity that include art, leisure  and play 

Ethno-esthetics- local definitions of art 

Visual arts 

Digital arts 

Theater 

Verbal arts 

Architecture  

Leisure time 

• Time not devoted to meeting our basic needs 

• What would you do if you only needed to spend 15 hours a week to feed, clothe, house, and maintain yourself 

 

Play

• Children's play as a microcosm to learn the rules of culture 

• Socialization into the dominant rules and values 

• Opportunity to research cultural meanings 

Khanduri: The Politics of Laughter: Why Cartoons Matter 

Visual culture: cartoons 

Intersection of cartoons, politics, free speech 

Power of political  

• Caricature 

• Brevity  

• Current events 

• Insulting and assaulting the Supreme Court of India 

Gursel: #potsandpans: Rethinking social media in Istanbul during occupy Gezi 

• How to think of social media 

  • Not narrowly but broadly 

  • Globalization and circulation 

• Noise as protest  

  • #potsandpans 

• "Electronic" Media 

  • Lights 

• Silence as protest 

  • Standing man  

• In person and virtual 

• Humor lost in translation