Religion, Belief Systems, and Cosmology

Introduction

  • The lecture is on religion, belief systems, and cosmology.
  • The lecture will include a documentary on Siberian shamanism.

Personal Anecdotes

  • Experiences with extreme heat in Jordan during an archaeological research project.
  • Reference to interactions with Bedouin people and hearing bombings nearby.

Lecture 8: Religion and Belief Systems

  • Acknowledging the challenges of discussing religion due to its sensitive nature.
  • The lecturer admits that as a not religious person, he finds it difficult to explain religion
  • Reference to a quote from Blade Runner: "Are you sure you wanna continue?"

Agenda

  • Anthropological approaches to religion.
  • Discussion of shamanism as an example of a belief system.
  • Documentary on Siberian indigenous shamanism.

Disciplinary Reflexivity

  • The lecturer expresses a sense of the difficulty and potential absurdity in trying to define religion academically, as it's something deeply personal and meaningful to individuals.

Defining Religion

  • Initial reluctance to define religion due to its multifaceted and deeply personal nature.
  • Acknowledging the difficulty of translating religious feelings and experiences into academic concepts.

Cautionary Note

  • Concepts like ritual, magic, religion, and belief system may not exist as separate entities in some sociocultural contexts.
  • Academia sometimes separates these concepts for precision, which may not reflect everyday life.

Example: Cree of Auichi, Quebec

  • Belief systems related to hunting, communication with spirits, conflict resolution, weather, health, and protection.
  • These aspects might be inseparable from everyday lived experience.

Shamanism as an Example

  • Shamanism is a belief system that may or may not be considered a religion.
  • Origin of the word "shaman" from Russian or Tungus, meaning a technique of ecstasy or communication (written in LaTex: "shaman").
  • Core traits of shamanism across cultures involve communication with a different world.

Shamans: Ascribed vs. Achieved Status

  • Ascribed Status: Shamans are chosen by the community or inherit the role.
  • Achieved Status: Individuals are recognized later in life for special qualities and suggested to embrace the role.
  • Shamans have access to knowledge inaccessible to other community members.

Shamanism and Mental Health

  • Russian anthropologists in the 1920s and 1930s found that some individuals with shamanic status met diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, yet were fully functional.
  • This contrasts with North American society where such diagnoses often lead to a decline in quality of life.

Revitalization Movements

  • Siberian shamanism is undergoing a revitalization movement after suppression during the Soviet era.
  • Similar movements exist in other regions, such as Nigerian shamanism.
  • Reclaiming indigenous approaches and understandings is seen as a positive push against homogenization.

Defining Religion: Academic Definitions

  • The task, per Morgan Freeman, is to wish someone 'Good luck' when asked define definition.

EB Tyler's Definition

  • Religion is the belief in supernatural beings. (from Primitive Culture, 1871).

Thomas Erickson's Definition

  • Religion is the forms of social belief in supernatural powers which are public and which are given public expression through ritual (2015).
  • Critique of the word "supernatural" as potentially offensive.

Composite Definition

  • Religion is a social institution characterized by sacred stories and symbols within a cosmology.
  • Includes the existence of immeasurable beings, powers, forces, states, places, and qualities of feeling and emotion.
  • Involves rituals and means of addressing the existence, meaning, and influence of historical figures, transhuman entities, or deities.
  • Acknowledges the distinctiveness of each way of seeing the world.

Social Scientific Angle: Functions of Religion

Emile Durkheim's Perspective

  • Religion has two main functions:

    • Manifest Function: Explanation for seemingly inexplicable events.
    • Latent Function: Bringing people together through ritual, enabling social cohesion and solidarity.

  • Durkheim's focus was on social functions, contributing to social cohesion and continuity, but meaning was disregarded.

Interpretive Turn in Anthropology

  • Mid-1960s shift towards understanding the role of meaning in religion.
  • Focus on how religion helps individuals and groups make sense of the world.
  • Exploration of how religion provides purpose, direction, comfort, and coping mechanisms.

Clifford Geertz's Contribution

  • Religion as a cultural system (from The Interpretation of Cultures, 1973). See meaning as important.
Model of Reality
  • Religion provides a representation or picture of the way things are in the world.
  • It represents, expresses, and renders the world meaningful and intelligible.
Model for Reality
  • Religion provides a moral model for action, shaping how people should act and conduct themselves.
  • It is a guide or program directing human activity and behavior.

Cosmology

  • Definition: A conceptualization of the universe and its relationship with the entities which are part of it.
  • A framework for interpreting events and experiences, creating models for action, all set within ideas about the creation of the universe.

Example: Christian Cosmology

  • The great chain of being: a cosmological ordering of the universe with God at the top, followed by angels, nobility, humans, animals, trees, rocks, and the devil at the bottom.
  • Religious sanction for colonization of indigenous peoples who did not subscribe to a Christian cosmology.

Documentary: Shamans of Siberia

  • Viewing of a documentary about Siberian shamanism.
  • Discussion of the diversity and cultural wealth from a respectful standpoint with this approach.