RELIGION AND WORLDVIEW SOCI 202 SPRING 2012 Instructor: Deniz Yükseker Koç University

Human beings try to make sense of their experiences in ways that link them meaningfully to the wider world Worldview: An encompassing picture of reality based on a set of shared assumptions about how the world works Religion: A worldview in which people personify cosmic forces and devise ways to deal with them Personified beings may be: gods, spirits, ghosts, souls, ancestors

Why is religion important? A way to deal with uncertainty A way to provide meaning to people’s lives A way to explain the unexplainable A way to create social solidarity among a religion’s adherents A charter for social action telling people what is right and wrong to do

Religious diversity Traditional religions (animism): belief in the existence of souls or spirit beings associated with nature Ancestor cults: belief in that existence of ancestors who can organize social life by punishing those who break moral rules Polytheistic religions: multiple personified entities in which people believe  gods: may have some human characteristics

Religious diversity (cont’d) Some religions may believe in less personified cosmic forces Mana: a cosmic force whose only human-like attribute is the ability to respond to human beings who use the correct symbolic formulas to harness or channel this force Oracle: an invisible cosmic force capable of understanding human language and willing to respond truthfully using symbolic meanings which, persons with proper cultural knowledge can understand

Religious knowledge Some societies have systemically organized their religious knowledge; others don’t Dogma-orthodoxy: when the truth a religion is supposed to contain may not be questioned, this is called dogma or orthodoxy (correct belief) Heterodoxy: different adherents of a religious tradition may offer varied or even conflicting interpretations of religious knowledge

Religious practitioners In small-scale egalitarian societies, either elders may perform or lead rituals, or shamans may communicate with cosmic beings on behalf of the people In hierarchical and unequal societies, priests mediate between the people and the cosmic forces by properly conducting rituals

Change in religious systems Conversion Proselytizing movements Syncretism Revitalization movements

Components of religious traditions Myths: Stories whose truth seems self-evident because they integrate personal experiences with a wider set of assumptions about the way society must operate Origin myths: Such myths explain the creation of the world or of particular landscapes Myths tell people where they have come from, and where they’re going, and how they should live.

Myths, cont’d. Malinowski on myths: they are charters for social action (such as origin myths about a kinship group) Claude Levi-Strauss on myths: structures of myth narratives are meaningful. Myths are attempts to deal with significant oppositions for members of a society, such as men versus women, nature versus culture, life versus death

Rituals Rituals are repetitive social practices. A ritual is composed of a sequence of symbolic activities, set off from the social routines of everyday life, recognizable by the society as a ritual, and connected to a set of ideas that are often encoded in myth. The authorization for rituals comes from outside the members of the society: from God, the state, ancestors or traditions

Religious rituals Religious worldviews assume that communication with personified cosmic forces is possible and beneficial – if carried out correctly Religious rituals are attempts to influence or gain the sympathy of a personified cosmic being Prayers Sacrifice Congregation

Rites of passage Rites of passage mark the transformation of a person from one social status to another Womanhood Manhood Marriage Birth Funeral

Magic Magic: ritual practices that do not have technically or scientifically apparent effects but are believed by the practitioners to have an influence on the outcome of practical matters (such as healing)

Magic Malinowski’s explanation of magic: All societies have developed knowledge and techniques to deal with the world. But such knowledge is limited. When an outcome is uncertain, people resort to magic. Using magic reduces anxiety

Can you think of examples of magic? Do you ever use magic?

What is the relation between magic and religion?

19th-century anthropologists (e. g 19th-century anthropologists (e.g. Edward Burnett Tylor) argued that religion and magic were separate Magic  barbarian societies Religion  civilizations Science  modern Western civilization

Contemporary social anthropologists think that magic, religion and science coexist Can you give examples?

Witchcraft Witchcraft: performance of evil by human beings believed to possess an innate, nonhuman “witchcraft substance” that can be activated without the individual’s awareness

Is witchcraft “irrational” and primitive? British anthropologist E.E. Evans-Pritchard (1902-1973) studied witchcraft and magic among the Azande people in Africa Evans-Pritchard argued that witchcraft, oracles and magic are rational if we assume that unseen forces exist in the world and that nothing happens to people by accident

Two case studies Baseball magic in the US Religion and the “supernatural” in the Black Sea region

Baseball magic George Gmelch: Which types of baseball players use magic? (pitchers, hitters, fielders?) What kind of magic do they use? (taboos, fetishes, rituals)

Evil eye, genies and faith in Medreseönü Sylvia Wing Önder: We Have no Microbes Here. Healing Practices in a Turkish Black Sea Village. Ethnographic study of healing practices in Medreseönü, a village in Ordu, between 1990-1998 All healing systems are related to faith!

What is the religious worldview of people in Medreseönü? Sunni Islam (God, prophet, angels, saints, cin, ecunnu, fairies (periler), souls (ruhlar), hortlaklar, evil eye (nazar) Mix of Sunni Islam and “supernatural” occurrences (Note: In Chapter 5, focus on pp. 134-152 only)

Nazar Is the evil eye a superstition or something Qoranic? How do people deal with the evil eye in Medreseönü? Why do people believe in nazar? How can anthropologists explain the belief in nazar?