McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc Religion Anthropology: The Exploration of Human Diversity 11 th Edition Conrad Phillip Kottak

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2 Religion What Is Religion? Origins, Functions, and Expressions of ReligionOrigins, Functions, and Expressions of Religion Religion and Cultural Ecology Social Control

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 3 Religion Kinds of Religion Religion in States World Religion Religion and Change Secular Rituals

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 4 What Is Religion? Religion—belief and ritual concerned with supernatural beings, powers, and forces (Wallace) Religion is a cultural universal

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 5 Origins, Functions, and Expressions of Religion –Tylor first studied religion anthropologically and developed a taxonomy of religions –Animism—seen as most primitive; belief in souls that derives from the first attempt to explain dreams and like phenomena Animism

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 6 Origins, Functions, and Expressions of Religion –Mana—belief in immanent supernatural domain or life-force, potentially subject to human manipulation Melanesian mana defined as sacred impersonal force that is much like the Western concept of luck Polynesian mana and related concept of taboo related to the more hierarchical nature of Polynesian society Mana and Taboo

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 7 Origins, Functions, and Expressions of Religion –Magic refers to supernatural techniques intended to accomplish specific aims May be imitative (as with voodoo dolls) or contagious (accomplished through contact) Magic and Religion

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 8 Origins, Functions, and Expressions of Religion –Magic an instrument of control, but religion serves to provide stability when no control or understanding is possible Anxiety, Control, Solace Malinowski saw tribal religions as being focused on life crises

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 9 Origins, Functions, and Expressions of Religion –Rituals convey information about culture of participants and, hence, participants themselves –Rituals inherently social, and participation in them necessarily implies social commitment Rituals—formal social acts, performed in sacred contexts

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 10 Origins, Functions, and Expressions of Religion Rites of Passage—religious rituals that mark and facilitate person’s movement from one (social) state of being to another (e.g., Plains Indians’ vision quests)

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 11 Origins, Functions, and Expressions of Religion Separation—participant(s) withdraws from group and begins moving from one place to another Liminality—period between states, during which the participant(s) has left one place but has not yet entered the next Incorporation—participant(s) reenters society with a new status having completed the rite –Rites of passage have three phases:

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 12 Origins, Functions, and Expressions of Religion –Liminality part of every rite of passage and involves temporary suspension and even reversal of everyday social distinctions Communitas—collective liminality, characterized by enhanced feelings of social solidarity and minimized distinctions

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 13 Origins, Functions, and Expressions of Religion –Rituals play an important role in creating and maintaining group solidarity Totemism

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 14 Origins, Functions, and Expressions of Religion Totems are apical ancestor of clans Members of clan did not kill or eat their totem, except once a year when the members of the clan gathered for ceremonies dedicated to the totem Totemism –In totemic societies, each descent group has an animal, plant, or geographical feature from which they claim descent

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 15 Origins, Functions, and Expressions of Religion Totemism –Totemism is religion in which elements of nature act as sacred templates for society by means of symbolic association

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 16 Origins, Functions, and Expressions of Religion Each descent group has a totem, which occupies a specific niche in nature Social differences mirror the natural order of the environment Unity of human social order enhanced by symbolic association with and imitation of natural order Totemism –Totemism uses nature as model for society

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 17 Religion and Cultural Ecology –Ahimsa is Hindu doctrine of nonviolence that forbids the killing of animals –Western economic development experts often use this principle as example of how religion can stand in the way of development Hindus seem to irrationally ignore valuable food source (beef) Hindus also raise scraggly and thin cows, unlike the bigger cattle of Europe and the U.S. Sacred Cattle in India

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 18 Religion and Cultural Ecology Cattle play important adaptive role in Indian ecosystem that evolved over thousands of years Hindus use cattle for transportation, traction, and manure Bigger cattle eat more, making them more expensive to keep Sacred Cattle in India –Views of experts are ethnocentric and wrong

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 19 Social Control Religion can be used to mobilize large segments of society through systems of real and perceived rewards and punishments The power of religion affects action

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 20 Social Control Many religions have formal code of ethics that prohibit certain behavior while promoting other kinds of behavior Witch hunts play an important role in limiting social deviancy in addition to functioning as leveling mechanisms to reduce differences in wealth and status between members of society

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 21 Social Control Religions also maintain social control by stressing the fleeting nature of life

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 22 Social Control –Historically migrant tribe Although Ghana’s biomedical system bears fundamental likeness to Britain’s, it incorporates traditional etiological beliefs Ewe Traditional and Biomedial Healing Practices in Ghana’s Volta Region

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 23 Social Control Ewe Traditional and Biomedial Healing Practices in Ghana’s Volta Region –Due to linguistic disparity, healthcare system is inefficient Native treatment ranges from preventative to curative and revolves around belief in patients’ physical or spiritual unrest

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 24 Kinds of Religion Religious forms vary from culture to culture, but correlations exist between political organization and religious type

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 25 Kinds of Religion –Wallace defined religion as consisting of all a society’s cult institutions (rituals and associated beliefs) and developed four categories from this –In Shamanic religions, shamans are part- time religious intermediaries who may act as curers—these religions are most characteristic of foragers Religious Practitioners and Types

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 26 Kinds of Religion –Olympian religions first appeared with states, have full-time religious specialists whose organization may mimic the states, and have potent anthropomorphic gods who may exist as a pantheon Religious Practitioners and Types –Communal religions have shamans, community rituals, multiple nature gods, and are more characteristic of food producers than foragers

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 27 Kinds of Religion Religious Practitioners and Types –Monotheistic religions have all the attributes of Olympian religions, except that the pantheon of gods is subsumed under a single eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent being

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 28 Kinds of Religion Anthony F. C. Wallace’s Typology of Religions –Insert Table 21.2

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 29 Kinds of Religion Location of Chukchee in Siberia –Insert Figure 21.2

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 30 Religion in States –Weber linked spread of capitalism to values central to the Protestant faith: Independent Entrepreneurial Hard working Future-oriented Free thinking Christian Values

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 31 Religion in States Christian Values –The emphasis Catholics placed on immediate happiness and security, and notion that salvation was attainable only when priest mediated on one’s behalf, did not fit well with capitalism

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 32 World Religion Religious affiliation in North America varies with ethnic background, age, and geography In the U.S. Protestants outnumber Catholics, but in Canada the reverse is true

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 33 World Religion Religious Composition (in Percentages) of the Populations of the United States, 1990 and 2001, and Canada, 1991 and 2001 –Insert Table 21.5

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 34 Religion and Change –Religious movements that act as mediums for social change –The colonial-era Iroquois reformation led by Handsome Lake is example of revitalization movement Revitalization Movements

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 35 Religion and Change –Cultural mix, including religious blends, that emerge when two or more cultural traditions come into contact Examples include voodoo, santeria, and candomlé The cargo cults of Melanesia and Papua New Guinea are syncretisms of Christian doctrine with aboriginal beliefs Syncretisms

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 36 Religion and Change Syncretisms –Often emerge when traditional, non- Western societies have regular contact with industrialized societies Attempt to explain European domination and wealth and to achieve similar success magically by mimicking European behavior and symbols

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 37 Religion and Change Location of Melanesia –Insert Figure 21.3

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 38 Religion and Change –Antimodernism—rejection of the modern in favor of what is perceived as an earlier, purer, and better way of life Barber contends that tribalism and globalism are two key—and opposed—principles of our age Argues that Jihad and McWorld operate with equal force in opposite directions Antimodernism and Fundamentalism

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 39 Religion and Change Assert an identity separate from the larger religious group from which they arose Seek to rescue religion from absorption into modern, Western culture Antimodernism and Fundamentalism –Fundamentalism—antimodernist movements in various religions

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 40 Religion and Change Also refers to belief that religious texts are infallible and historically accurate Many fundamentalists are politically aware citizens of nation-states Antimodernism and Fundamentalism –Fundamentalism Strive to protect distinctive doctrine and way of life and of salvations

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 41 Religion and Change A New Age –In U.S., official recognition of religion entitles it to modicum of respect and certain benefits U.S. recognizes Scientology as religion; Germany does not

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 42 Secular Rituals Include formal, invariant, stereotyped, earnest, repetitive behavior and rites of passage that take place in nonreligious settings

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 43 Secular Rituals –Many Americans seek in such apparently secular contexts as amusement parks, rock concerts, and sporting events what other people find in religious rites, beliefs, and ceremonies Belief that recreation and religion are separate domains is ethnocentric and false