1. Anthropology and the study of Religion

2. Sir Edward Burnett Tylor/ANIMISM
Tylor was a founder of the anthropology of religion
Tylor thought, religion was born as a people tried to understand conditions and events they could not explain

3. Tylor(cont)
Tylor believed that our ancestors were particularly intrigued with death, dreaming and trance
Tylor believed that attempts to explain dreams and trances led early humans to believe that two entities inhabit the body, one active during the day and the other-a double or soul –active during sleep and trance states
Tylor named this belief “animism”

4. Tylor, animism and polytheism
Animism is generally, belief in spiritual beings
Tylor believed that religion had evolved through stages, beginning with animism

5. Tyler-cont Polytheism Monotheism
Tylor thought religion would decline as science offered better explanations

6. Mana and Taboo
An alternative to Tylor’s theories related to animism is that humans first saw the supernatural as a domain of impersonal power or force(MANA), that people could control under certain conditions

7. MANA AND TABOO In some places MANA was attached to political offices
In some populations, the MANA of a given official was so powerful that their bodies were TABOO (set apart as sacred and off-limits to ordinary people)

8. MAGIC AND RELIGION
MAGIC-supernatural techniques intended to accomplish specific aims

9. MAGIC AND RELIGION
TYPES OF MAGIC:
Imitative magic
Contagious magic

10. MAGIC AND RELIGION
We find magic in cultures with diverse religious beliefs
Magic can be associated with animism, polytheism and monotheism

11. RELIGION AND MAGIC- ANXIETY, CONTROL AND COMFORT/SOLACE
Supernatural beliefs and practices can help reduce anxiety
Magical techniques can dispel doubts that arise when outcomes are beyond human control
Supernatural beliefs help people face death and endure crises

12. Malinowski, religion and magic
Bronislaw Malinowski conducted research among the Trobriand Islanders
He noted the use of magic during sailing
He suggested that people turn to magic for matters they can’t control or when there is a gap in their knowledge or power while an activity/pursuit must be continued
He argued that religion is born out of …”the real tragedies of human life”

13. Separation Transition Reincorporation LIMINALITY COMMUNITAS
RITES OF PASSAGE
Separation
Transition
Reincorporation
LIMINALITY
COMMUNITAS

14. What is a “Ritual of Inversion”

15. TOTEMISM
Totemism is a religion that uses nature as a model for society
Totems can be animals, plants or geographic features
People relate to nature through their totemic association with natural species
Totems are sacred emblems symbolizing common identity

16. What are the categories of tatoos among the Shan?

17. Myth, Levi-Strauss and structuralism

18. Claude Levi-Strauss and Myth
Anthropology is also interested in religious and quasi-religious stories about supernatural entities or MYTHS
Myths often include people’s own account of their creation, of the beginning of their world and the extraordinary events that affected ancestors
Myths tell of continuing exploits and activites of deities or spirtis either in an alternative world or as they come into contact with mortals
Myths express cultural beliefs and values

19. Levi-Strauss and Myth
A way of studying myth is structural analysis (structuralism)
Structuralism does not attempt to explain relations, themes and connections among aspects of culture but at DISCOVERING them
Structuralist method differs from methods of gathering and interpreting data ussually used in sciences

20. Levi-Strauss and Myth
Structuralism rests on the belief that human minds have certain characteristics which originate in features of the homo sapien brain
These common mental structures lead people everywhere to think similarly regardless of their society or cultural background

21. Common features of myth and human mental structure (according to Levi-Strauss)
Need to classify:
Need to impose order on aspects of nature, on people’s relationship to nature, and on relations between people
Binary Oppositions-although many things in our lives are similar, we treat them as being more different than they are; things that are quantitatively different are made to seem absolutely dissimilar
*there is a need to convert differences of degree into differences of kind

22. Application of Levi-Strauss’ structuralism
Myths have simple building blocks (mythems)
One myth can be converted to another by :
Converting the positive element of a myth into its negative
Reversing the order of the elements
Replacing a male hero with a female hero
Preserving or repeating certain key elements

23. Religion and culture
Religions are parts of particular cultures and cultural differnces show of systematically in religious beliefs, practices and institutions
Shamanic religions
Communal
Olympian
monotheistic

24. Questions from Chapter 12
How do we define religion?
What is a “cargo cult”?
What is a “world religion”?