1. ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON RELIGION Introductions Expectations Course Syllabus What is Religion?

2. Info Cards 1.Name 2.Major 3.Interested in Session on Researching Anthropology in Library 4.Concerns about the course/learning difficulties 5.What would you like to see included in the course (e.g. any particular topic) 6.Expectations

3. Religion is Notoriously difficult to define. But we have no difficulty in deciding whether something is Religious or not Or do we

5. A Luba (DRC) diviner and her client, performing a divination ritual, jointly hold a friction oracle known as a kakishi on a woven mat on the ground between them.. (John Pemberton)

10. Albrecht Durer 1504 Genesis Ch 3 v6-7 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons

13. Young Huli girls of Papua New Guinea dressed for traditional dance

15. The Major Features of Religion Texts A means of explanation Stress/Anxiety Relief Body of myth Rituals Magic and witchcraft supernatural Beings and powers Specially skilled individuals Belief in the supernatural Symbolic Moral code Sacred vs. profane Emotional Experience Group membership/identity System A philosophy What makes these religious?