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Copyright © 2009 by Nelson Education Ltd.

Final exam…Saturday, Dec. 8th 2 pm. Sports Centre…Chapters 11, 12, 15

Projects due on last class…email or bring a memory stick to class.

Meeting (almost) Prince PhillipMeeting Prince Phillip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSpq2MyJSbA


Chapter Twelve:Religion and the Supernatural

The Real Avatar


What is Religion?

What Are Religion’s Identifying Features?

What Functions Does Religion Serve?


A set of rituals, rationalized by myth

Universal From permeating daily

life to specific occasions Reduces anxiety and

keeps confidence high Not replaced by science


Participation in religious ceremonies Brings a sense of personal transcendence

▪ Reassurance, security, or ecstasy

▪ Kecak (Ramayana monkey chant)

▪ Buddhist monk

Creates a feeling of closeness to fellow participants


Gods and Goddesses

Monotheism

Polytheism

Pantheon


Relation to everyday life Gods found in societies that

subordinate women to men

Goddesses most prominent in societies where women make a major contribution to the economy, are equal to men, and men are engaged in raising children


Spirit is freed at death

Retains an active interest in society after death

Reborn into society

Found in societies with descent-based groups


The Asmat are a Melanesian people who live within the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya. They are widely known for the quality of their wood sculptures. They are also notorious for their traditional practices of headhunting and cannibalism. These Asmat practices have been linked to the unsolved 1961 disappearance of the twenty-three-year-old son of former New York governor Nelson Rockefeller, who was touring the region to collect native artwork.


The Asmat's first European contact was with the Dutch in 1623. For many years the group had few outside visitors due to their fearsome reputation. The Dutch began to settle the Asmat area in the 1920s, bringing in the first Catholic missionaries. Contact with the West has expanded steadily since the 1950s, and traditional Asmat warfare and cannibalistic practices have declined.


Belief in spirit beings (Tylor)

Belief in many spirits often found among peoples who see themselves as part of nature


Spirit entities are thought to inhabit trees, earth, and water. The spirits of deceased ancestors mingle among the living, at times aiding or hindering activities and bringing sickness. Cyclical rituals—such as those involving the carving of elaborate ancestor ( bis ) poles—and rituals that accompanied headhunting raids, the death of great warriors, and ceremonies of peace and reconciliation can be related to the appeasement of the ancestral spirits.


Belief in impersonal supernatural

powers

Mana


Priests and Priestesses Full-time religious specialists Members of a recognized

religious organization Source of power is the

institution

Shamans Part-time religious specialists

with exceptional abilities for dealing with the supernatural

Acquire power individually Act on the behalf of clients


Religion in action Means by which persons

relate to the sacred Serve several functions

Two major types of rituals Rites of Passage Rites of Intensification


Rituals marking important transitions of life Birth, marriage,

etc. Three stages

Separation Transition Incorporation


Separation----transition---reincorporation

Stage 1----transitional stage----stage 2

Childhood-------------------------adulthood

liminal phase


…is a psychological, neurological, or metaphysical subjective state, conscious or unconscious, of being on the "threshold" of or between two different planes of existence (a "liminal state“). Popularized in anthropological theory by the work of Victor Turner and Arnold VanGennep

The liminal phase of a ritual is often called the ‘betwixt and between’ phase…the participants are between the old phase and the new.

…the researcher is...in a liminal state, separated from his own culture yet not incorporated into the host culture - when he or she is both participating in the culture and observing the culture.

Liminality in ethnographic research…


Mark group occasions Functions

Expression and affirmation of common values

Unification of group Prevention of disruption of society


Magic Attempts to control the supernatural Sir James Frazer’s Golden Bough

▪ Religion is propitiation or conciliation of the supernatural▪ Magic a false science

▪ Imitative magic▪ Contagious magic

▪ Frazer’s distinction between magic and religion no longer accepted by anthropologists



magic that attempts to affect a person through something once connected with him or her, as a hair or nail clipping.


Belief that individuals may possess psychic powers

• Ibibio Witchcraft- Misfortune due to witches- Substance provides power- May be used unintentionally- Antisocial behaviour


Provides explanations Serves as a mechanism of social control Witchcraft Among the Navajo

Channels anxieties, tensions, and frustrations Permits direct expression of hostile feelings

Divination Magical procedure to determine causes or to

foretell the future


Magical procedure to determine causes or the future


Provides an orderly model of the universe

Sanctions a wide range of conduct Lifts burden of responsibility from

individuals Provides education


Revitalization Movements Deliberate efforts to

construct a more satisfying culture

Four phases▪ Normal state of society▪ Period of increased individual

stress▪ Period of cultural distortion▪ Period of revitalization

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