19th & 20th Century Theorists

Magic, Science and ReligionSpring 2012

A Brief Overview of the History of the Anthropology of Religion

19th Century setting

Tylor and Animism

RR Marett and Animatism

George Frazer and Magic

• Holistically

• Objectively

• Relativistically

• Comparatively

• Interdisciplinary

• Focus on Ethnography

• Methodologically and theoretically diverse

Anthropological Perspectives on Religion

Intellectual Functional Interpretive Psychological Sociological

Explanations for the Universality of Religion

1) The study origin ◦ Evolutionism

2) The study of function ◦ Functionalism (psychological and

sociological)

3) The study of meaning ◦ Phenomenology, interpretative, symbolist

approach

History of the Anthropology of Religion

Industrial revolution Individualist world view

Emergence of the field

Much light will be

Charles Darwin The Origin of Species (1859

American (upstate New York) Lawyer, businessman, politician (state) Kinship and social structure – cross-cultural As an attorney talked with Iroquois League of the Iroquois (1851) Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human

family(1871) Early proponent of theory that American Indians had

migrated from India in ancient times Darwin Origin of Species ( 1859) Unilinear social evolutionary theory Ancient Society (1877)

Lewis Henry Morgan (1818-81)

“History of the human race is one in source, one in experience and one in progress.”

“Psychic unity of man” – one direction One universal order of cultural evolution Savagery/Barbarism/Civilization

Social DarwinismHuman societies have gone through this evolution

Unilinear Social Evolutionary Theory(Morgan)

Lower, middle, upper◦ Matrifocal/gynocentric◦ Primarily promiscuity – no knowledge male role in

conception◦ Equality, not stratified, no hierarchy◦ Collectivism/cooperation – no private property◦ Hunter-gatherer◦ Magical thinking – considered illogical◦ Animistic◦ Fire, bow, pottery

1) Savagery

Lower, middle, upper Beginning of human family Tribal organization Polygamy Polytheism Agrarian: domestication of animals Metalworking Criticism: Mormons practice polygamy. How

will they fit in This model?

2) Barbarism

Lower, middle, upper Monogamy, monotheism Stratification, hierarchy Competition, capitalism, private property Development of alphabet and writing Criticism:

3) Civilization

Europeans/Westerners positive Engels – Private Property and the State, The

Origin of the Family Engels said Morgan proved Marx:

collectivism is the original state Criticized as speculative, ethnocentric Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict and others

( 20th century) proved Morgan wrong based on their field work.

Response to Morgan’s Ideas

French, founder of social science (along with Karl Marx and Max Weber)

Statistical study of society Elementary Forms of Religious Life Religion provides model OF society: If society changes, religion changes Spirit world as reflection of society

Totemism, the earliest form of religionFunction of religion: Social order

Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)

Emile Durkheim

French philosopher, anthropologist Posited two basic mindsets: Primitive,

western How Natives Think (1910) Magic: pre-logical, mystical Irrational, aversion to reasoning For those magically oriented, no fact is

purely physical Don’t distinguish supernatural

Lucien Levi-Bruhl (1857-1939)

First modern anthropologist , visited Mexico, Zuni. Primitive culture (1871)

Animism was oldest form of religious life: every living thing has a soul/spirit and everything is living

Totemism Polytheism Monotheism

◦ Soul alive in living being, spirit leaves◦ Need to understand dreams◦ Evolutionary approach to religion◦ Intellectualist interpretation of religion ◦ ( Sir Evans Pritchard)

Edward Tylor (1832-1917)

The Golden Bough (12 volumes)1890 Science, magic and religion (sharp

distinction) Types of Magic: similarity and contagious Critique: Intellectualist approach Language of magic is diff from science Magic defies logic Stanley Tambiah: with the study of Azande,

critiqued Frazer’s evolutionary theory.. )

James Frazer (1854-1951)

THE GOLDEN BOUGH: A STUDY IN COMPARATIVE RELIGION traced the evolution of human behavior, ancient and primitive myth, magic, religion, ritual, and taboo. The study appeared first in two volumes in 1890 and finally in 12 volumes in 1911-15. It was named after the golden bough in the sacred grove at Nemi, near Rome.

James Frazer

Sympathetic magic, also known as imitative magic, is a type of magic based on imitation or correspondence

Sympathetic magic

Contagious Magic: whatever is done to the one must similarly affect the other. Thus the logical basis of Contagious Magic,…is a mistaken association of ideas.

It is assumed to unite distant objects and to convey impressions from one to the other.

For example, between a man and his hair or nails; so that whoever gets possession of human hair or nails may work his will, at any distance, upon the person from whom they were cut.

Contagious Magic

Magic > religion > science Magic is logically more primitive than

religion because◦the conception of personal agents (religion) is more complex than the similarity or contiguity of ideas (magic).

Australian aborigines > the most primitive - only magic

James Frazer

Studied myths from 400 South and north American societies

Myth is structured as language “ The story of Asdiwal”

Claude Levi Strauss(1908-2009): structuralist appraoch

Social conditions responsible for religion Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx (1818-1883) Max Weber (1864 – 1920)

The causes of religion

Polish, from Austria-Hungary, moved to Britain Invented participant observation – made

everything different, questions different

The goal of ethnographer is: “to grasp the native's point of view, his relation to life, to realize his vision of his world.”—Argonauts of the Western Pacific, Dutton 1961 ed., p. 25.

Papua New Guinea; Trobriand Islands

20th Century Functionalism: Malinowski (1884-1942)

Looked at religion and culture in terms of their purpose in satisfying basic human needs.

culture satisfies individual needs, both material (food, shelter, clothing,etc) and psychological (through magic and religion, i.e. myths, ritual,etc.).

◦EX: he stressed that magic is a logical system that people turn to in times of uncertainty or emotional stress.

◦Magic functions to provide control and certainty in an otherwise uncertain world.

Bronislaw Malinowski

Religion and magic are sacred vs Science is profane

Religion serves to reduce anxiety and reinforces order.

Reduce emotional stress Magic and religion as practical and rational

responses that were used only when empirical and scientific reason failed to provide reassurances for the facts of life.

Malinowski: Functions of Religion and science

Magic: A performance, means to a particular end and the power of language.

The amalgam of rituals: practical living. Two functions: psychological and

sociological Examples p. 73

Malinowski: Functions of Magic

Religion: A response to the fear of loss like death.

Religion is an end in itself. Religion as the appeal to a higher power.

Religion

1.The spell, or actual words used “The power of words in establishing a

permanent human relation” p. 80

2. The ritual, a stereotyped sequence of symbolic acts

3. The moral condition of the ritual performer

Malinowski’s understanding of the magical act: three elements

Both science and Magic serve instrumental purposes, as opposed to religion. Malinowski observed that magic, science and religion, coexisted side by side in Trobriand society.

Science and Magic

Healing rituals, because they are means to an end.

Harvest rituals associated with productivityRituals for self improvement, better human

relationships p. 80Pragmatic role of magic

Magic then and now

Involves providence and immortality p. 69 Main function: the satisfaction of the

physical, psychological and social needs of peoples, through an appeal to a higher power.

Festivals: Commemorations of society. Satisfaction of individual and social needs.

Religion

A practice grounded on observed relationships. Science attempts to control natural chains of causation, and is based on experimentation, the validity of certain principles and theoretical speculation.

Science

:

Functionalist: “What do people use it for?” Every society has magic, science & religion All simple societies use science,

experiment: make a net, does it work? When things get difficult, pray When things get desperate, use magic, an

individual way to deal with the unknown Satisfaction of primary, secondary and

tertiary (integrative) needs

Malinowski & Functionalism

Clifford Geertz Emphasis on meaning, “reading social life as

a literary text, ”but in a way grounded in fieldwork (interpretive anthropology)

for Geertz, the anthropological study of religion is two- fold: “an analysis of the system of meanings embodied in the symbols which make up the religion” and “the relating of these systems (of meaning) to social-structural and psychological processes.”

The Interpretive approach

“Religion is a system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long- lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic”.

Religion as a cluster of symbols. Symbols: anything, which signifies something else?

(pictures, words, text, things) Symbols as “extrinsic sources of information” – information

about belief, cosmology, etc. that are outside individual psychology, but interact with individual psychology through society and culture.

Symbols as “models of and models for reality” model of reality in that symbols are an interpretation of reality (the way things are) symbols represent reality; model for reality in that symbols manipulate reality, structure social systems (the way things should be).

Religion provides meaning to human existence.

Etic (outsider’s) and emic ( insider’s) perspective

Famous work on witchcraft among the Azandes in Southern Sudan

Evans Pritchard and Azande

Universality of spiritual exp may be grounded in a shared human biology

The role of Anthropologists is to practice cultural relativism

Universality of Religion