Anthropology of Religion

1
Anthropology of Religion

• Not an examination of one thing or a set of
  practices
• Analysis of a society through the lens of the
  sacred
• Sacred that which is set apart from the
  profane, mundane, everyday life

2
What is religion?

• Explicit definitions chase away the implicit ones
• Specific forms? Specific content? Certain
  functions?

3
Some poor definitions

• Superstition
• belief in any indwelling forces and powers
• Belief in supernatural beings
• Tylor Wherever people believe in the existence
  of one or more of these beings, that is where
  religion exists.
• What about Buddhism or Confucianism

4
Realm of the sacred

• Durkheim
• A religion is a unified system of beliefs and
  practices relative to sacred things, that is to
  say, things set apart and forbiddenbeliefs and
  practices which unite into one single moral
  community called a Church, all those who adhere
  to them. ... religion should be an eminently
  collective thing.

5
Geertzs definition

• A religion is a (1) system of symbols which acts
  to (2) establish powerful, pervasive, and
  long-lasting moods and motivations in men by (3)
  formulating conceptions of a general order of
  existence and (4) clothing these conceptions with
  such an aura of actuality that (5) the moods and
  motivations seem uniquely realistic.

6
Definition as heuristic

• The total set of beliefs, practices, associated
  symbols, and interactions among persons concerned
  with
• explanation of the cosmos and a persons place in
  it
• channeling of emotions
• sense of effectiveness and ability to cope with
  death, illness, and misfortune in general
• maintenance of a sense of order by continual
  counteraction of powerlessness, randomness,
  meaninglessness, chaos

7
Anthropologies of religion

• 19th century evolutionism
• Tylor from animism to monotheism
• Frazer from magic to religion to science
• Durkheim from specific to general
• Weber increasing rationalization

8
Boasian anthropology

• Beliefs and practices we may want to call
  religion make sense only as part of a larger,
  coherent whole
• Religions change through history, but there is no
  single narrative of change or evolution
• Beliefs and practices are mutually reinforcing

9
Functions of religion

• Sociological
• Group solidarity, legitimacy
• Psychological
• Address anxieties, comfort
• Cognitive
• Explain, externalize and narrate profound
  problems and solutions

10
Sociological functions

• Durkheim (sacred profane)
• No religions are false
• Reflect sociological realities
• Creates and maintains the social order
• Collective norms, morals
• Legitimates established system
• (Re)produces interpersonal bonds

11
Psychological functions

• The world is a scary place, things go wrong
• Fear of death
• Dreams

12
Cognitive functions

• Religion provides categories
• Sacred symbols make implicit ideas explicit
• Openings for discussion, challenges
• The world is a meaningful place
• Religion is a chief product of this meaning-making

13
Religion includes

• attempts to explain, interpret, predict and
  control phenomena and events
• emotional responses to the awesomeness of the
  universe and to the impact of illness, death and
  ones own mortality
• mechanisms for the release of psychological
  stress
• symbols of unity of a society and its distinction
  from other groups
• models for explaining the world

14
Manifestations

• Beliefs
• Practices, routines
• Rituals
• Myths

15
MythThats a Myth

• Lies, stories of Greek gods, urban legend
• Foundation or reflection of ritual
• Sacred narrative
• Texts
• Multivalent symbols, polysemic

16
Narratives of Truth Reality

• Fundamental, essential Truths, Reality
• Not always empirically or scientifically
  testable, verifiable
• Narratives for our world, support our
  understandings
• Direct action, legitimate social order

17
Sacred Narrative

• Deep structures of a culture
• Ultimate causes
• No god, no hero ever revealed a profane act
  (Eliade)
• Tricksters detachable penis?
• Sacred Time

18
Typology of tales

• Myth
• Legend
• Folktale/fairytale (Märchen)

19
Bronislaw Malinowski The Role of Myth in Life

• Myth controls moral and social behaviour
• Attacked Müller and his theory of
  nature-mythology
• Myths solve practical problems
• They fulfill functions

20
Trobriand tales

• kukwanebu (fairy tales, humorous fictions, art)
• libwogwo (true histories/legends, stories of
  personal experience told for edification about
  the world, not art)
• liliu (sacred tales/myths, venerable and sacred,
  true)

21
Performance of Myth

• Denis Tedlock, Dell Hymes, Julie Cruickshank
• Oral literature, poetry
• Narrating a myth is a ritual
• Performative competence
• Form and content intertwined

22
Capturing oral performance

• Tape recorders, responsive audience
• Translations which produce similar effects
• Notate paralinguistic features (tone, volume,
  pitch, pause)

23
Guide to Reading Aloud

• She went out and
• went down to Waters End.
• On she went until
• she came to the bank
• and washed her clothes

24
Guide to Reading Aloud

• Up on the hills
• HE SAW A HERD OF DEER.
• The would sit king
• On he went.
• KERSPLASHHHHHH

girl wor
25
Guide to Reading Aloud

• aaaaaaAAAAAAH
• ta
• (gently) Now come with me.

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26
not primitive but poetic

• Our prose is realistic, poetry is evocative.
• Repetition is poetic parallelism (common in epic
  poetry)
• Dramatic stories