Religion and Scoiety Lecture Notes PDF

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Notes for all religion & society lectures (slides + extra information said by professor)...

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Module 1 What is Anthropology ● Anthropology ● Anthropology is the study of humankind ● Anthropologists study societies as systemic sums of their parts, as integrated wholes ○ They take a holistic approach to the study of human societies ● There are 4 major fields in anthropology: ○ Physical anthropology ○ Archeology ○ Linguistic anthropology ○ Cultural anthropology ● Holism ● Holism: Viewing “human societies as systemic sums of their parts, as integrated wholes” ○ Holistic approaches look at the systemic relationships between two or more phenomena ● Holism is studying human societies in relation to various societal systems ○ Studying human societies as “integrated-wholes” ● The approach is often divided into the 4 areas of anthropology ● The Holistic Approach requires lengthy research in the community of interest ● Methodologies ● Ethnography: The descriptive study of human societies ○ Participant Observation - Going in the society and documenting everything ○ Ethnographic present - Documentation is written in the present tense ○ Student introduced to small-scale societies ● Etic Perspective: The study of a society using concepts that were developed outside of the culture ○ Pros: ■ Helps to compare different societies ○ Cons: ■ Could miss key understandings of that society ■ Using foreign concepts to evaluate a society could cause us to miss something ● Emic Perspective: The study of a society through the eyes of the people being studied ○ Pros: ■ Build a richer understanding of this society through their own eyes ○ Cons: ■ Very subjective, may not be able to understand it fully as a foreigner ● Ethnocentrism vs Cultural Relativism ○ Ethnocentrism: Judging and interpreting another culture with one’s own cultural lens ○ Cultural Relativism: Attempting to analyze and understand cultures without one’s own cultural lens ○ Examples:

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Death rights: ● We bury our dead out of respect ● Other societies eat their dead, we see that as grotesque ● For them it is because they want that person to be a part of them forever ● THEY may see US burying our dead as wrong, keeping our dead farther away from us ○ Cultural Relativism is removing our own bias from our own culture Case study: The Fore and Kuru ○ New Guinea (Melanesia Culture Area) ○ Disease broke out that mainly affected women and children of the Fore ○ The Fore called this disease Kuru, meaning “to tremble with fear” ○ Medical team determined that Kuru was spread due to an infectious agent called a prion ■ Couldn’t determine how it was transmitted ■ Anthropologists to investigate using holistic approach ○ Anthropologists determined it was being transmitted through cannibalism ○ Fore custom is to eat their dead ■ Cooking the meat does not kill he prions ■ Because women and children are of lower status in society, they would be given the brain making them more susceptible to kuru ○ For the Fore, kuru was the result of sorcery ■ Medical science conflicted with their worldview ○ Impact of kuru ■ Loss of women ■ Men taking on domestic duties

○ What is Religion ● The Problem with defining religion - a definition that is too narrow (too exclusive) or too vague (too inclusive) ● Need an Operant Definition in order to observe and measure religion ○ Analytic Definitions ○ Functional Definitions

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○ Essentialist Definitions Analytic Definitions of Religion ○ Ninan Smart’s 6 dimensions of religion: ■ The institutional dimension (organization and leadership) ■ The narrative dimension (myths, creation stories, worldview) ■ The ritual dimension (rites of passage and other important ritual activities) ■ The social dimension (religion being a group activity that binds people together) ■ The ethical dimension (customs, moral rules) ■ The experiential dimension (religion involving experiences of a sacred reality that is beyond ordinary experience) Functional Definitions of Religion ○ Focus on the social and/or psychological function of religion

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Limitation: difficult to separate religion from non-religion with this definition (too inclusive) Essentialist Definitions of Religion ○ “Religion is a system of beliefs and behaviours that deals with the relationship between humans and the sacred supernatural” ■ Looks at the essential nature of religion - the extraordinary ○ Supernatural: Things that are beyond the natural ○ Sacred: A subject or object that is set apart from the ‘normal’ world, that is entitled to reverence and respect ○ Edward Burnett Tylor - E.B. Tylor ■ Religion = animism (1871) ■ Animism: The belief in spirit beings ● ie. Spirits and Ghosts ■ Limitations: Ethnocentric, sees societies with animism as primitive ○ Limitations: Too narrow, too exclusive, reductionist What is religion? (for this course) ○ Religion: is an aspect of culture that concerns the sacred and the supernatural ■ It is a human construct that is characterized by a set of beliefs and practices ○ Characteristics include: ■ Anthropomorphic supernatural beings ■ Sacred supernatural ■ Supernatural power or energy ■ Rituals

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Worldview or Moral code Social Bonds / Social Control

Tylor ○ Tylor’s theories were untestable, because we could not go back in time to interview paleolithic humans ○ So he used contemporary examples to test his theory, such as tribes in Africa ○ However, this was at a time that these tribes were responding to European colonialism, struggling against Christianity or attempting to adapt with it, which isn't an accurate representation of paleolithic human religion ○ As societies develop: Animism < Polytheism < Monotheism < Scientific Rationalism (atheism) ○ Tylor ignored the Roman Empire, very advanced but poletheistic Freud ○ Both OCD and religion are concerned with purity, guilt, and repetition ○ Religion = Illusion, Religion = wishful thinking ○ Religion stems from childhood desires for a father figure ○ We know we are going to die some day, so we create defense mechanisms (religion) to cope with this fact Emile Durkheim ○ Lived in France during industrial revolution, rise of capitalism ○ Individualism: Capitalism allows us to make our own choices ■ If we fail, we feel even worse than if we didnt have a choice and failed ○ Excessive Hope: Capitalism increases envy/jealousy, causes us to have constant hope and think that tragedy and suffering isnt normal ○ Too much freedom ○ Atheism Marx ○ Marx thought religion was an escape for people to believe that the current status quo was as God intended, that it had a deeper meaning, and offered them an escape from the harsh reality of being factory workers (for example) ○ King legitimates his power (status quo) by using religion ○ Religion can cause social change, but also suppress social change Geertz ○ Religion is a system of symbols that aim to create pervasive and long lasting moods ○ Espouse ideals such as love, peace, universal brotherhood ○ Coca Cola fits this definition, their ads and branding

Module 2 What are Myths? ● Myths: Myths are sacred religious stories that provide the basis for religious beliefs, motivations, and practices

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They are sacred stories and are regarded as factual They include supernatural elements. These stories don’t necessarily take place in our world. Oral vs Written Transmission ○ Myths are depicted and transmitted in various manners ■ Performances ■ Art, music, and dance ■ Tests and oral narratives ○ Oral transmission vs written transmission ■ Myths transmitted orally are often part of a smaller scale tradition ■ There are often many different versions of the myth ■ These myths may also be adapted by different cultures The Qur’an ○ Literally means, the Recitation ○ Word of God as recited by the prophet muhammad ○ Similar retellings of myths found in Judaism and Christianity ○ Central to muslim belief and practice ○ Central to Muslim ethics Joseph Campbell ○ A hero is someone who has given their life for something greater than themself ○ A hero is someone who has found/achieved/done something beyond the normal range of achievement or experience ○ 2 types of deeds heroes do ■ Physical deed (ex. saving a life, sacrificing himself for another) ■ Spiritual hero: learned or found a mode of experiencing something supernormal and then coming back and communicating it ■ It's a cycle: A going and a return ○ Dragon = your ego, locking you in, preventing you from getting riches of life ○ Mythology is how individual finds place in world Ethnosphere = Humanity’s great legacy, all cultures, etc 50% of all languages are no longer spoken Every 2 weeks a language dies Vudu = Sub Saharan African religions Native american religions see animals as alive, sentient, not as dumb food like in Abrahamic religions Claud Levy Strauss ○ Binaries: Culture is build on binaries like male and female, cooked and raw, etc Mircea Eliade ○ Binaries ○ Sacred vs Profane ○ Archaic vs Modern ○ Myths allow us to reconnect with sacred Wendy Doniger ○ Said to look at context in which myth is told

● Module 3 What are religious symbols? ● Symbols ● Symbols: A shared understanding about the meaning of certain words, attributes, or objects ○ Symbols stands for something else ○ They shape how we see and interpret our realities ● Symbols carry a certain meaning that is usually only recognized by a particular culture (or subculture) ● Written, spoken, or non-verbal such as gestures ● Found in images, physical objects, or artistic expressions ● Clifford Geertz ○ Culture denotes a historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms, by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about attitudes and life ● David Schneider

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○ Religious Symbols Religious Symbols: Symbols with meaning particular to a religious tradition ○ They can be found in myths, art, architecture, material culture ○ They can be words: written, spoken, or gestured

Module 4 What is a Religious Ritual? ● Ritual: A patterned, recurring sequence of behaviours ○ Contains set of smaller rituals as well (ex morning routine: the way you brush your teeth, how you make your coffee) ● Religious Ritual: A ritual that involves manipulation of religious symbols ○ Such as prayers, offerings, sacrifices, and reading sacred literature ● Rituals can be both private and public ○ Public rituals reinforce group acceptance and facilitate group belonging ● Religious Practice ● Two elements of Religious Practice: ○ Ritual ○ Myth What are some types of Religious Rituals? ● Prescriptive Rituals: A ritual that a deity or religious authority requires to be performed ○ ex. Prayer, keeping Sabbath holy ● Situational Rituals (AKA Crisis Rituals): a ritual that arises as needed, frequently in times of crisis ○ ex. Collective service after mass shooting ● Periodic Rituals (AKA Calendrical Rituals): rituals that are performed on a regular basis as part of a religious calendar ○ Ex. Christmas, Diwali ● Occasional Rituals: a ritual that is performed when an occasion arises ○ Ex. Dance to bring rain, Ritual to protect crops from insects/animals ○ Births, coming of age ceremonies, weddings, death rituals ● ● Rites of Passage ● Rites of Passage: a ritual that involves the transition from one status to another. This ritual serves to legitimize the new status and to imprint it on the community’s collective memory. ○ Often public ○ Religious or Secular (ex. marriage) ● Status: a social position that is defined in terms of appropriate behaviour, rights, and obligations, and its relationship to other statuses ○ Husband, Wife, Mother, Adult, Teacher, Student, Graduate, etc. ● Ideological ritual, serves to maintain the status quo ● Based around the way things “ought to be” ○ Ex. marriage = having husband, having children Rites of passage have three phases: Phase 1 is Separation: which is characterized by the individual being removed from their former status

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Marriage Example: This phase occurs after the proposal up until the actual wedding ceremony.

Phase 2 is Transition: which is the process of moving from one status to another. ●

Marriage Example: The actual wedding ceremony, up until the bride and groom say, "I do."

Phase 3 is the Incorporation Phase: which occurs when the individual is reintroduced to the community with their new status. ●

Marriage Example: When the Bride and Groom are accepted by their guests as a married couple.

● Module 5 What is a religious experience? ● What is a religious experience? ● Religious Experiences: any type of experience that the subject deems religiously significant ○ “sensations, emotions, conceptual thought, intuitions, hallucinations, dreams, ecstatic states of great joy, and moments of serene calm” (G.E. Kessler) ○ They are subjective and can manifest on various emotional and psychological levels ● Altered States of Consciousness (ASC): any state that differs from our normal state ● What are some types of Religious Experience? ● Religious Experience in Islam ● Muhammad was in dream like state when he recieved message from angel Gabriel

Module 7 What is Magic? ● What is Magic? ● Magic: The ways in which a person can compel the supernatural to behave in certain ways ○ Rituals are important in order to get the supernatural to do their bidding ○ Magic can be used for Good or Bad ■ The person who uses magic for bad is called a Sorcerer and is considered anti-social ● Religious Specialists may use magic in their various activities ○ Ex. Healers may use magic to heal an individual ● Divination is closely related to magic ○ Trying to gain information about the unknown ● Magic and Religion ● Is magic separate from religion? ● E.B. Tylor

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○ Magic is separate from Religion ○ Magic is a “primitive science” ○ Magic is not religion because no spirits are involved James Frazer ○ Magic is a “primitive science” ○ Evolutionary perspective (magic -> religion -> science) ○ Persuasion of supernatural beings vs manipulation of supernatural forces Magic and Religion Is magic separate from religion? Emile Durkheim ○ Agreed that magic can be distinguished from religion but focused on social context ○ Individual Needs vs Collective Needs ○ Magic needs = individual ○ Religion needs = collective ○ There is no church of magic, but every religion has a church Bronisław Malinowski ○ Purpose of magic vs religion ○ Magic is used for a specific purpose, but religion is not Our operant definition is broad enough to study magic as religion Magic has a clear aim and the outcome is guaranteed when performed correctly ○ Magic is the manipulation of supernatural forces In religion, you can ask but may not receive ○ Religion is the persuasion of supernatural being Rules of Magic (Frazer 1890) Law of Sympathy: Magic depends on the apparent association or agreement between things Two parts: ○ Law of Similarity: things that are alike are the same ■ gives rise to Homeopathic, or imitative, magic ○ Law of Contagion: things that were once in contact continue to be, even after connection is severed ■ gives rise to Contagious magic Imitative Magic Imitative Magic assumes a causal relationship between things that appear to be similar ○ Similarity can be physical or behaviour (ex. rain dance) Image magic is a type of Imitative magic ○ Characterized by making an image to represent a living person or animal and the desired end ○ Ex. Voodoo Doll Homeopathic Magic (Imitative Magic) Homeopathic Medicine or Alternative Medicine ○ Uses Law of Similarity

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Doctrine of Signatures: belief that physical structures found in nature, such as the shape of a plant, are indicative (or signatures) of their potential use in healing (or overall health) ■ Ie. The supernatural embedded messages in nature Homeopathic Magic: Beng Women of the Ivory Coast, West Africa ○ Pregnant women: ■ Cannot eat meat from the Bushbuck Antelope or her child will be born with stripes ■ Enemas use slippery leaves from a vine to depict an easy childbirth ■ Careful of behaviours so as to not pass onto child (ex. stealing) Contagious Magic Magic that is based on the law of contagion, utilizing things that were once in physical contact with an individual ○ The more personal the item, the more the connection Contagious magic for healing and harming ○ Ex. passing disease from person to object Magic in Society - Fore The fore believed that the disease kuru was caused by sorcery Sorcerer would use contagious magic to cause illness ○ Makes a bundle with leaves and the hair, nails, or excrement of the victim ○ Would bury along with leaves in the muddy could ground ○ Beats the bundle with a stick and calls the victim’s name ○ Cast Spell: “I break the bones of your arms, I break the bones of your hands,... and finally I make you die!” In Fore society, people go out of their way to hide possible remnants What is Divination? Divination Divination: Techniques used to reveal the unknown and predict outcomes ○ Like magic, Divination is another way for people to deal with uncertainty - being able to anticipate what’s ahead ■ Make decisions accordingly ○ Magical rituals used to manipulate the supernatural world to provide information ○ Forms of divination are based on the idea that everything is interconnected ■ Magic also acts on the premise that things are connected ● Imitation magic & contagious magic ○ Magic is based on the manipulation of these connections ○ Divination is based on observing these connections Divination: Forms ○ Inspirational Divination: A type of divination that involves a “supernatural experience”, such as a direct contact with a supernatural being through an ASC ■ Also referred to as Natural or Emotive divination ■ ex. Medium; Possession ○ Noninspirational Divination: Types of divination that are performed without the direct involvement of supernatural beings

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■ Also referred to as Artificial divination ■ This form uses elements of magic ■ It is interpretive; reading natural events ■ Ex. Oracles (device used for divination) Fortuitous Divination: Occurs without any conscious effort ○ Ex. Omens Deliberate Divination: Someone sets out to do it ○ Ex. Tarot readings Four Categories: ○ Fortuitous Noninspirational (ex. Omens - Spoiled Milk in the morning) ○ Deliberate non inspirational (ex. Tarot and Astrology) ○ Fortuitous Inspirational (ex. Necromancy and Possession) ○ Deliberate Inspirational (ex. Medium and Possession) Divination: African Traditional Religions ○ Involves communication with the gods/spirits/ancestors ○ Often part-time religious specialists ○ Chosen by the spirit world ○ Receives training in local divination techniques ○ Identify cause of illness or hardship Divination: Yoruba Ifa Divination ○ Ifa, or Orunmila, is the god of divination and wisdom, and is called upon in the divination ceremony ○ Religious specialist: Priests + Priestesses (representing various Orisa/gods) ○ The Ifa Divination tray represents the image of the original world order (imitative magic)

Module 8 ● What is a Soul? ● The Soul is a non-corporeal (not of body), spiritual component of an individual ○ The term “Soul” is usually reserved for the spirit that is connected to the body ○ It is believed that the soul animates the body ○ The soul may take on the personality of the individual OR the individual may take on the personality of the soul (or maybe a combination of both) ● Life After Death: Souls have some sort of existence after death (at least for some duration of time) ● Souls & the Body ● It is believed that Souls leaves the body during: ○ Comas ○ Faints ○ Trance states ○ Dreams ● Illness may be due to the soul leaving the body and getting lost ○ In healing, the Shaman will retrieve the soul for the victim

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