Magic, Science & Religion Anthropology 5

Spring 2014Katherine Schaefers, Instructor

Office: 3102OH: 9:30-10:00am Monday/Wednesday

The Anthropological Study of Religion

Chapter 1

• Film: “Inventing Reality”– We use Religion/Science/Spirituality for the same

goal:• The attempt to comprehend and control our

circumstances and our world

Anthropology

• The study of humanity– Greek: Anthropos (“Man”) logy (“study of”)

• Also, an integrated study of humanity– Holism: Integrating as many different aspects of

human society (like psychology, politics, religion, customs, institutions like marriage, funerary rituals, gender, subsistence economy, etc.) to create the most complete picture possible.

• Goal of Anthropology?– Why do we study other people? What can be gained?

“To make the strange familiar, and the familiar strange”

• Strangeness, the unfamiliar is scary and can lead to misguided feelings of anger and hate, which may eventually lead to warfare and death.– Most interpersonal or inter-group conflicts are

caused by a lack of understanding.– Discovering similarities between one’s own culture

and that of others leads to more harmonious relationships.

Anthropology’s Traditional Fields

• Physical– Human Biology and Evolution

• Genetics, DNA studies, evolutionary theory, primate behavior, paleontology, fossil record.• Evolutionary origins & the neurobiology of religious experience

• Archaeology– Physical and Cultural remains– Religion in remains of temples, art, ritual, artifacts, ancient texts.

• Linguistics– Origins and distribution of language– Many religious beliefs are passed down orally in the form of myths or other narratives.

• Cultural– Social organization, economics, technology, political organization, marriage, family life.– The study of Magic, Science and Religion falls under this sub-category.

• These 4 fields are rarely mutually exclusive & today’s anthropology scene is very fluid, often incorporating techniques from outside disciplines like psychology (study of the human psyche/mind) and sociology (study of human society).

Terms and techniques used by

Cultural Anthropologists Participant Observation: To truly understand a

culture, an anthropologist will usually study a culture for an extended period of time, sometimes taking many years. Oftentimes, the anthropologist will live within the community and partake in daily life and activities.

Ethnography: A Cultural Anthropologist’s work usually culminates into something called an Ethnography, or a written description of the studied society. These are usually published in books and journals.

Terms and techniques used by

Cultural Anthropologists cont.

• Culture Area: This class will make use of ethnographic material from around the world from locations that are termed “Culture Areas” or geographical areas where societies tend to share many traits, either because of similar responses to the environment or because of cultural diffusion (sharing of culture) between these groups.– Chart: pgs. 4-6 in book. Look through and make sure you can

identify the different culture areas and which groups inhabit them.– Ethnographic present: Cultures which may no longer exist (like

some Native American groups) will still be referred to in the present tense by Cultural Anthropologists.

A question of perspective:

The Fore of New Guinea• Problem: The Fore are a group of ~14,000 horticulturalists

(cultivators of domesticated plants without the use of modern agricultural techniques) from the Melanesia Culture Area who have had about 200 of their members die from mysterious causes each year. The locals call it Kuru or “to tremble with fear.” Jerking/shaking/unable to coordinate are the main symptoms. After 9 months, the individual is no longer able to eat or drink and soon dies. Women and children are mainly afflicted.

• Solution? If you were asked to look into this case, what would your first hypothesis be as to the cause of the affliction?– Think back to our film “Inventing Reality” and the interplay between

modern western medicine and traditional beliefs.

Holism solves it

• We must look to all aspects of the Fore’s society for the answer, specifically, their religious and funerary practices…

• Kuru is caused by an infectious agent that is ingested by family members when they consume the remains of their dead loved ones. To the Fore, the holiest, most sacred resting place for the deceased is within the bodies of their loved ones. The deceased’s remains would be cooked and distributed amongst family as a form of utmost respect. Women and children, having lower social status, were more likely to ingest the brain (the seat of the infectious agent).

Etic/Emic Analysis

• Etic Analysis: Viewing and labeling a culture with our own words and terms.– Advantages: Finding patterns that the studied group may be unaware of. Applying an Etic

Analysis to all cultures that you study makes it easier to identify Human Universals. Terms and categories can be made for new information to be nicely organized. Etic Analysis is mainly used in Anthropological studies.

– Etic Analysis: Kuru is caused by a virus in the afflicted’s bloodstream that is later ingested by family members.

• But what are bacteria, germs, diseases, a virus to the Fore? These are not only foreign words, but also foreign ideas.

• Emic Analysis: Viewing a culture through the eyes of the people being studied.– Advantages: Better understanding of the studied culture, but much, much harder to

attain. Argument: is it even possible to see through the eyes of another culture? To undo and place aside one’s own worldview and wholly adopt another? (HW question).

– Emic Analysis: Kuru is caused by Sorcery. The Sorcerer will obtain a personal belonging of the individual’s, combine it in a bundle with leaves, bark and stones and bury it in the cold muddy earth. The Sorcerer will then recite a spell and let the bundle rot. The individual then develops Kuru.

Cultural Relativism

• Cannibalism. Right/Wrong? Does context matter? Who gets to make up the rules?

Cultural Relativism cont.

The norms and values we grow up with seem right and correct

We use our own society as a base for judging others Thinking of others as simple, primitive, immoral, less-

than-human or somehow fundamentally “wrong” is how wars start and propaganda is spread.

Have you ever been in a situation where you found yourself in the role of “the other”. Have you ever been

stereotyped or judged based on another group’s values?

Western Society’s past attempts at getting to know other cultures

• Modernism: Began with the Renaissance and the Enlightenment.– A reaction to the superstition and hysteria of Europe’s

“Dark Ages” (The Witch hunt era that we will get into later).– Rationality, objectivity, reason can discover knowledge and

truth and lead to progress.• We can understand everybody/thing everywhere if we adhere to

these principles of logic.

– This is where our modern thoughts of linearity come from. Are we really more advanced/improved than previous generations?

For every movement, there is a

counter-movement!• Post-Modernism: No “true” knowledge, only subjective

and objective knowledge.– 1980s-Today– Knowledge as a human construction that we must

“deconstruct.”– Science is limited: it does not integrate multiple

viewpoints/truths. One must be aware of one’s own biases.– We cannot remove our cultural lens but we can become

more aware of it.• Both Modernism and Post-Modernism are Western

Society’s Etic ways of viewing other cultures.

What is

Culture?• The beliefs and behaviors of a society• Culture is learned• Culture is based on Symbols

Culture Gives Meaning to Reality

• Culture is the lens through which we view our world, it “invents” our reality

• Ex: What is a tree?

Exploration

• Yesterday’s in-class writing…1. What does religion mean to you?2. Do you hold any beliefs that you would consider

as being part of a spirituality/religion?3. How would you define religion? Why do we

need definitions?

ReligionAnother Slippery term

• A Western concept like work/economy/politics/technology.– In western society, Religion is mostly seen as a clearly

delineated aspect of society, separate from the other terms above. Not the case within all cultures.• Ex: the Fore, ancient Egypt

• Operant Definition– As Anthropology is a Social Science we need to make

sure the terms we use are observable and measureable and therefore can be studied.

Operant DefinitionsHow to define Religion within a Society

1. Functional: What function (or role) does religion have in society? – Does it provide a moral code? Explanations for

natural events?

2. Analytic: How is religion manifested in society?– Through Narratives? Rituals? Ethics?

3. Essentialist: What is the basic nature of religion?– What realm is “religion” in? The natural? The

supernatural?

The Sacred and Supernatural

• Sacred: Entitled to reverence and respect• Supernatural: “above the natural”– Not obeying the laws of nature as we know them.– Many times the supernatural is explained by

science, further blurring the line between religion and science.

Religion

Theoretical Frameworkspreview

• Cultural Anthropologists will traditionally pick one of the following 5 theoretical approaches to work under. • Evolutionary• Marxist• Functional• Interpretive• Psychosocial• See pgs. 16-21

Evolutionary• When/how religion began• This theory was introduced in the 1800s and went hand in hand with

Modernism and the Enlightenment.– Logic, science and Monotheism were the pinnacles of human achievement

• Western Society represented this pinnacle

– Positivism• The only real knowledge is scientific knowledge

• This approach generally carries a lot of negative baggage and is seen as outdated. – All other societies were seen as “primitive” compared to Western Society.

• The quest for Religion’s origins is still ongoing and many elements of Evolutionary Theory are now combined under the Psychosocial Approach…

Psychosocial

What is the connection between culture, personality, society and the individual?

Sigmund Freud Psychoanalysis

ChildParents = Adult Supernatural elements Nurturing/authority figure

The biological basis of religious behaviorDoes our brain create realities that are indistinguishable

from “reality,” whatever that means?

Marxist

• Developed in the 1800s around same time as the Evolutionary Approach

• Karl Marx – Religion as a construction of those in control of

society• Obey this religion & “us” and you will be happy

– A crutch for people too depressed by the miseries of capitalism.

Functional

• What role does religion serve in society?• Émile Durkheim– Collective Conscious: Religion serves to hinder selfish

tendencies of the individual and promote social cooperation. Symbols are a manifestation of the collective conscious and, when brought up during religious rituals, help to reinforce social cooperation.

• Radcliffe-Brown– Need group solidarity (Religion) in order for society to survive

• Bronislaw Malinowski– Magic and religion as emotional and mental support

Interpretive

• Developed in response to the Functional Approach.

• Clifford Geertz– The goal of the anthropologist should be to

discover meaning, not to look for origins and laws!– Based on the work of Max Weber, who was the

first to propose looking at culture through Emic Analysis.

For Monday

• Read Stein & Stein Ch 1