ANTHROP 2R03 Notes

Module 1

● Anthropologists look at graves specifically for more info.

○ There is a notable pattern in which the deceased is buried; something happens
between life and death which is symbolic, and meaningful.
○ The transition of one state of being to another
● Defining Religion
○ “The instituted process of interaction among members of society - and between them
the universe at large as they conceive it to be constituted - which provides them
with meaning, coherence, direction, unity, easement, and whatever degree of control
over events, they perceive as possible
○ A nineteenth century definition that many scholars still use is E.B. Tylor’s belief in
spiritual beings
○ Beliefs and actions related to supernatural beings and forces
○ All religions seek to answer questions that cannot be explained in terms of objective
knowledge - the many forms of adversity facing individuals and groups require
explanation and action
○ If this is the case, how have we theorized about how this happens throughout the
history of anthropology?
● Trying to Define Religion (Psychological)
○ Emphasizes what religion does psychologically
○ Melford Spiro - religious behavior reduces fears, and functions to reduce anxiety
○ Malinowski - religious rites reduce the anxiety brought on by crises
● Trying to Define Religion (Sociological)
○ Emphasizes the social origins of religion
○ Durkheim - religion as a manifestation of social solidarity; religious objects, rituals,
beliefs, symbols integrate into “one single moral community”
○ Radcliffe Brown - participation in religious rites increases social solidarity
● Trying to Define Religion (Anthropological)
○ Early theories - structuralism/evolutionism
■ E.B Tylor - the idea of animism, that the core of all religions is belief in
supernatural beings
■ James Frazer - in a comparative study, suggested human belief goes through
developmental stages from magic, to religion, to science
○ Mid 20th century - emphasis our relations between religious phenomena and other
aspects of society
 ○ Anthony Wallace - a topology of religious behavior based on the “cult institution” :
individualistic, shamanic, communal, ecclesiastical
○ Later theories - attempting to incorporate religious phenomena into wider spheres of
symbolic meaning
○ Clifford Geertz (1973):
■ 1) a system of symbols which act to
■ 2) establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in
humans by
■ 3) formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and
■ 4) clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that
■ 5) the moods and motivates seem uniquely realistic
● The Difficulting with Definitions
○ Can't be too narrow to be disqualifying, too broad as to be ineffective
○ Definitions tell us as much about the theoretical orientations of their authors as
anything: definitions are cultural products, and not “true” - but they are “good to
think” with
○ The goal is to expose and comprehend a culture’s embedded concepts, a people’s view
of reality - but can we use our concepts to talk about and understand others?
○ Tala Asad - religion and belief are western concepts: can they be used to understand
phenomena?
● Anthropology of Religion
○ Eller: what unifies religion with other social acts and organizations is the
physical/ritualistic and verbal behaviors, the concerns with good or correct action,
the desire to achieve certain goals or effects, and the establishment and perpetuation
of communities. What distinguishes religion is the object or focus of these actions.”
● Anthropology of Religion
○ For anthropologists, it’s useful to think in terms of what religion does, function to:
○ Fill needs, both individual and societal
○ Offer explanations
○ Provide rules, norms, and structure
○ Provide a means of societal control
○ Solution to immediate problems
● Anthropology of Religion
○ Contemporary anthropology of religion draws on numerous historical sources and
thinkers
○ From Durkheim - understanding religious phenomena as social, and the relationship
between religion and social order
○ From Marx - attention to power, fetishism
○ Weber - comparative perspective, and how religion relates to modernity
 ○ Other philosophers/theories - phenomenology. Literary criticism, cognitive
psychology, and performance theory
○ From participants/interlocutors in fieldwork: experiences and lessons learned shape
the way we ask questions.
● Anthropology of Religion - Holism
○ Characteristics of an anthropological approach
○ Holistic:
■ Culture is an integrated whole - can’t understand religious phenomena in a
society without understanding the whole: economics, kinship, etc.
● Anthropology of Religion - Relativism
○ Relativistic:
■ Each culture must be understood in terms of the values and ideas of that
culture, and not judged by the standard of another
■ Anthropology explores the ways religious practices are embedded in, or
complicit with, specific forms of sociality, regimes of power, historical
struggles, and modes of production (Lambek 2008)
● Anthropology of Religion - Comparativism
○ Comparative:
■ Particular ethnographic accounts must speak to each other
■ From Stanley Tambiah: use the particular to say something about the general
● Methods
○ How are religious phenomena studied?
■ Good anthropology understands that religious worlds are real, vivid, and
significant to those who construct and inhabit them and it tries, as artfully as
it can,to render those realities for others, in their sensory richness, and
philosophic depth, emotional range, and moral complexity
○ Methods in practice:
■ Ethnographies of religious phenomena are both descriptive and exp;antory
ethnographic fieldwork/participant observation
■ Not linear
■ A variety of information-gathering techniques involving various forms of
observation
■ Unobtrusive - full-scale participation
■ Recording small bits of informal daily conservations
■ Lengthy open-ended or semi-structured interviews
● Field Work Ethics
○ Anthropological; ethics that direct fieldwork from the american anthropological
association:
■ Do no harm
 ■ Be open and honest regarding your work
■ Obtain informed consent and necessary permission
■ Weigh competing ethical obligations and affected parties
■ Make your results accessible
■ Protect and preserve records
■ Maintain respectful and ethical professional relationships
● Challenges
○ How to empathically write/discuss ethnography if you or your colleagues disagree
with your interlocutors
○ Is cultural relativism moral relativism
○ How much to be involved? Can you be a leader?
○ Do you need to “convert” to do good ethnography?

Module 2 - Myths

➔ Myths
◆ Characteristics of myth distinguish them from other folk narrative forms like
legends or folktales
◆ 1) Set outside of normal time
◆ 2) Often account for the creation of a world
◆ 3) Characteristics are divine, semi-divine, not human but with human attributes
◆ 4) Language may be specific
◆ 5)Performance of the myth is often key
➔ Myths
◆ Geertz suggests that religions are systems of meaning that provide a:
● Model of life - how to understand the world
● Model for life - how to behave in the world
◆ Myths as symbolic stories work to help understand the world, and offer a model
of how to behave in it
➔ Myths
◆ A myth is a narrative involving supernatural forces or beings, held to be sacred
and true, and part of a larger ideological system
◆ Myths can be examined in relation to the social process and organization of
society, or finding symbols and themes that are universal
➔ Myths
◆ An anthropological approach looks at how nyth functions and its
culture-specific
◆ Malinowski: a myth is a charter for a society that expresses core beliefs and
teachers morality and social norms