Fundamentals of Anthropology

Lecture # 9
Religion and Magic

BS.PSY.4th SEM.
Ambrin Kosar
Visiting Lecturer
Department of Applied Psychology
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 Learning Objectives
You will be able:
 To understand the religious beliefs and practices.
 To describe the religion and social control.
 To describe the kinds of religion and witchcraft & sorcery.

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 Question to be Consider,

 What do you know about religion?

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 Meanings of Religion
 Religion is a major concern of man. It is one of the earliest
and deepest interest of man.
 It is universal.
 It is dateless, this is long before history began.
 Religion implies a relationship not merely between man and
man but also between man and some higher power.

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 Introduction of Religion

 Religions may be broadly understood as a means whereby

humans, recognizing the limitations of phenomenal reality,
undertake specific practices to effect self-transformation and
community cohesion within a cosmological context.

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 Introduction of Religion
 Religion a cultural universal describes beliefs and behavior
concerned with supernatural beings powers and forces in
compasses the feelings, meanings and congregations
associated with such beliefs and behavior.

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 Religious Beliefs & Practices
Anthropologist Anthony F. C. Wallace defined religion as
“belief and ritual concerned with supernatural beings,
powers, and forces”.
The supernatural is the extraordinary realm outside the
observable world. It is no empirical and inexplicable in
ordinary terms.

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 Religious Beliefs & Practices (Cont…)
The belief in the supernatural, which includes a variety of beings

Angels

Demons

Ghost

Gods

Souls

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 Animism
This
That infuses
Supernatural power is
humans,nature,
as unseen referred
belief
power as
system,inanimate
“mana”
things

Belief in a
supernatural power
is “animatism”

Belief in
supernatural being
“animism”
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 Rituals
 Rituals are formal ,standardized, repetitive and stereotyped.
People perform them in special places (sacred) places and at
set time.
 Rituals are social acts. Inevitably, some participants are more
committed than others are to the beliefs that lie behind the
rites.

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 Rites of Passage

 Magic and religion, can reduce anxiety and allay

fears.Ironically, beliefs and rituals also can create anxiety and
a sense of insecurity and danger. Anxiety may arise because a
rite exists. Indeed, participation in a collective ritual may build
up stress, whose common reduction through the completion
of the ritual, enhances the solidarity of the participants.

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 Rites of Passage (Cont…)
 All rites of passage have three phases: separation, liminality,
and incorporation, as van Gennep described.
 The transition (liminal) phase is the period between stages,
during which one has left one place or state but has not yet
entered or joined the next.

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 Difference b/w Rituals & Rites

Ritual seems to be an umbrella term pointing to a religious

ceremony or even a daily activity as long as the acts involved
occur in a fixed manner whereas a Rite usually means one
particular act as part of a ceremony, often with a series of
repeated or cooperative movements.

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 Totemism

Totemism according Durkheim

 Totemism is one of the earliest and simplest form of religious
practices.
 it is most commonly found among aboriginal peoples , such
as the Australian aborigines ,and North West Native America
Indians , who have clan based societies.

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 Religion and Social Control
 Emile Durkheim argued that religion provides social cohesion
and social control to maintain society in social solidarity.
 Collective consciousness, which is the fusion of all of our
individual consciousnesses, creates a reality of its own. ... For
example, religion may incite violence by a
fundamentalist religious group.

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 Social Control
 From Hunter-Gatherer Bands to the United Nations.
 Anthropologists define social control broadly as any
means used to maintain behavioral norms and regulate
conflict. Conflict and the violation of cultural norms are
problems faced by all human societies, small and large.
Sanctions are a common solution.

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 Types of Social Control
 Formal control: Law, legislation, military force, police force,
administrative devices, political, educational, economic
(industry) etc.
 Informal control: Public opinion, sympathy, sense of justice,
norms, values, folkways, mores, customs, religion, morality,
fashion, etc.

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 Forms of Religious Beliefs

 Animism
 Polytheism
 Monotheism

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 Animism

 The belief that the natural world, as a whole or in parts, has a

soul or spirit.
 As a whole = World Spirit, Mother Earth, Gaia
 In parts = rocks, trees, springs, and animals all have individual
spirits

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 Polytheism

 Belief in more than one deity

 Seen in a variety of types:
 Death/Birth/Rebirth deity
 Water deity
 Solar deity
 Sky deity (celestial)

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 Monotheism

 Monotheism is the belief in one god.

 Some First Nations traditions in North America were
polytheistic, but after the arrival of Christian missionaries,
they leaned toward monotheism.

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 Kinds of Religion
There are six major Religions ?

 Taoism
 Buddhism
 Hinduism
 Christianity
 Judaism
 Islam

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 Religion and Magic
Magic uses a couple of principles:
Imitation
States that if one acts
out what one wants to
happen then the
likelihood of that
occurring increases.
E.g. Roman Catholic
Infant Baptism in the
United States
Contagion
States that things that
been in contact with
the supernatural
remain connected to
the supernatural.
E.g. . Voodoo dolls are
the classic example of
the law of contagion.
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 Forms of Magic
Divination: the use of ritual to obtain
answers to questions from supernatural
sources, e.g., oracle bones, tea leaves, way a
person falls, date of birth, etc.

Those results Those results

that can be that can not
influenced by be influenced
diviner. by diviner.
(Tarot cards, (Casting lots,
tea leaves) flipping a coin)

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 Witchcraft and Magic

Many people view witchcraft as a low magic that deals with

practical matters. This magic focuses on spell casting and often
includes blood magic. This magic can be either white or black
magic, depending on the person or witch performing the magic.

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 Sorcery
The practice of malevolent magic, derived from casting
lots as a means of divining the future in the ancient
Mediterranean world". Most scholars always assume
that sorcery as a whole is always malevolent, but that
witch craft can be good or evil. Usually,
the sorcerer and sorcery are feared by society.

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 Further Readings
 Kenneth G.C. Newport,(2006). The Branch Davidians of Waco.
The History and Beliefs of an Apocalyptic Movement (London:
Oxford University Press. 
 Kottak, Conrad Philip, (2002). The Exploration of Human
Diversity, McGraw Hill. (9th ed).

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 Questions and Answers

 In case of any query?

 You can contact me at: ambreen@uosahiwal.edu.pk

 Your Query will be answered within one working day

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Thank You

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