Chapter 13 Spirituality, Religion, and Shaminism

Question 1

Religion plays an important role in

Answer 1

determining cultural identity in many societies

Question 2

worldview

Answer 2

the collective body of ideas that members of a culture generally share concerning the ultimate shape and substance of their reality.

Question 3

Religion and/or spiritual practices are used to fulfill numerous social and psychological needs (5 examples)

Answer 3

Reduce anxiety
Reinforces community values and moral guidelines
Offers narrative and rituals used to conform a social hierarchy
Sanction Power
Assist in reaching a specific goal

Question 4

Religion is best defined in anthropology as:

Answer 4

Organized system of ideas about the spiritual sphere or the supernatural.
Often has associated ceremonial practices by which people try to interpret or influence aspects of their universe.

Question 5

Religious specialists

Answer 5

hold specific rights to contact and influence supernatural beings and manipulate supernatural forces

Question 6

Priests and Priestesses

Answer 6

Full-time specialists who have been formally recognized for their role in the guiding of religious practices for others

Question 7

Shaman definition and motivation (why?)

Answer 7

a part-time specialist who may enter into an altered state of consciousness to contact and utilize an ordinarily hidden reality.
They do this in order to acquire knowledge, power, and to help others

Question 8

Rituals

Answer 8

culturally prescribed symbolic acts of procedures designed to guide members of a community.

Question 9

Taboo

Answer 9

a prohibition, which, if not observed, leads to a penalty inflicted by magic, spiritual force, or religion

Question 10

Rites of Purification

Answer 10

Rites that establish or restore purity.
May involve one person, but usually a group or community affair.
Symbolic act with spiritual or religious meaning.

Question 11

Rites of passage

Answer 11

important periods in ones life such as birth, marriage, and death that individuals may enter at differing times in their lives

Question 12

Three stages of rites of passage

Answer 12

Separation
Transition
Incorporation

Question 13

Separation (stage in rite of passage)

Answer 13

the ritual removal of the individual from society.

Question 14

Transition (rite of passage stage)

Answer 14

isolation of the individual following separation and prior to incorporation into society.

Question 15

Incorporation (rite of passage stage)

Answer 15

reincorporation of the individual into society in his or her new status

Question 16

Rites of intensification

Answer 16

ritual that takes place during a crisis in the life of the group and serves to bind individuals together

Question 17

Magic

Answer 17

specific formulas and actions used to compel supernatural powers to act in certain ways for good or evil purposes

Question 18

Magic is a possible way to

Answer 18

gain control over uncontrollable situations

Question 19

Divination

Answer 19

a magical procedure for determining the cause of a particular event, such as illness, or foretelling the future

Question 20

Witchcraft

Answer 20

the belief that certain individuals possess an innate psychic power capable of causing harm, including sickness and death.

Question 21

Pilgrimage

Answer 21

Traveling, often on foot, to a sacred or holy site to reach for enlightenment prove devotion, and/or experience a miracle.

Question 22

Desecration

Answer 22

ideologically inspired violation of a sacred site intended to inflict harm, if only symbolically, on people judged to have impure, false, or even evil beliefs and ritual practices.

Question 23

Revitalization Movements aim to

Answer 23

reform not just the religious sphere of activity but may also impact an entire cultural system.

Question 24

Revitalization movements characterized by

Answer 24

social movements, often of a religious nature, with the purpose of totally reforming a society

Question 25

Syncretism

Answer 25

the creative blending of indigenous and foreign beliefs and practices into new cultural forms

Question 26

Secularization

Answer 26

is a process of cultural change in which a population tends towards a nonreligious worldview, ignoring or rejecting institutionalized spiritual beliefs and rituals