Concept Questions 6-9 Flashcards
Why is the study of religion so important to Anthropology?
Religion = truth
Why do Anthropologists sometimes refer to religion as ‘worldview’?
Because a world view is the explanation of reality and religions are different explanations of reality.
What is the rations explanation for the belief in the Sacred?
It is a culturally successful evolutionary trait
Explain the Sacred/Profane Dichotomy.
People live in two realities simultaneously
What is the purpose of the Hopi Snake Ceremony? What do the Hopi believe if it does not rain?
The Hopi was a native tribe that lived in New World America that were located in the four corners. Hopi Snake ceremony (Emic)/ Hopi rain dance(etic) is every couple of years they do it at the end of the summer and its a process of a couple of weeks. The Hopi shamans are responsible for the link to the reality of every day and the reality of the shaman.
Three Stages of Hopi
- Preparation - cleaned themselves from the everyday world Ex. fast, pray, sweat, chant
- Collection - Hunt and collect dangerous and aggressive snakes
- Prayer - The snakes captured from the Shaman they let them go so they can access connection to their gods.
When it doesn’t
In terms of the interaction between the Sacred and Profane, what is the main similarity between Traditional and Contemporary Cultures?
Both must balance the Sacred and profane
Holidays
Health
In terms of the interaction between the Sacred and Profane, what is the main difference between Traditional and Contemporary Cultures?
Holidays
Health
“The City of the Dead”
What is the connection between economic behavior and holidays in Contemporary Culture?
Holidays and economics create life out of balance because depending on the holiday they will need to go shopping for items that represent the contemporary meaning
What is the difference between healing and medicine?
Traditional: We heal the split in the Sacred and the Profane,
Contemporary: Using science is a rational approach to our health
What is the placebo effect? Why does this affect science?
Psych people to think that the things we take to get better has no physical effect at all, but has a chemical change. This effects science because scientists can’t prove why it happens.
Explain how and why Colma, California became “The City of the Dead.”
The people of San Francisco dug up cemeteries to remove the coffins of the dead to create more space in the city. They had a town named Colma that wanted the bodies buried in their town so they can charge San Francisco for the labor. That is why it is called the “City of the Dead.”
Why were the dead not disinterred at Mission Dolores or the Presidio?
Mission Dolores wasn’t disinterred because it was a historical landmark. So digging up the graves was going “too far.” Same with The Presidio was a US army base that was closed down and created into a park with a cemetery in it and it was too far to dig up the dead there.
What is the Etic and Emic explanations for
Etic explanation for anthropomorphism:
Helps us to feel closer/understand to God our need for social networks (pets)
Emic explanation of anthropomorphism:
This is the way that God looks and our pets feel
What are myths?
the social values embedded within RELIGION
Explain the importance of the Primeval Reality.
that reality in which all values originate.
