lecture 4

Question 1

T/F the origin of anthropology is rooted in colonial enterprise

Answer 1

true:
europeans considered indg people as degenerate and thought they had regressed from a formly civilized state after their migration from the “holy land”

created the basis for the comparative and evolutionary perspective of the 1st anthropologists

Question 2

19th century anthropologists thought that cultural diversity had ___ history of development from ___ to ___

Answer 2

unilinear

simple to complex

Question 3

what anthropologist had an interest in the evolution of religion

Answer 3

Edward Taylor

Question 4

what is unilineal evolution

Answer 4

the idea that there’s a set sequence of cultural stages that all societies will pass though (although the pace of progress through these stages vary)

Question 5

what was cultural evolution like in western society

Answer 5

19th century evolutionism saw western society as the most advanced society.
western colonialism was justified as helping less advanced people advance to more civilized stages
(savagery -> barbarism -> civilization)

Question 6

what’s the importance of Edward Taylor

Answer 6

• travelled through americas in 1800s to observe cultures
• strongly influenced by cultural evolutionism
• 1877 book called primitive culture

Question 7

what is animism

Answer 7

• animism (to Taylor) is the “animation of all nature”
• most basic form of religious belief
• it is the belief system that all things possess a spirit
• natural religion based on universal vitality

Question 8

taylor explained animism as the outcome of a set of three logical steps in religious belief:

Answer 8

1.) spirit in humans
2.) spirit leaves it in death
3.) animals (and other objects) have similar dimensions as humans

Question 9

Taylor’s cultural evolutionist approach viewed animism as:

Answer 9

simpliest form of religion that is eventually superseded by more complex forms in a unlinear sequence that all cultures will eventually proceed

(animism -> polytheism -> monotheism)

Question 10

time periods and their religions (chart)

Answer 10

Upper paleolithic =
- totemism + animism

Early farming =
- animism + polytheism

Early states =
- polytheism + monotheism

Question 11

who developed the concept of functionalism

Answer 11

Emile Durkheim

developed it as an explanation for social behaviours and social organization

Question 12

what is functionalism

Answer 12

views society kinda like biological parts working together for a body

all work together to produce a functioning and healthy society

functions to maintain well-being of structures/social groups

Question 13

religious beliefs vs. religious rites

Answer 13

BELIEFS
- representations that express the nature of sacred things and their relations either between each other or profane things

RITES
- rules of conduct which prescribe how one should behave in the presence of a sacred thing

Question 14

Durkheim said __ and __ are the centre of all religious beliefs

Answer 14

sacred and profane

Question 15

what are sacred things

Answer 15

things isolated and protected by powerful words and actions

Question 16

what are profane things

Answer 16

those which must remain at a distance from their sacred counterparts

Question 17

Durkheim explained religious belief as arising from the needs of society and ensured its long-term
survival. He conceived that religion serves society
by providing:

Answer 17

1.) Discipline
- encouraging prosocial behaviour
2.) Cohesion
- via collective rituals to create community and bonds
3.) Vitalization
- maintenance of traditions
4.) Euphoria
- collective ritual practice to remind people of the importance of the social group

Question 18

what is totemism

Answer 18

system of belief that humans share kinship with a spirit-being (such as an animal or plant)

Durkheim argued that totemism was the earliest form of religious belief

Question 19

The __ interacts or influences the kin group and individual members, and to serves as symbol of the group

Answer 19

totem

totem comes from the Ojibwa language - members of the totem are typically prohibited from consuming that animal as it is sacred

Question 20

how is neo-animism described

Answer 20

Neo-animism agrees that all living beings have selves,

Tim Ingold = Animism, in Ingold’s view, is best thought of as a set of beliefs and experiences that see the world as alive, and constantly in state of becoming

Question 21

the two fundamental philosophical concepts of the study of religious belief are

Answer 21

ONTOLOGY
- study + understanding of the nature of reality and what exists in the world

EPISTEMOLOGY
- the way we know things (theory of knowledge)

Question 22

what are shamans

Answer 22

religious practitioners who mediate between the spirit and material world

they should be able to engage in a two-way communication or merge spirits at will (with or without trace)

shamanism is NOT a religion, it’s a practice

shamans can sometimes heal

Question 23

case study: The Yanomami

Answer 23

• indg people living in Amazon
• portrayed as fundamentally violent war-like people in Chagnon 1968 book
• misrepresentative
• Chagnon defended his work by calling it “activist anthropologists” who were concerned
• Yanomami’s traditions are based around supernatural world w animism and shamanism
• substance (eben) used by shaman to facilitate access to the spirit world

Question 24

what is the supernatural world

Answer 24

compromised belief in any one or more of god, gods, etc., dead ancestors, and other spirits who may be interested, disinterested, benevolent or malevolent

Question 25

algonquian rock art of central and eastern canada importance

Answer 25

considered to date from the last 3000 years onwards 1900s EVOLUTIONISM - suggested rock art was grounded in shamanism - then grounded in evolutionism. - functions as a method of transferring social values through religious imagery - communicate knowledge 1980s - researches rely on oral traditions to contextualize rock art - Vastokas (from trent) early pioneer for this 2000s - relationships in community are governed by ethical and moral principles. - rock images were multifunctional