Religion Flashcards
Who was Durkheim and why were they important?
He was a sociologist who realized that religion wasn’t just belief in the supernatural, but also a set of practices and social institutions that brings community members together.
Who was Sir Edward Tylor?
Created the first anthropological description of animism. Believed that ordinary parts of the human experience like dreaming created basis for spirituality.
Additionally, believed that religions evolved from animism to be more sophisticated.
What is animatism?
Religions based on the idea that plants, animals, inanimate objects, weather, have a spiritual or supernatural element to them.
What is a voodoo doll? How does it work?
A replicate of a person that is used for magic, often to either do harm, or more usually, for healing.
Use both imitative and contagious magic.
What is the difference between imitative and contagious magic?
Imitative - envisioning a result and then getting it
Contagious - power being transferred from object to user
What is a taboo?
Things that you shouldn’t do. In baseball, often come from something different that one did that led to an undesirable result.
What is a ritual?
Something that should be done, leading to a desired result.
Can be religious (like baseball players putting on right before left shoe) or secular (like singing O Canada in the morning)
What is the supernatural?
Not natural. Not people or any other earthly beings.
What are priests?
Full time religious practitioners that act as intermediaries between human and supernatural being (God).
What is a myth?
A false story, often passed down orally.
What are abstract forces?
Impersonal supernatural forces.
Like the “mana” from Oceania, or the force from Star Wars.
What is zoomorphism?
When a supernatural being is in the form of an animal.
What are rites of passage?
A ceremonial event that marks passage from one state of life to another.
What are the three phases of rites of passage? Briefly describe each.
Separation - individuals are separated from community and stripped of their own personal identity.
Liminality - Tests and trials, often testing the limits of the body.
Incorporation - Reincorporating into society with new/redefined social status
What are the three different types of rites? Briefly describe each.
Rites of Passage - rite marking transition from one state of life to another
Rites of Intensification - rite used to bring members of community together. For example, Nagol land diving in Vanuatu.
Rites of Revitalization - rite used to solve some kind of problem. Ex. John Frum.
Describe the John Frum ritual.
During WW2, American soldiers were stationed on the island of Tanna, bringing with them many material goods. The people of Tanna believed that a spirit named John Frum was bringing these goods.
When the war ended, the Americans left and took goods with them. People of Tanna created a ritual in hopes of attracting John Frum and his wealth back to the island.
Ritual includes recreating American army boats, soldiers, and machinery.
What is sacrifice?
The offer of something to please the supernatural.
Ex. lamb to give to the needy
Define socialization.
The practice of actively learning the values, norms and rules of society.
What does the Azande showcase in regards to how magic can be warped in society.
Basically they believe that if something bad happens to you or your crops, its because a witch (male or female) put a curse on you.
Anyone can be accused of being a witch EXCEPT for the chiefs.
Enforces power dynamics within society, protecting the chiefs.
What do sports represent?
Other than being a leisure activity, can be a method of reproducing ideologies.
For example, when the Trobriander islanders took the colonizer game of cricket and made it their own as a form of resistance.
Additionally, the popularity of certain sports and attitudes of certain sports reflect the attitudes of society.
ex. the emphasis on QB in American FB showcasing American Individualism vs. the concept of WA in Japanese Baseball, showcasing the importance of teamwork in Japanese society.
What is the difference between performing culture and cultural performance?
Performing culture - how culture is expressed day to day. How people dress, act, speak, eat, etc.
Cultural performance - literal performance of song, dance to an audience.
What is hegemony?
The idea that your culture is squeezing you into a box and has complete authority over you.
Define front space vs back space.
Front - Spaces where we can control how audience perceives actors
Back - Where these pretenses can be dropped.
For example.
Front space - when a waiter clocks in to shift
Back space - when waiter goes home and doesn’t have to use customer service voice
Define social drama. What are the 4 stages?
Disharmonic social process that leads to social conflict.
Breach, crisis, redressive action, and reintegration
What is a bounded performance?
Like a play or movie, different from everyday life. It is bounded and analyzable.
How does the TV show Homeland tie into the conversation of performance?
Stereotypical depiction of Muslims and Arabs as terrorists, hired an Arab graffiti artist to do graffiti as background in show.
Show aired and it was seen that the artist wrote words like “Homeland is racist”, being a sort of protest.
Describe some of the politics in the art world.
People in power determine what is considered as art.
ex. museum directors, governments
What is art by intention?
Something that was intended to be a piece of art by the creator (ex. painting or sculpture)
What is the concept of Wa?
It is a Japanese concept meaning “harmony” that they use to direct their society. Meaning they want everyone to work and live together in peace.
What is collective effervescence?
First mentioned by Durkheim and is described as a passion or energy that arises when people share similar thoughts and feelings, usually after performing a ritual.
like how people get possessed in church
What did Bronislaw Malinowski observe in terms of religion.
Observed the Trobriand Islander’s practices when it comes to preparing for longer or shorter voyages on the sea.
Came to the realization that the islanders had more anxiety over the longer voyages, so performing this ritual gave them a little sense of control over situation.
What are fetishes?
Objects that are believed to have some kind of supernatural power that can aid/protect the owner.
Ex. good luck charms
What is a doctrine?
Direct statement about religious beliefs
What is anthropomorphism?
Supernatural being having human characteristics.
Why is Papua New Guinea important in our understanding of religion?
Inhabitants believed that access to material wealth is due to good relationship with ancestors.
When Europeans came and left with their material wealth, inhabitants believed that they had good relationship with ancestors so they imitated the Europeans.
Can cause loss of cultural identity while trying to copy the Europeans.
What are some representations of ideology?
Symbols, images, texts. Can be art, performances, sport.
What is art?
Aesthetic representations important in consolidating or contesting certain beliefs, values and relations.
What is metatheatre?
A type of theatre that specifically acknowledges the line between fiction and reality, and that it IS a performance.
“the ability to communicate about the communication process itself”
Rehearsal/training.
Allow embodiment of understanding of art form and technique in performer.
How are regional/national identities reinforced?
Largely sports like LATAM
What is fine art?
A very Eurocentric view of looking at art. Very rare, formal, and expensive. Done in traditionally western forms of art. (realistic portraits, sculptures)
Define art by appropriation.
When an object with meaning in a society is taken out of the society because a governing body deemed it was art and wanted to put it on display somehow.
What is magic?
Practices intended to bring supernatural forces under ones own control.
What is baseball magic?
The set of rituals, fetishes and taboos that are utilized by baseball players in order to perform their best and win.
Define cosmology.
The explanation in a religion for the origin and history of the world.
Define rituals.
An act or series of acts that encompass the beliefs of a community and create a sense of unity.
What is a shaman? What is an important ability for them to have?
A part time religious practitioner. While they do carry out religious practices, they also carry out non-religious work in the community.
Important for them to be able to transcend reality and connect with supernatural forces.
What is cultural appropriation?
Taking something from a culture and distorting the meaning to suit your purposes.
What are periodic rituals?
Rituals that are performed annually, at the same time.
ex. Christmas
What is a ritual of inversion?
A ritual in which the roles in society are inverted.
Ex. Bosa (Italy) or Carnival (Hunchback of Notre Dame<3)
What are cargo cults?
Rituals that seek to attract material prosperity.
What is ideology?
Ideas that govern a way of life being reproduced over and over again.
What is play?
Kind of like an act.
Think of it as like “playing along”.
Define presentation of self.
The fact that we act differently in different situations. (ex. back and front spaces)
What is performance of gender?
How gender is expressed by different individuals.
We think of certain behaviours as inherently feminine or masculine but not all cultures refer to the same binary.
What is learned evaluation?
What people in society are taught to think about different genders.
ex. “throw like a girl” is a learned evaluation causing people to believe that girls cannot be good at sports.
What is a satire/parody?
A form of media that is a “safer” way to critique the structure and norms of society because it comes off jokingly and is less confrontational.
Why is Trobriand Island important?
Because of their use of manipulating cricket into their own sprot to reject colonialism.
As well as their kula ring practice where they exchange gifts to neighboring islands after long dangerous journeys.
This led Malinowski to believe that religion is created out of necessity as the islanders had these rituals to protect the men before these journeys.
What is folk art?
Art that is not formal and not for sale. Created during rituals for rituals or are just used everyday.
Why is Haisla Nations’ G’psgolox totem pole important?
Showcases a serious issue in the art world where a very important cultural symbol is deemed as art by some individual with power and is then removed from that community or sold/ put on display without any regard to what the community feels or needs.
