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ANTH 363 > Week 3 - Cosmology and Myth > Flashcards

Week 3 - Cosmology and Myth Flashcards

1
Q

What are the 3 understandings of myths?

A

1) Something widely accepted but is really false
2) Stories which tell of heroic actions or “supernatural” events or forces of nature or gods or goddesses -> usually sacred, and believed to be true by people who see religious or spiritual significance in them
3) “Primitive” belief about nature and the universe; “Per-Scientific”

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2
Q

What are non-European myths usually described as?

A

Primitive; Prescientific

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3
Q

How is the Anthropological understanding of myths different?

A

Scholarly use doesn’t imply that the stories are true or false

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4
Q

Cosmology

A

deals with the order or structure of ultimate reality

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5
Q

Cosmogony

A

deals with origin of the structure or order or cosmology

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6
Q

Kosmos

A

universe or order (opposite of chaos)

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7
Q

Axis Mundi (Cosmic Axis)

A

central points/lines that connect world to spiritual realms

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8
Q

Myths are considered…

A
  • true sacred stories
  • that occured in the remote past
  • have non-humans (gods, monsters) as prinicpal characters
  • “presents in the form of a narrative the basic worldview of a society”
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9
Q

Worldview

A
  • the way in wihch societies perceive and interpret their reality
  • provides an understanding of how the world works
    forms the template for though and behaviour
  • provides a basic understanding of the origin and nature of humans and their relationship to the world around them
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10
Q

What are the 7 subjects of myths

A
  • cosmology and cosmogony - creation of world and humans
  • cosmic catastrophes
  • origins of institutions
  • phenomena of birth and death
  • relations to the gods w/ eachother and mortals
  • hero/heroine quests
  • trickster myths
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11
Q

Myth vs. Legend vs. Folktale

A
  • Myth: fact about the remote past, set in a different world (other world, or earlier world), that’s sacred and usually involves non-humans (gods)
  • Legend: fact about recent past, set in today’s world, that can be sacred or not sacred and usually involves humans (heroes)
  • Folktale: fiction set in anytime or place, that’s not sacred and usually involves humans and non-humans
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12
Q

What are the 5 main anthropological approaches to myths?

A
  • rationalist approach
  • psychological approach
  • functionalist approach
  • structualist approach
  • postmodernist approach
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13
Q

Rationalist Approach

A

myths interpret and explain natural events and forces (especially creation myths) but rationalist thinkers (Levy-Bruhl, Tylor, Frazer) believed myths were to be taken literally (no critical though)

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14
Q

Rationalist Approach to Trickster Myths: Napi and the Dogs

A

rationalistic explanation would suggest that the myth of Big Rock is literal truth to believers

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15
Q

What do trickster myths signify?

A
  • shows that boundries of religion can be pushed
  • have a morally gray character
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16
Q

Psychological Approach to Myths

A
  • interpret myths as symbolic w/ symbolisim rooted in human nature and expressing individual or collective phenomenon
  • the conflict btw societal constraints and biological nature -> symbolic representations of conflicts universal
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17
Q

According to Freud, “Myths are ___ ___ that represent ___ wishes - predominantly ___ in nature”

A

irrational stories; unconcious; sexual

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18
Q

According to Freud, why do our concious mind censor fantasies, desires, impulses etc.

A

bc they are dangerous

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19
Q

According to Freud, what are myths, in the context of psychology?

A

our concious mind’s way of dealing with internal struggles and thus deal with sexual hunger and guilt

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20
Q

What was Carl Jung’s view on myths?

A
  • rejected most of Freud’s sexual symbolism
  • believed elementary ideas (archetypes) were building blocks of unconcious mind and collectice unconcious
21
Q

Collective Unconcious

A

universal thoughs and modes of behaviour, something beyond individual subconscious

22
Q

Archetypes (Primordial Images)

A

recurring patterns of images, situations, or symbols found in the religion, mythology, art, and dreams of cultures around the world

23
Q

Examples of Archetypes

A

Events: birth, death, marriage
Motifs: the apocalypes, the deluge
Figures: mother, father, child, the shadow, the wise old man

24
Q

Why is the Phoenix archetype?

A

phoenix ability to be reborn from its own ashes made it the symbol of rebirth, immortality, and renewal

25
Q

Joseph Campbell

A

influenced by Jung and came up with the idea of monomyth

26
Q

Monomyth (Hero’s Journey)

A

idea by Joseph Campbell, that all hero are fundamentally the same story

27
Q

What is the Functionalist Approach to Myths

A

myth is a social institution that orders rituals, economy and history

28
Q

What is Durkheim’s view on the function of a myth?

A

the role of myth is functional -> myths reinforces social cohesion and unity

29
Q

Malinowski’s Functionalist Approach

A
  • myths aren’t explanations of scientific interest nor is it symbolic
  • myths and social reality were functionally interrelated
30
Q

How are myths and social reality interrelated

A
  • myths confirm, support and maintain the social structure
  • satisfies “deep religious wants”
  • expresses, enhances and codifies belief
  • a moral compass for behaviour
31
Q

What is the function of Trobriand Origin Myths

A
  • explains and validates incest taboos
  • legitimates food taboos
  • justifies ranks in society
  • justifies rights to land
32
Q

Function of Myths according to Malinowski

A
  • helps people navigate life’s uncertianties, cope with anxiety, and make sense of the world around them and addresses the uncertianties and unpredictabilities of life
  • provide shared set of values, beliefs, and norms that contribute to the cohesion and social order of a community -> reinforces sense of identity and belonging among members of society
  • gives validity to and explains certian ideas and principels
  • offers models for behaviours and illustrate concequences of deviating from societal expectations
  • could address social problems and conflicts within a community
33
Q

Charter Myths

A
  • narratives or stories that help explain origin of and are set up to authorize and validate current social customes and institutions
  • foundational to the identity and self understanding of a community, serving as a kind of cultural character or blueprint
  • serves to legitimize existance, practices, or authority of a group or institution
34
Q

What is the importance of Nyoro Myths?

A

nyoro myths provide mythical charter (explains and justifies) for the social and political order -> unequal allocation of authority where it shows it’s appropriate for younger men to have power

35
Q

Structuralist Approach

A

myths provides the conceptual rather than normative supports of a social world and emphasizes binary opposites

36
Q

Is the Structualist Approach, Synchronic or Diachronic

A

Synchronic

37
Q

Structuralist Approach to myths according to Levi-Strauss

A
  • myths have consistent, underlying patterns not evident at the empirical level
  • meaning of myths, not in their surface content but their underlying structure
  • elements of myths, like the elements of language -> meaningless if taken in isolation, only meaningful in relation to other elements
38
Q

Mythemes

A

elements of myths

39
Q

Levi-Strauss’ structural theories on myths

A

myths contained conceled “messages” that contained ideas of fundemental significance to those who heard the stories and must be decoded from oblique hints given in the narratives -> express philosophical and social conundrums and worries like incest, death, marriage, birth, etc. into puzzles that can be solved

40
Q

Levi-Strauss’s view on studying myths and the human mind

A

viewed the structures of myths as being common to the thinking of people, regardless of culture

41
Q

How did Levi-Strauss study the structure of myths?

A

by studying mythologies of primative ppl -> allows examination of unconcious universal patterning of human thought in its uncontaimated form

42
Q

Why are primative mythologies closer to universal principles then Western beliefs?

A

training recieved in Western society buries the logical structure under layers of cultural interferences created by our social environments

43
Q

Binary Oppositions

A

a pair of related terms/concepts/ideas with contrasting meanings

44
Q

Myths in context of Binary Opposition

A

myths organized around conflict btw binary oppositions

45
Q

What do twins usually personofy in many traditions?

A

opposities, often cast as 2 halves of the same whole -> 2 individuals split from 1

46
Q

Importance of twins in myths

A
  • usually born from one women, 2 fathers -> one being a trickster
  • twins personify good and evil, believed to have a dangerous birth -> one twin will use cunning to be born first, risking life of other twin and mother
47
Q

How does “Harelips and Twins: The Splitting of a Myth” relate to Levi-Strauss’ theories?

A

the peruvian priest mention, was aware of the association btw cosmic disorder and latent power of twins

48
Q

What are the 3 critiques of the Structualist Approach?

A

1) Structuralism doesn’t account for cultural diffusion and how myths change over time
2) The binary oppositions may involve the imposition of Western dualistic concepts on the thought of preliterate people
3) Human practice and problem of meaning is totally excluded, bc focuses on structure and not how ppl view the myths

49
Q

Postmodern Approach to Myths

A
  • multiplicities of interpretations and meanings can be derived from myths -> interpretation subjective and shaped by identity of interpreter
  • emphasizes the importance of examining myths within their specific cultural, historical, and socio-political contexts, power dynamics, etc

ANTH 363 (8 decks)

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