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Religion
Part 1.
Coming up:
What is religion?
Theories of the origin of religion
Religious beliefs
Beliefs about supernatural forces and beings
Ritual practices
Religious Specialists
Defining Religion
As in all of anthropology, the challenge is to
find a definition that is broad enough to fit all
cultures
Current definition states religion is: beliefs and
behavior related to supernatural beings and
forces
Beliefs relate to the thinking (ideas, views, knowledge, etc.)
Behavior relates to the doing (attendance, rituals, ceremonies,
etc.)
Doctrine:
Ritual Practices
Life-cycle rituals (coming of age, baptism, wedding,
birth, death, etc.) Usually involves three stages
Sacrifice
Animals, humans, or symbolic
Religious Specialists
All human societies include individuals who guide
and supplement the religious practices of others.
They
are highly skilled at contacting/influencing supernatural
beings and manipulating supernatural forces
have undergone special training
may display certain distinctive personality traits that
make them particularly well suited to perform these
tasks
Specialists include:
Priest/priestess
Diviner
Prophet
Others
Shaman/shamanka
Shaman/Shamanka
Religious specialist with direct association with
the supernaturals
Most associated with non-state societies
Classic area is Siberia (origin of the terms
shaman/shamanka) but found in many parts of
the world
Part-time profession which one is called to
Priest/Priestess
Part 2.
World religions are considered textbased with many followers that cross
country borders
Hinduism
Buddhism
Judaism
Christianity
Islam
African religions: not text based
Hinduism
Buddhism
Judaism
Jerusalem is the
holiest city of
Judaism, and also
the third holiest
city of Islam and
holy to many
Christians as well
Christianity
Largest of the world religions (most adherents)
This includes all the denominations
Islam
Example of
local variation
in Islamic
practices in
Xian, China
Culturama, contd
Many Hui make a living in the restaurant
business
Although alcohol boosts business many Hui
object to it and a movement was begun to
ban it from the Hui quarter of Xian
An urban development project was
launched in 2003 in the Old Muslim Quarter
African Religions
Myths about a split between creator deity and
humans
A pantheon of supernaturals
Elaborate initiation rituals and sacrifices
Altars within shrines
Close links with healing
New forms emerging especially in the Western
Hemisphere (Umbanda, Rastafarianism)
Directions of Change
Revitalization movements
seek to bring about positive change by
reconstructing parts of religion threatened by
outside forces
Functions of Religion
Religion provides explanations for the
unanswerable, universal human problems
life, death, illness, and misfortune
Where did we come from? Where do we go when we die?
Connections
Keep in mind the many links between
religion andeconomic systems,
reproduction, kinship, social groups,
politics, language
and, migration & international
development, which are coming next week!
Chapter 9
Communication
Basic Concepts
Communication: conveying
meaningful messages from one
person, animal, or insect to
another
Language: communication that
is based on a systematic set of
learned and shared symbols and
signs
Vocabulary
Ethnosemantics
Grammar or syntax
Formal Properties
Productivity
Sounds
Displacement
Grammar
Vocabulary
Silence
example: the Western Apache of Arizona
Critical media
anthropologists ask
to what degree
access to media
messages is
liberating or
controlling, and
whose interests the
media serve
Sociolinguistics
social position
determines the
content, meaning
and form of
language
Gender Codes
Key differences in words, intonation,
meaning, and grammar related to
gender
Conversational styles and meaning
among White couples in the U.S.
Can lead to misunderstanding
Historical Linguistics
Study of language change through time
Concept of language families
Example: the Indo-European Language Family
Two possible
locations for the
origins of ProtoIndo-European:
north or south of
the Black Sea
Language
change through
migration: The
spread of Bantu
languages in
Africa from the
2nd to 1st
millennium BCE
Writing
Evidence of earliest writing from
Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China
Logographs: signs that convey meaning
Effects of Colonialism
Major and varied effects on change in
communication and language
Pidgins
Usually limited to functional domains, for
example, trade
Many have developed into creoles and even
national languages
Effects of Nationalism
Nationalist policies of ethnic
assimilation through language policies
Soviet Union promotion of Russian
language and suppression of local,
indigenous languages
English-only movement in the U.S.
Language decay
Language extinction
The power of global languages
Language revitalization
Culturama:
The Saami of Sapmi, or Lapland
Indigenous fourth world people who live
in the northernmost stretches of Norway,
Sweden, Finland, and western Russia
Herding domesticated reindeer was the
economic mainstay
Reindeer pastoralism has declined to about
10% of the population
Now are farmers or work in trade, smallscale industry, handicrafts, services
Example of
linguistic
assimilation and
loss followed by
current
revitalization
efforts among the
Saami of Spmi,
or Lapland
Culturama, contd
Saami have experienced discrimination,
exclusion, loss of territorial rights, and
cultural and linguistic repression
Language is of central cultural value to the
Saami, and efforts to maintain it have been
underway since the 1960s
The yoik, a traditional song form, is of
particular value why?
Effects of Globalization
Continued borrowing of words, phrases
Increased growth and spread of
world/global languages
Continued decline of indigenous and small
languages through loss of speakers; many
languages going extinct
Borrowing: the
importance of loan
words in North
American English
A Darwinian view
Languages, like species, live in a world of
competition
Dying languages are part of a past that no longer
exists
Chapter 8
Political and Legal Systems
Bands
Headman/Headwoman
Tribes
Chiefdoms
States
Chief
King/Queen/
President
Bands
Foraging groups
Between 20 200+ people; everyone
knows one another and are kin
Membership is flexible
Leader is first among equals
Leader may exert influence, perhaps
authority, but not power
Highly egalitarian
Tribes
Associated with horticulture and pastoralism
Comprise several bands, each with similar lifestyle,
language, and territory; members often know each
other and are related
Leadership combines both achieved and ascribed
status
Achieved is through personal skills, ability, wealth,
personality, etc.
Ascribed is through lineage or birthright
Big-Man/Big-Woman Leadership
Category of political organization found
within tribes (and leading up to chiefdoms)
Personality, favor-based political groupings
Heavy responsibilities in regulating internal
and external affairs
Leadership is mainly achieved
Common in Melanesia, the South Pacific
Making Moka
Moka is the term for large public feast, with political
motives, in highland Papua New Guinea
They are a key part of big-man politics throughout
Melanesia
Leaders plan for years, sometimes, about how
many pigs and other valuables they will give away
at the moka
Mokas depend on followers support and reinforce
and build a leaders status
Remember the film, Ongkas Big Moka from Week 2? Apply
what you learned about Ongka as a tribal leader to this
discussion.
Big-Woman Politics
Less common than big-man politics but
examples do exist in Melanesia
Island of Vanatinai, big-woman leaders:
lead sailing expeditions
sponsor mortuary feasts
are more commonly recognized as sorcerers,
healers and successful gardeners
Chiefdoms
Permanently allied tribes and villages under one
leader
More centralized and socially complex
Heritable systems of social rank and economic
stratification
Chiefship is an office that must be filled at all
times (leadership is no longer a part-time role)
Achievement is measured in terms of personal
leadership skills, charisma and accumulated wealth
Confederacies are formed when chiefdoms are
joined
States
The state is a centralized political unit
encompassing many communities, a
bureaucratic structure, and leaders who
possess coercive power
States are secondary social organizations in
the sense that no members know all other
members on a face-to-face basis; kinship is
not the primary basis of membership
Social Control in
Small-Scale Societies
In foraging groups, norms are the main
and typically the only instrument for
establishing proper behavior
Remember, these groups are quite small, so
enforcement of norms through social
pressure can be relatively easy and effective
if one chooses to not abide, they could
simply be ousted and left to fend for
themselves not a desirous outcome! See
Punishment slide next.
Policing
A form of social control that includes
surveillance and the threat of punishment
Police discover, report, and investigate
crimes
They are associated with states
Critical Thinking:
Yanomami: The Fierce People?
Horticultural people of
the Amazonian
rainforest
Napoleon Chagnon
has studied them since
the 1960s
Chagnons writings
and films have
promoted a view of the
Yanomami as
extremely violent
FIERCE MALES
FAVORED
The Waiteri
Complex
SHORTAGE OF
FEMALES
FEMALE
INFANTICIDE
Ethnic Conflict
May occur as a result of ethnic pluralism in
many parts of the world. Ethnicity,
language, and religion are often the sources
of conflict
Ethnic identities commit people to a cause
Deeper issues often exist such as claims to
material resources
Water
Oil, gas
Warfare
War: Organized group action directed
against another group and involving lethal
force
Cultural variation in war-like conflicts, from
those involving mainly symbolic conflict to
those in which mass death is the goal
Do bands exhibit war? Why or why not?
Example of a
transnational
nation:
Puerto Rico, of
which half the
nation lives off
the island but
maintains ties with
it
Culturama, contd
Kurds are now employed in many
occupations
Their attempts to establish an independent
state have met harsh treatment from
government forces
The Turkish state refuses to recognize them
as a legitimate minority group
Many are united by the shared goal of
statehood
Democratization
Process of transformation from an
authoritarian regime to a democratic regime
End of torture
Liberation of political prisoners
Lifting of censorship
Toleration of some opposition
Chapter 6
Kinship and Domestic Life
TheBIGQuestions
How do cultures create kinship?
What are cross-cultural patterns of
households and domestic life?
How are kinship and households
changing?
What is Kinship?
Sense of being related to another
person(s)
Set by cultural rules (sometimes laws)
Often taken for granted as being natural
rather than cultural
Links with all aspects of culture
Not all cultures define kinship on the basis
of blood
Example of Culture
and Kinship: Tory
Island, Ireland
--everyone is related to
everyone else so
friends are necessarily
also kin
Kinship in Action:
Three Ways of Being Kin
Descent
Sharing
Marriage
Descent
Kinship through birth into a
particular group
Two major types:
Unilineal (traced through one side)
Bilineal (traced through both sides)
Unilineal Descent
Basis of kinship in 60 percent of the
worlds cultures
Most associated with pastoralism,
horticulture, and agricultural modes of
livelihood
Two major types of unilineal descent:
Patrilineal (through the male line)
Matrilineal (through the female line)
Patrilineal Descent
Found among 45% of
all cultures
Kinship is traced
through the male line
Males dominate
status, power, and
property
Strongest versions
found in South Asia
(India, Pakistan) and
East Asia
contd
Ritual importance: a 30-day ceremony is
held for all babies, but the ceremony for a
boy is as elaborate as the family can afford.
A man is given or chooses tzu (marriage
name) and has a wai hao (public nickname)
When a woman marries, her ming ceases to
exist
Husband refers to her as nei jen (inner person)
May also be referred to by teknonyms (names for
Matrilineal Descent
Found among 15% of all
cultures
Kinship is traced through
the female line
Women control land and
products
Found in Southeast Asia,
the South Pacific, and in
some parts of Europe and
North America
Example: the
Minangkabau of Indonesia
contd
Water buffaloes important to the rice
economy and symbolically
Roofline of a traditional house has upward
curves that echo the shape of the horns
Same shape as womens/girls festive
headdresses
Bilineal Descent
Descent is traced equally from both
parents
Married couples live away from their
parents (neolocal residence)
Inheritance is allocated equally among all
children regardless of their gender
Found in foraging and industrial/
informatic cultures
Examples: Euro-Americans, Ju/hoansi,
Innu (Inuit)
In many cultures
people create
kinship through
sharing
Food
sharing
Adoption and
fostering
Godparents
A Working Definition
Marriage is a more or less stable union, usually
between two people who may or may not be coresidential, sexually involved with each other, and
procreative with each other
This is a broader more inclusive definition from the
previous 1951 definition which stated Marriage is a union
between a man and a woman such that children born to
the woman are the recognized legitimate offspring of both
parents.
This definition excludes many marriages worldwide that are between
same gendered individuals. It also assumes children born outside a
marriage are not legitimate. Again, many cultures are relaxed about
sexual practices outside of marriage and children born from those
unions are no more/less legitimate than those born within a
marriage. Therefore, this 1951 definition is antiquated in its
anthropological applications.
Cousin Marriage
Forbidden in some cultures
Preferred in some cultures
There are various definitions of what is a
cousin
Various patterns of preference exist for
cousins on which side of the family
cross-cousins (mothers brothers children or fathers
sisters children)
parallel cousins (mothers sisters children or fathers
brothers children)
Kinship
Location
Ethnicity
Status/economic position
Looks (beauty, height, FGC)
Physical ability
Romantic love
Getting Married
Often involves a series of gift/monetary
exchanges between the brides and grooms
family
The wedding: range from very simple to
highly elaborate and expensive
weddings crystallize and highlight cultural
meanings of the marital relationship and gender
roles
Forms of Marriage
Monogamy:
marriage between
two people
Most common form
of marriage crossculturally
Polygamy: marriage
with multiple
spouses
Polygyny: one man
and more than one
woman
Polyandry: one
woman and more
than one man
Nuclear Household
Common worldwide but not universally the
preferred form
Found among foragers and
industrial/informatic groups
Classic Nacirema household type, though
declining as single-person households
increase
Extended Household
More common among horticulturalists,
pastoralists, and agriculturalists
Related to fixed economic base such as land,
business
May be extended vertically through parents
and sons/daughters or horizontally through
siblings
Provides safety net for child care and old age
support
Intrahousehold Dynamics
Spouse/partner relationships
Marital satisfaction differs in love
matches and arranged marriages
Sibling relationships
Example of brother-sister relationship
in Beirut, Lebanon
Domestic Life
What happens inside the household:
Work
Reproduction
Care, love
Leisure, fun
Other.not such good news
Domestic Violence
Found in most but not all cultures and in
differing degrees:
Child abuse
Honor killings
Wife/partner abuse: male violence against
females
More common where men control
wealth/property and women are dependent on
them
Kentucky: A
predominantly rural
state with much
poverty
Change in Descent
Role of European colonialism
Decline of matrilineal descent worldwide
Change in Marriage
New forms of courtship due to new forms of
technology: love letters in Nepal, the
Internet
Age at first marriage
Rising worldwide
Wedding style
Globalization of the Western white wedding
Some counter trends toward ethnic or
traditional styles
Wedding pluralism/syncretism
Changing Households
Globalization of nuclear households
Example of the Kelabit of Malaysia
Effects of international migration
Shrinking households in the U.S.
Intergenerational households and
boomerang kids in the U.S.
Kelabit region
in Malaysia:
Trend toward
nuclear households
in the highlands