ANT104

In his book Genealogies of Religion (1993), anthropologist Talal Asad criticized previous definitions and analyses of religion. Identify whether or not these are ideas that Asad advocated.

Theories Asas Proposed: Definitions of religion are based on a western worldview. Religion is created through social and historical processes.

The following quotation comes from a conversation anthropologist Kenneth Guest had with a Chinese temple master after the former learned that the spirit medium he was supposed to meet with had moved to the United States. Place the terms on the sections of paragraph where they are exhibited or described.

90

Identify the problem that sociologist Émile Durkheim recognized as caused by rapid social change and disruption of social networks and values.

Anomie, or alienation

Why do Mexican Catholics carry a lit torch and a portrait of Our Lady of Guadalupe from Mexico City to New York each year?

As an expression of advocacy for reform for U.S immigration laws.

Religious objects are symbols, but religious words are straightforward and non-symbolic.

False

Though an absolute definition of religion as a whole is difficult, and perhaps undesirable for such a complex area of culture, anthropologists have devised a working definition of religion. Identify the working definition of religion.

A community's set of beliefs based on a distinctive vision of how the world should be, often focused on a supernatural power.

Rituals are an essential part of religious practice. Identify the correct definition of ritual.

An act or series of acts regularly repeated over years or generations that embody the beliefs of a group of people and create a sense of continuity and belonging.

Anthropologists study religion through fieldwork, focusing on particular aspects of religion. Identify whether or not these are aspects of religion that anthropologists study.

Aspect of religion that anthropologists study: The intersection of religion with other systems of power. How a religion affects the lived of its believers Recording observations about world religions for analysis within other disciplined such as history or literature.

Victor Turner believed that all humans go through rites of passage, and that through these rites of passage people develop communitas. Identify whether or not these are components of communitas.

Component of communitas: Commitment to social action to achieving the "Good life" Sense of camaraderie Common vision of the "Food life"

Pilgrimage is a special type of religious ritual that members of religions around the world perform. Identify whether or not these are components of pilgrimage.

Component of pilgrimage: A search for enlightenment A sense of communitas A journey to a sacred place

In the United States, the Roman Catholic Church is experiencing rejuvenation and exercising its power by supporting various causes. Identify whether or not the following are causes that the U.S. Catholic Church supports.

Causes supported by the U.S catholic church: Eliminating opportunities for low-wage worker exploitation. Reuniting families across borders.

Shamans have been assisting and serving religious communities since before the development of organized religion 2,000 to 3,000 years ago. Identify whether or not these are characteristics of shamans.

Characteristics of shamans: Shamans live within the community. Shamans have speical spiritual abilities Shamans are part-time practitioners.

Anthropologists have identified various characteristics that most religions have in common. These characteristics are not strictly or absolutely shared across all religions, but they are seen in most religions. Identify whether or not these are characteristics observed in most religions.

Common characteristic of religion: Belief in powers or deities whose abilities transcend those of the natural world. Myths and stories that reflect on the meaning and purpose of life, its origins, and humans place in the universe. Ritual activities that reinforce, recall, instill and explore collective beliefs. Powerful symbols, often used in religious rituals.

Globalization greatly shapes religion and religious practices, especially through the forces of time-space compression and migration. Identify whether or not the following situations exhibit the effects of migration and time-space compression on religion.

Demonstrates Migration and time-space compression. The U.S catholic church's political stances are shaped by immigrants arriving from heavily catholic countries. A chienese spirit medium's transnational practice in Indiana, United States.

Identify the idea that Talal Asad added to Clifford Geertz's theory of religious symbols.

Idea that Talal Asad added: Symbols are given meaning through authorizing processed that are expressions of power.

Whether studying a small temple in a remote village or the most famous Catholic cathedral in Rome, anthropologists try to convey each religion's sense of moral order, dynamic public expressions, and:

Interactions with other systems of meaning and power.

Identify whether or not the following events are likely to happen for a person making a pilgrimage to Husain Tekri.

Likely to happen at Hussain Tekri: Accessing the healing powers of the hussain tekri shrine Participate in religious ritual with muslims, Hindu, Sikhs and others.

Certain individuals play special roles within religion. Match the type of religious individual to its description.

Martyr: A person who sacrifices one's own life for the sake of his or her religion. Shaman: A part-time religious practitioner with special abilities to connect individuals with supernatural powers or beings. Saint: An individual considered exceptionally close to god and who is then exalted after death.

Which of the following individuals believed that ideas can be just as powerful as economics in shaping society?

Max

theorized that religion would become more rationalized as societies modernize, and that religion would become more separate from the state. - disagreed, arguing that this is a Western assumption. The development of religion is culturally specific, not universal.

Max Weber, Talal Asad

Nineteenth- and twentieth-century social scientists Émile Durkheim, Karl Marx, and Max Weber have greatly influenced past and present theories of religion. Match the social scientists to their associated theory on religion.

Max Weber: Western european protestant values of self-denial and self-discipline led to the development and success of capitalism. Karl Max: Religion arises from depp tensions of economic inequality, yet prevents the working poor from improving their situation. Emile Dukheim: Religions is social, not private, and ritual reinforces collective belief and belonging.

Anthropologist Marvin Harris argued that material conditions of a society shaped social organization and religious practice, a theory he termed cultural materialism. Accordingly, Harris suggested that behind the religious justifications for the Hindu "sacred cow" lie practical values that support the material conditions of life. Identify whether or not these are practical uses for cows in India.

Practical use of cows in India: Cows produce oxygen. Cows produce dung.

In his book The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905), sociologist Max Weber connects the economic system of capitalism with the Protestant religion. Identify the connection Weber made between capitalism and Protestantism.

Protestant values of selfdenial and self-discipline led to the success of capitalism.

The following quotation comes from a conversation anthropologist Kenneth Guest had with a Chinese temple master after the former learned that the spirit medium he was supposed to meet with had moved to the United States. Place the terms on the sections of paragraph where they are exhibited or described.

Ritual, Time-space compression, Shaman

French ethnographer and folklorist Arnold van Gennep suggested a special kind of - that he termed a -, which involved the change of status from one life stage to another.

Ritual, rite of passage

concepts to analyze religion. Rites of passage are categories of rituals. Seeing religion as the opiate of the masses highlights relations of power embedded in religion. Religion always distinguishes between the sacred and the profane. Religion guides people through rituals, repeated acts that have significant meaning for those performing them.

Sacred and the profane Rituals

Identify whether or not the following are ways in which Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia's use of symbols shaped the 1994 Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, Mexico.

Saped Zapatista Uprising He taught a theology of liberation, which influenced people's political thinking. His leadership training program promoted community and social concerns, not just spiritual concern.

Identify the chart that correctly depicts the distribution of religious beliefs in the United States.

Second graph

Victor Turner suggested that the power of ritual comes from its dramatic nature that is outside of normal daily life. He identified three stages of rites of passage. Place the three stages of rites of passage in order from first to last.

Sepaeration from the group, Liminality and outsiderhood, reincorporation into the group.

Audrey Richards's pioneering work focused on women's rituals in Zambia, detailing and analyzing the Bemba people's chisungu ritual, performed at the coming of age of teenage women in the group. Match the three ritual stages defined by Victor Turner to the stages in the chisungu ritual.

Separation: Participating women go to a special hut and the surrounding bush were the ritual takes place. Reincorporation: Women return to society protected from magical and physical dangers of the next stages of life. Liminality: Older women pass down teachings in the form of songs, stories, and lore to teenage girls.

What do anthropologists call a part-time religious practitioner with special abilities to connect individuals with supernatural powers or beings?

Shaman

Magic refers to the use of spells, incantations, words, and actions in an attempt to compel supernatural forces to act in certain ways, whether for good or evil. Anthropologists have long studied magic in various societies. Match the beliefs to the appropriate country or region where anthropologists observed them.

Songhay Region: Sorcery maybe used to harm others. Azande Region: Magic is used to combat witchcraft, which is seen as the cause of all misfortune. United States: Professional athletes perform rituals and use magic to help them win.

When Zapatistas, the poor people of the Mexican region of Chiapas, demonstrated in four cities on January 1, 1994, the government and economic leaders pointed to the Roman Catholic Church for instigating the rebels. Identify the role that the Roman Catholic Church likely played in the uprising.

The catholic church in the region promoted indigenous rights.

Every year, many pilgrims travel to Husain Tekri, a Muslim saint shrine that is part of a religious healing circuit in northern India. Identify the way in which the shrine pushes the boundaries of what most people would consider traditional Islamic practices.

The shrine is visited by not only Muslims, but Hindus, Jains and Sikhs as well.

Sociologist Max Weber believed that religion progressed through a natural order, an evolutionary process that he saw as inevitable. Place the stages in Weber's theory in order from first to last.

Traditional religion based on magic and led by shamas. Charismatic religion based on the persuasive power of prophets. Rational religion based on legal codes.

Imitative magic involves a performance that copies the desired result, while contagious magic involves performance or ritual on certain materials connected with the person on whom the magic should work.

True

What is a central argument that anthropologist Talal Asad presents about religion?

Universal definitions of religion can actually obscure local realities and, subsequently, local expressions of religion should be examined rather than universal ones.