Anthropology of Religion

For the Trobriand Islanders, the use of magic is more essential for successful lagoon, rather than deep sea, fishing.

False

Homo sapiens sapiens is the only species to engage in symbolic behavior that may be associated with supernatural belief.

False

Revivalistic, messianic, and millenarian religious movements only apply to new modern-day religious movements.

False

The concept of monotheism maintains the existence of only one supernatural being.

False

Garciagodoy correctly identifies two main classes of Mexicans who now celebrate the Day of the Dead by drawing on symbols and customs more usually associated with Halloween.

First are urban middle-class Mexicans, many of whom dress their children in store-bought, Halloween-style costumes -almost all the costumes play on one of five themes: witches, ghosts, skeletons, vampires, and devils. -adults don't wear costumes at all

chromolithographs

colored posters

transmigration

soul reborn into the body of an animal

Azande (page 252) (week 7 lecture video, 7:58)

-Live in the southern Sudan, Congo culture area, and was a British colony when studied -Azande magic involves the use of objects, usually of plant material, called medicines -A medicine is an object in which supernatural power resides -to access this power, to change a piece of wood or plant material into medicine, requires ritual. The object, which may be consumed in the ritual or kept in tact for long periods of time, then becomes the center of magical rituals -thousands of available medicines can be placed in a series of categories based on their purposes. -there are those that control nature. One is used to delay sunset so that the person will have time to reach home before dark. Many medicines are associated with horticulture and hunting. Some medicines are used against witches and sorcerers. Magic is used to bring about success in love and guarantee a safe journey. An important function of magic is to avenge murder, theft, and adultery. Finally, diseases are cured by using specific medicines. Azande Magic rites are not very formal, nor are they usually public. The spell is not formal. Power does not reside in the spell. Rather the power resides in the medicine, and the spell is simply a way of waking up the power and giving the power instructions. A requirement is the observation of a number of tabus, although which tabus are observed varies widely. Commonly, the include abstention from sexual activity and the avoidance of certain foods. If the tabu is not observed the magic will fail.

Trobriand Islands (page 249)

-Live off the western coast of New Guinea -three types of knowledge 1: knowledge of things in the every day world, which is shared by all or a large group of adult members of the society -this is what children learn from their parents: boys learn how to garden and girls learn how to weave mats 2: more specialize and is shared with a limited number of individuals. This includes expert knowledge that is necessary for task specializations, such as sailing or wood carving -also includes knowledge of particular magical rituals that tend to be learned by many members of the society 3: highest level, includes knowledge of the most complex and valued technological skills, such as canoe building, as well as knowledge of myths, songs, and dances. -important to the community -a person who has such skills is called "tokabitam", "man with knowledge" -includes knowledge of important magic, such as rain and garden magic -Although many forms of magic are well known among adult members of the community, much magical lore is the private property of individuals -The most common way to obtain magic is to learn it from one's parents, grandparents, or other kin (family line magic)

Unlike religious rituals that tend to involve the whole of the community,

-Magic is often centered on the needs and desires of an individual -Magic is directed at very practical ends as articulated by an individual -although, magic is frequently used in community-wide public rituals to bring rain or defend the community against an enemy

Magic never seems to fail

-Magic often attempts to bring about events that will occur naturally -humans are very resistant to changing their beliefs, even when presented with evidence to the contrary -people do not generally ask impossible things of magic -selective memory

Why more women than men?

-Malleus Maleficarum said women were more likely to be witches, because women are weaker, stupider, more superstitious, and more sensual than men -witches said to have sex with the devil, so most likely the witch is a women -Europe at the time was very misogynistic -weaker social position of women -midwives were accused, high mortality rates at the time, blamed the midwives

witch hunts

-McCarthy era, Arthur Miller "The Crucible" used the Salem witch trials as an allegory for McCarthyism -term often used to describe modern events

Ishtar (Ancient Near East)

-Mesopotamia -invincible and a source of fertility -sexuality, relationship with mortal King Gilgamesh -supreme in her power over fate -supreme god = An

Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos)

-Mexican -associated with the Catholic holidays of All Saints Day and All Souls Day -influence from Aztec culture as a day to honor the dead -time of family reunion and expression of family continuity -celebration

Islam origins (page 364)

-Mohammad 7th c CE -Allah (High God) -Mecca -original religion was monotheistic but has occasionally decayed into polytheistic, then prophets would come and restore monotheism -Qur'an -God is omniscient

"In the field"

"both the home environment of our hosts and . . . the discipline that defines our intellectual horizon in our pursuit of knowledge"

for women, spiritual growth and development was more about (article unit 5)

"coming into a relationship with lived reality and embracing the actual experience of living in this world" than about transcendence or rejection of wither life's pleasures or of suffering.

In Iraq in 2004, there were more suicide attacks than in the entire world in any previous year of contemporary history, involving

"martyrs" from 14 other Arab countries,7 as well as volunteers from all over Europe.

more recent publications reviewed in this essay can be conveniently divided into three types:

(1) encyclopedias on new religious movements, which include short items on various UFO religions (2) collections of essays that (a) cover a variety of these religions or (b) discuss either the contactee phenomenon in general or the theoretical aspects of these movements in particular -(3) two major monographs on specific UFO religions

seven dimensions of religion - Ninian Smart

(1) the ritual or practical; (2) the doctrinal or philosophical; (3) the mythic or narrative; (4) the experiential or emotional; (5) the ethical or legal; (6) the organizational or social; and (7) the material or artistic -He assumed that the "sacred" is present in all religions and penetrates all these dimensions

Upper Paleolithic of Europe

(35,000-10,000 years ago) -time when the first homo sapiens arrived and replaced the neanderthals -new technologies and the development of artistic traditions -cave paintings primarily found in France and Spain -people of this time saw caves as leading to another world/path between normal world to the world of the spirits

characteristics of a ritual

-"repetitive": innovation not tolerated -sequential: there is a process like beginning, middle (liminal), and end (reintroduction) that marks the "specialness" of the act -non-ordinary: exists apart from ordinary (mundane) time and/or space -"powerful": power to change the world by intervention of supernatural entities or transformation of the participant

core shamanism (Harner)

-"the near universal methods of shamanism without a specific cultural perspective" -drumming to achieve ASC

The Fore: Eastern Highlands of New Guinea

-14,000 horticulturalists -strange illness - kuru -passed unknowingly through ritualistic cannibalism -government outlawed cannibalism and kuru went away, but the Fore people did not understand the cause -they thought the disease was caused by sorcery

Salem Witch trials

-1692 -immediate cause of the trials appears to have been two young girls, aged 9 and 11, were experimenting with divination techniques in an attempt to discover who their future husbands would be -scared themselves and began exhibiting nervous symptoms, thrashed and assumed odd postures -father was a minister, called a physician but could not identify cause, suggested they were under a witch's spell -soon other girls started acting the same, and the girls were questioned and named 3 witches: Sarah Goode, Sarah Osborne, and a West Indian slave named Tituba -more were accused, the symptoms increased intensity -trials were dramatic -19 people were executed, more than 100 were jailed -people accused were those living on the fringes of society, marginalized and powerless women without husbands, midwives -don't totally know what happened -could have been a prank, seeking attention, ergot poisoning

1: Anarchist Wave

-1880s-1920s -Assassinations (Pres. McKinley), bank robberies, bombings

2: Anti-Colonial/Decolonization Wave

-1920s-1960s -revolutions, nationalism -e.g. Algeria, India/Pakistan, Cyprus, Israel

3: Leftist anti-Western sentiment & Ethno-nationalists

-1960s-1990s -Marxism, anti-capitalist -Some of this has continued today -e.g. IRA, ETA (basque separatists), FARC

4: Religious Inspiration Wave

-1990s - present -American Christian extremists, Islamic religious extremists, Lord's Resistance Army (Kony), Maronite Christian militias, ISIS, Al-Qaeda

Haitian Vodou (page 184)

-3 spiritual components associated with a being 1: met-tet -"Master of the Head" -identity discovered through divination -may possess the individual Other two can be seen as souls: 2: ti-bonanj -"little angel" -conscious or ego -when the body dies, it stays nearby for awhile and then moves on to heaven 3: gwo-bonanj -"big angel" -ancestral spirits and is returned after death -part of the Bondye, the "High God" -person's life force that determines their character and intelligence

Mayan calendar (page 127-128)

-365 days in a year -19 months total -another 260 day year -18,980 unique combinations of days and took 52 years for the combinations to start over again (no astronomical basis, just part of their culture) -the day of birth was used to predict the child's future, particular events were designed to fall on days they considered important *time had a religious meaning to them

Soweto, South Africa

-Adam Ashforth -witchcraft seen as a manipulation of power that is found in various substances -motivation is jealousy or envy -witch usually someone close to the victim -isidliso = poison, associated with a slow wasting illness ending in death -some people visualize isidliso as a frog, crab or lizard lodged in the throat -also seen as causing many social ills, such as divorce and unemployment -the presence of AIDS quite often leads to accusations of witchcraft, often within the family, with the subsequent tragedy of homicode of the alleged witch

pain (page 193)

-Altered states of consciousness can result from pain -pain is a common theme in religious traditions -punishment, bad karma, purifying, weapon of the enemy, or transformative, or a source of supernatural power -pain purifies and is used to achieve exorcism -religious pain is often shared pain -self-inflicted or inflicted on others -subject often enters an altered state of consciousness in the course of undergoing such painful procedures -closely linked to emotion and sense of self

Jivaro of Ecuador

-Amazon culture area -believe that a person has three souls -see life as false and the spiritual world as real nekas -every person is born -the soul that is the life force aruntam -acquired through a vision -only be acquiring this soul can a person enter into the real, spiritual world -is also believed to give a person power, intelligence, and self-confidence miusak -"avenging soul" -is a person's aruntam is killed, the miusak will avenge the death -belief that gives rise to the practice of headhunting -believed to reside in the head; capturing and shrinking the head are believed to neutralize the miusak of the enemy

Witchcraft and the Navaho (page 379)

-American Southwest -witches are individuals who seek to be initiated into the Witchery Way, "skin walkers", part of the initiation is believed to involve killing of a relative, usually a sibling -witches active at night, assuming a form of an animal (most often a wolf or coyote) -visit graveyards and prepare powder from the flesh of corpses, powder dropped on sleeping body of victim through smoke hole in the roof or blown into the face of the victim in a crowd -corpse poisoning symptoms usually involve a slow wasting away that cannot be halted by healing rituals -witchcraft generally associated with immoral and antisocial behavior such as greed,m vengeance, and envy -witchcraft learned from a parent, grandparent, or spouse -witches thought to meet in caves at night to practice cannibalism and incest, have intercourse with the dead, or perform rituals to kill victims -witchcraft not openly discussed in public, seen as taboo identifying a witch: -following unusual animal tracks -unexplained gunshot would -unexplained wealth: grave robbing -eyes reflecting

Science

-An important methodology for coming to an understanding of our world through objective observations, experimentation, and the development of hypothesis and theories -Scientific explanations are limited since they deal only with observations that are made through our senses, such as using vision to examine animal tissue under a microscope or distant galaxies through a telescope -Science demands and natural explanation consistent with the laws of nature

In Dying to Win, Pape claims that foreign occupation is the root cause of suicide terrorism

-Analyzing data on 315 suicide attacks from 1980 to 2003, he asserts that the common thread linking 95 percent of all suicide attacks around the world is not religion or ideology, but rather a clear, strategic, political objective. -They are organized campaigns to compel a modern democracy, principally the United States, to withdraw military forces from a group's perceived homeland. -suicide bombers come disproportionately from among the largely secular and educated middle classes that aspire to freedom and greater opportunities, yet see their hopes stymied by corrupt dictators and one-party elites acting in collusion with U.S. oil and other in-terests.

Trobriand Islander learning magic

-And islander who wants to learn particular magic will present a series of gifts overtime to the owner as a way of convincing the individual to bestow that knowledge -Magic disappears from the community when the owner of the magic dies before beginning the transfer process or for some reason does not want to share the knowledge -in learning magic one must learn the words that are spoken, the spell

spirits in monotheistic religions (page 339)

-Angels Act as a mediator between God and human beings. They are often represented as agents of revelation, executors of divine will, or as witnesses to divine activity. -Much of the popular Christian belief about angels comes from the sixth century writings of Saint Dionysus. (The Celestial Hierarchy) -Generally angels are said to appear to help people in need, often as workers or messengers of God

Magic

-As anthropologist use the term, refers to rituals by which a person can compel the supernatural to behave in certain ways -gaining information about the unknown, what will happen in the future, what is happening in some far away place, or the cause of an illness -ritual and behaviors that are used to control supernatural forces -use of "technology": spells, chants, substances, rituals, designs

Increase rite

-Australian aborigines -essentially fertility rituals that function to facilitate the successful reproduction of the totem animal -performed annually and are seen as essential parts of the animals lifecycle -The men who perform the ritual draw sacred designs on their bodies and place various objects on their persons. In this way the men become the totem animal in a magical sense -their behavior brings out a sympathetic behavior in the actual animal

Astrology (page 266)

-Based on the belief that all of the stars and planets, as well as the sun and moon, influence the destiny of people -most popular divination technique practiced in the United States today -origins go baby to Babylonia -horoscopes began in the 5th c BCE -movement of the celestial bodies represented the will of the gods "celestial paths"

vampire (page 305)

-Bram Stoker's Dracula 1897 -creature that was considered to be real throughout much of Europe -believed to be someone who had recently dies but who had returned to bring death to others

McMartin Preschool

-California in 1980s -authorities thought they discovered Satanic "sex rings" that were sexually abusing children and engaging in devil worship -dozens of investigations at this preschool -labeled cases as witch hunts

Francisco de Ajofrin

-Capuchin friar -commercial production and sale of whimsical figurines made of the sugar paste known in Mexico as alfeñique -first known use in Mexico of the term Day of the Dead

Why aliens?

-Carl Jung: alien beliefs share symbolism with many religious narratives -separation of earth and sky -aliens are modern supernatural equivalent

dispensationalism (page 128)

-Christian -God has divided the history of the earth into phases -developed by John Nelson Darby -7 dispensations all ending in a catastrophe, like the fall, the flood, and the crucifixion

celebration

-Decorated breads, paper cutouts, and plastic toys, most of them playing humorously on the death theme, are evident everywhere. Sculpted sugar candies in the form of skulls, skeletons, and caskets suggest an almost irreverent, macabre confrontation with mortality. -clear, decorate, and maintain watch over relatives' graves -Everything from expensive tombstones to simple earthen-mound burial sites are adorned with flowers, candles, and food, aesthetically arranged in honor of the deceased

Bunyoro Ghosts

-East Africa Cattle culture area -ghosts are one of 3 significant causes of illness (others are sorcery and activities of the spirits) -ghost cause trouble to those who offend them -ghost = disembodied spirit of a person who has died -ghosts never seen except in dreams-ghost essentially evil and associated with the underworld -capturing ghosts, keep ghost away from family

Presentments

-Feelings that a person experiences -Suggest that some thing is about to happen

Religious practices generally possess four characteristics that enable them to promote and internalize supernatural beliefs:

-First, religious behaviors, badges, and bans are physically manifested displays or actions. -Second, religious practices are typically performed or displayed publicly. -Third, religious behaviors, badges, and bans are formal. -Fourth, religious practices are often repetitive, cyclical, or even continuous

History of Vodou (page 405)

-French colony in 1697 (became very rich due to sugar plantation agriculture) -slaves brought from West Africa to work -slaves practiced basic tenets of Catholicism but continued to practice their African religions -declared independence in 1804 (first black republic in the New World)

Spirits

-Generally less powerful than gods and usually are more localized. -Frequently, they are collections of non-individualized supernatural beings that are not given specific names and identities -There are also spirits that are individually recognized, such as a guardian spirit, an ancestral spirit, and a shamans spirit helper -In contrast with the guards, spirits are less powerful and are more focused on particular individuals, families, or groups of specialists -live in the human world -complex personalities -Friendly or harmful -Provide protection, success, and luck but are also blamed for minor mishaps -Offerings, entertainment, and attention will promote the development of a beneficial relationship between people in the spirit world -Ignoring their presence or doing something to harm or offend them can have negative consequences -Often reside in various physical objects (shrine, beautiful place)

Unification Church (Moonies)

-Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity -founder = Reverend Sun Myung Moon -founded in Seoul, Korea, in 1954 -goal = uniting Christian denominations around the world -Divine Principle -large joint weddings

Ritual is seen as a key

-If the right key fits into the right lock, then the wielder of that key is able to unlock that power to directly achieve his objective -this is what we mean by the term magic

Native Americans and Spirits (page 336)

-Important element is direct contact with supernatural beings and supernatural power. -vision quest = Individual enters into an altered state of consciousness, makes contact with the world of the spirit beings, and received a gift of supernatural power. The spirit beings that are encountered in these visions are often referred to as guardian spirit. -

Using energy brought by spirits from the invisible world, the healer-medium runs his or her hands down the sides of the patient's body in a movement called a pass

-In doing so, the medium's hands are said to turn a light blue color—which only another medium can see—as energy is transmitted to the patient -The medium knows when contact is made with the troubled area because his hands feel as if they are enveloped in a kind of invisible fog, or they begin to tingle as if going to sleep.' The patient also is said to feel his or her skin tingle.

Inspirational divination

-Involve some type of spiritual experience such as a direct contact with a supernatural been through an altered state of consciousness, usually possession

Hofriyat in Northern Sudan

-Janice Boddy 3 types of jinn: White jinn -little effect on humans Black jinn -devils -dangerous -possession by black jinn often leads to illness and death Red jinn -most frequently encountered -Zairan -blood and fertility -capable of causing illness, but are seldom fatal Zairan -parallels the world of humans -belong to different religions, occupations, and ethnic groups -exhibit a range of behaviors Women -lives very restricted -Worth and happiness depend on her fertility and her ability to produce sons. Their production of sons and their survival or women's tasks, and men are not to blame in the case of failure. -Woman who does not have children, miscarries, or has only daughters or whose children die young is accorded a very low position in society -Her husband may divorce her, or he may take a second wife. Spirit possession -when zar enters the body of a woman -Possession occurs in women of childbearing age, and close to half of the adult women in the community are possessed -what they call depression -depression = possession -lifelong condition, but not considered an illness

Christianity origins

-Jesus Christ, Son of God, Messiah -mediator between humans and God -Trinity: God, Jesus, Holy Spirit

"world's greatest religions"

-Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and more -religions most widely practiced -origins of these religions are based on the lives of a particular individual or founder (Christ, Buddha)

Baal

Canaanite god of fertility

renewalist spirituality (Ted talk week 11)

a kind of spirituality in which people want to experience God intimately, personally and interactively -"God is also a person among people"

many theories of terrorism focus on the roll of

a lack of education or poverty in states that are weak

The church taught

a new way of thinking about the mind -God gives you thoughts -using their imagination to do something that they do not regard as imaginary -imagination is not false or wrong

witch

a practitioner usually of low status who harms others by supernatural means through only the use of emotions and thought (it may be unconscious intention that they are not aware of)

suicide attacks today serve as banner actions for a thoroughly modern, global diaspora inspired by

religion and claiming the role of vanguard for a massive, media-driven transnational political awakening.

In North American folk thought a miracle may be defined as

any uncommon event brought about by some divine agency for the benefit of an individual or group

psychodynamic approach

religions help to manage human emotions that are both fragile and volatile -religion = defense mechanisms in times of stress

religions most effectively and uniquely communicate through what I will informally refer to as the three B's:

religious behavior (ritual), badges (the physical manifestations of some ritual behaviors, such as tattoos or religious garments), and bans (behavioral restrictions known in anthropological circles as taboos).

religious communities rely on both supernatural and material punishment systems to ensure

conformity with community norms

Descartes (1596-1650)

consciousness

Wicca (page 254)

-Neo-Pagan religion -Magic is often a central element of ritual -practitioners see their magic knowledge and rituals as a continuation of thousands of years of folk magic, which was often lost or pushed underground by the spread of Christianity -borrow freely from the magical traditions of various cultures around the world -Magic ritual usually consists of a stated goal, the manipulation of specific objects, and the observation of special conditions, such as place in time -However, the core of the ritual, what is often considered the real magic, is movement of energy, which takes place within the practitioner -The magician builds up this energy within themselves, and it is released at the right time to bring about the goal of the spell -Wicca Magic is based on the worldview that there is a power that exists in all things. Through rituals this power can be awakened and concentrated in can be set to affect a particular goal, which is the purpose of the spell. The power can also be moved from one person to another or between humans, places, and objects. Popular objects to use in spells include crystals, herbs, oils, candles, images, runes, and specific foods. The symbolism of color is also used. The goal of magic is often very practical I meant to help with every day challenges such as relationships, health, protection, money, and employment. Magic is to be used when all else fails and in conjunction action with more mundane efforts

cargo cults (page 413)

-New Guinea -name comes from the word "cargo", which in the pidgin English spoken in NG and the islands of Melanesia means "trade goods" -started in late 19th c. but reached peak during WWII -these cults often appeared in response to a prophet who had dreams or who has otherwise discovered the secret used by the Europeans in controlling cargo one of the best known was Vailala Madness, 1919-1923 -cenered on divination trances Naked cult, 1944-1948 -cult members going around naked and fornicating in public

Dani ghosts (page 302)

-New Guinea -when someone dies, a supernatural elements called the mogat leaves the body -becomes a ghost -can alert the community of enemy raids - service -generally troublesome and bring misfortunes -living are reluctant to travel in the dark from fear of ghosts -rituals designed to placate the ghosts -funeral = make ghost happy and keep away from community -"fresh-blood" funeral for people killed in war -killing pigs during feasts, food given to ghosts -ghost houses

Yoruba gods

-Nigeria and the Republic of Benin in West Africa -urban center of Ife is where the first acts of creation were performed (where Olodumare sent the gods to create the earth) -cosmos 2 realms: Orun (heaven and sky) and Aiye (earth) Orun: -residing there is the creator Olodumare, gods known as the orisha, and the ancestors -Olorun is high god and source of all supernatural power (otiose god) orisha = anthropomorphic and display human emotions -example of attribute gods

Jinn

-Normally invisible, but they can make themselves visible, and then doing so they often take the form of a human or an animal. - Once visible they can alter their shape and features it well. -They are born, live, and die; they marry, meat, and have families - So I'm have great powers, others do not. Many are specifically known and named, others occur as a part of an unnamed collective of spirits. They have different personalities, some good and some bad. -Sometimes a person can forge a special relationship with a jinn. But generally people try to keep a distance between themselves and jinn because they are troublemakers.

Spell

-Oral text that is transmitted without change -Spoken words of magic -The slightest deviation from its traditional form would invalidate the magic

Islam (Muslims)

-Qur'an was originally given in Arabic, and still recited in Arabic during rituals -believe the Qur'an represents the word of God as revealed to Mohammad by the archangel Gabriel in the early 17th c -word Qur'an means "recitation" and represents a perfect transcription of God's vision and should not change

Aquarian Concepts Community

-Sedona, Arizona -describes itself as an "intentional global community" -states that it comprises eighty adult members and twenty children

spiritists do not believe that all illnesses can be cured by their healers

-Some illnesses, they believe, are part of the Karma of the individual -they are part of the lesson the individual in the quest for spiritual advancement has incarnated to learn - To cure him (or her) would defeat the purpose of the incarnation and retard his (or her) development. -To avoid this, healers communicate with the spirit guide of each patient before undertaking treatment -Only if told to proceed by the spirit guide will they do so

otiose gods

-Sometimes the creator God creates the world and then withdraws from active interactions with the world -To remote into an interested in human activities to participate in the activities in fate of humans

Wiccan movement (page 420)

-The Witch Cult in Western Europe by Margaret Murray in 1921 = "The Burning Times" -took off in the 1950s -Gerald Gardner wrote Witchcraft Today in 1954 and The Meaning of Witchcraft in 1959 -witch-craft = pre-christian religion

The doctrine of signatures

-The belief that signs telling of a plant medical use are somehow embedded within the structure and nature of the plant itself -some believe that God provided the signatures so that people could ascertain the use of particular plants in healing -belief that herbs resemble its medicinal function

Perturbations of the second degree include more intense forms of the conditions identified above as well as some physical illnesses

-The low level intervening spirit may cause the magnetic fluid of the perturbed individual to become stagnant or at times too dense. This then may effect the balance or fit between the fluidic and somatic bodies -In severe cases, new magnetic fluids may have to be transfused from the healing medium into the patient. -a spiritist leader can effect a cure by enlightening the disturbing spirit and convincing it to leave the patient alone.

Perturbations of the third degree come from intense spiritual influences.

-The most serious of these is obsession. -Symptomatically the patient may experience an uncontrolled outburst of crying, apathy, or extreme pain at the top and frontal regions of the head. -may be treated in part with passes to transfuse magnetic fluid and energy; but, as with all illnesses caused by perturbing spirits, a religious leader will have to indoctrinate the troublemaking spirit into the Kardecist belief system before it will stop perturbing the patient.

Tio (article Week 12)

-Tin miners in Bolivia have found an ally in the devil -called Tio (uncle) -powerful ogre who owns the treasures of the hills -figure of power: he has what everyone wants, in excess. -Coca remains lie in his greedy mouth. His hands are stretched out, grasping the bottles of alcohol he is offered. His nose is burned black by the cigarettes he smokes down to the nub.

Yanomamö (page 288)

-Tropical Forest culture area (South America) -complex of souls -main part of the soul becomes "no borebö" at death -cosmos composed of 4 layers -living Yanomamo live on the thrid layer, and on death the no borebo moves up to the second layer -moves down a trail until it encounters a spirit names Wadawadariwa (thought to be somewhat stupid) -spirit asked whether the soul has been stingy ot generous -stingy - sent to a place of fire -generous - joins the ancestors -another part is the "bore" -released during cremation -remains on earth and lives in the jungle -third is the "möamo" -lies within the body near the liver -shamans will use powers to remove it from the bodies of their enemies, who will become sick and die -last is the "noreshi", or animal -everyone has one -born each time a child is born and will develop and grow along with the child -animal is the person's double, and what happens to one will happen to the other -most common noreshi for males is large birds, and land animals for femakes -a person's noreshi lives far away, no physical contact with the person

"Alexander UFO Report Crisis Survey"

-Victor Alexander -examines the religious response to the possible existence of alien intelligences "conclusively demonstrate that the religious leaders surveyed believed that the faith of their parishioners is both sufficiently strong and flexible to accommodate this information" -"religious leaders did not believe that their faith and the faith of their congregations would be challenged by contact with an advanced extraterrestrial civilization—one with or without a religion. According to many of the respondents, it would confirm God's glory as creator of the universe"

Ojibwa of the Great Lakes

-Vision quest is carried out at puberty. However children begin preparing early in life with periodic fasting. -Given instruction in how to induce a vision and how to recognize and reject a bad vision -When of age the boy is a lead into the forest where he will fast until he receives his vision. The vision is interpreted as a journey into the supernatural world. The boy is showing the path his life should take in the spirit beings who will be his guardian spirit. After a successful vision quest the boy assumes the status of an adult man

Wind River Shoshoni of Whyoming

-Vision quest or undertaken not just at puberty, but throughout life -Supernatural power can be attained from guardian spirits and visions and dreams -In the vision quest the supplicant rides to a place with rock drawings in the foothills. After cleansing in a creek or lake, they go down to the rockledge beneath the drawings. Naked except for a blanket, they wait for their vision. The vision is brought on by a combination of fasting, and during the cold, sleep deprivation, and smoking tobacco. What is actually scene commonly includes trials to be overcome before the spirit appears to bestow supernatural power.

Yoruba

-West Africa -ancestor worship is a huge part of their religion 2 classes of ancestors: family ancestors -of those that die, only a few become family ancestors -ancestors are individuals who led noteworthy lives while alive -maintaining good relationship with the family ancestors is important for the well-being of the family and descendants deified ancestors -those with great power and are worshipped at shrines throughout the region -may be thought of as gods with human origins -egungun are spirits who have traveled from the land of the dead to visit the living -after death, the person will travel to the land of the dead -good - pleasant existence -bad - suffering

Beng

-West Africa -when a person dies, their soul becomes a spirit and travels to wrugbe, one of many invisible spirit villages -spirit is reborn as a human baby, although the spirit continues to exist as an ancestor -individual exists both as a reincarnated being on earth and an ancestral spirit =people can travel to wrugbe in their dreams to consult with the ancestors

Ghost dance of 1890 (page 416)

-Wovoka (Paiute) in Nevada had a vision "Great Revelation" in 1889 -new religion incorporated native american traditions and christian elements -Wounded Knee 1890, Yellow Bird, over 200 people dead

Tzintzuntzan

-a community of about 3,000 artisans, farmers, and merchants, is located several hundred miles northwest of Mexico City on the shores of Lake Pátzcuaro in the state of Michoacán. -famous for having been the capital of the ancient Pur6pecha Empire, a political entity that successfully resisted Aztec domination. -perceived as a Purépecha settlement -only about 7% of villagers able to speak Purépecha throughout the 1980s and 1990s -only 11.4% of the population could be identified as indigenous in 1960

acculturation (page 403)

-a dominant society, usually with more developed technology and wealth, is able to establish control over a subordinate one. The subordinate culture experiences changes as traits are accepted, often at a rate that is too rapid to properly integrate the traits into their own culture.

Marx's notion of commodity fetishism

-a kind of "object worship -the worship of money and commodities

discovery

-a new awareness of something that exists in the environment

a society consists of

-a number of individuals who are related to one another and interact with one another in complex ways -series of positions, each one defined in terms of appropriate behavior, rights and obligations, and relationships to one another -each position is known as a status (mother, husband, priest, mayor, etc.) -rank is the relative placement of each position in the society

totalism

-a reaction to the increasing separation of religion from other domains of life

choice fatigue

-a single dominant church was replaced by numerous options

traditional healers in Africa

-about 1 in 500 -can be trained in many aspects of Western medicine, forming a relationship between traditional healing and medicine -Prometra (the Association for the Promotion of Traditional Medicine)

positive peace

-about ending violent conflict and ensuring safety and well-being of the population

James R. Lewis' encyclopedia, UFOs and Popular Culture

-about twenty-five entries of what might be called "Flying Saucer Groups," seventeen of which are also found in Melton's Encyclopedia of American Religions. -provides a brief historical background and information on basic beliefs, though he omits details such as the addresses of those groups that can be contacted -included Church of Scientology, prefers to include Scientology in his section on "Psychic New Age Groups" and makes no reference to its UFO motifs.

fasting

-abstaining from eating and drinking liquids over a period of time -could also involve other prohibitions -severe symptoms of starvation, even death, have occurred in religious fasting -fasting can lead to the development of an altered state of consciousness through symptoms of starvation and dehydration -often seen as a sacrifice to a deity and frequently accompanies a religious ritual

origin myths

-address the most basic questions of identity, both personal and communal -generally the most sacred of the religious narratives -birth metaphor -creation out of chaos, darkness, or void -emergence myth, common in NA (layered celestial glory under the Earth)

UFO

-aliens are surrounded with a sense of mystery -regarded as transcendent and supernatural entities who have reached a level of perfection and power far beyond that of human beings. -they are believed to communicate with specific individuals in order to bring salvation to a human race threatened by nuclear and environmental disaster

karma (Buddhism)

-all actions, good or bad, help create one's personality -this process continues even after death -rebirth is seen as the transmission of karma

religions are absolutist in that they claim top be absolute truth, drawing sharp lines between good and evil

-allows for no dialogue or understanding of other viewpoints and offers no possibility of compromise -suggests clearcut distinctions between good and evil and us and them -call for blind obedience to the supernatural -taught that their personal desires come secondary to religious traditions

Exobiology

-also known as astrobiology -studies the prospects of life outside our planet -speculates on the conditions that might give rise to life, on the type of lifeforms that might have developed in different and yet unknown environments, and on the possibility of communicating with extraterrestrial beings, if they exist -No scientist would maintain that there is alien life of any sort on earth

trickster

-ambiguity -most often male -can transform into many beings both animal, human, and deity -Often a creator who is responsible for bringing money technologies, customs, and activities to the world, such as fire, healing, and magic -Also vindictive, selfish, cowardly, and destructive -gluttony and lust most popular characteristics -best-known tricksters of NA is the Raven, Coyote, and Hare

marvel

-an event of extraordinary wonder, thought to have physical consequences, claimed to be the result of ultra-natural force -A miracle would then be a special type of marvel that yields positive results, traditionally ascribed to the power of the divine.

Firth's miracle definition

-an unexpected performance resulting from supernatural power, exercised by direct divine agency or through the agency of a divinely inspired person, such as a saint -miracle claims are not to be taken literally but are best seen as 'propaganda devices, reinforcing the pretensions of a religion to credibility'

Scott Atran: anthropologist studies the causes of terrorism

-anthropological, evolutionary approach towards understanding terrorism, especially suicide bombers -interviews captured terrorists and their families in order to understand the emic motivations and meanings for terrorism -would argue that religion wasn't the driving force behind involvement in terrorism -they just want to join a group with resources to help them and feel a part of something

sympathetic system

-arousal system -is driven to higher levels during situations in which a fast rhythm is being used, ultimately becoming overstimulated -brain selectively shuts down

revitalization rituals

-associated with revitalization movements -nativistic movements: focus on the elimination of alien customs and a return to the native way of life -messianic movements: involve the participation of a divine savior in the flesh

Homeopathic/Imitative magic

-assumes that there is a casual relationship between things that appear to be similar -similarity can be physical or behavioral -Most familiar kind of homeopathic magic is image magic -cave paintings

Exotheology

-astrotheology -branch of theology which investigates the theological issues that need to be considered if extraterrestrial life exists and if we ever make contact with extraterrestrial intelligences

Belief in Extraterrestrials

-atheists - 55% -muslims - 44% -jews - 37% -hindus - 36% -christians - 32% most astronomers think that life exists elsewhere (statistically speaking). Intelligent life is another matter -discovery of over 3,874 exoplanets in over 2,892 planetary systems -11-40 billion habitable Earth-sized planets in Milky Way

acheived status

-based on individual's personal acheivements -individual, in part, independent from community -explanations of personal success and failure are more likely to reference a high god who rules over a wider realm

Contagious magic (page 247)

-based on the premise that things that were once in contact always maintain a connection -ex: hair, nails, clothing -some examples of folk medicine in the United States are based on the principle of contagion -many of these involve transference of the disease into some object -The collection of, and prices paid for, anything used by a celebrity -anything connected with the person can be used in contagious magic -people also believe that an illness can be transferred onto an object in order to heal people (ex: caterpillar around neck to cure whooping cough)

bans can

-be "observed" only when they are at risk of being violated. -be especially proficient at increasing group solidarity and commitment. -be prohibitions.

Witchcraze in Europe

-begin at end of Middle Ages (around 1450) and lasted for 200 years -started when Inquisition began actively seeking out witches -time when many people were accused, convicted, and executed as witches (estimates range from a few thousand to several million people) -many associate this with the "Dark Ages", but actually a product of the Renaissance and Reformation -invention of the printing press in 1450s helped spread ideas -Malleus Maleficarum, or the Hammer against Witches, was published by the Catholic Church in 1486 -described the church's belief about witches -people who renounced the Catholic faith and devoted themselves to the services of evil -witches offered unbaptized children to the Devil and engaged in orgies that included having intercourse with the Devil himself -witches believed to shapeshift, fly through the air, and make magical ointments -women more likely to be witches -all witches must be arrested, convicted, and executed -witches tortured to get a confession -1628 Johannes Junius executed as a witch, letter to daughter from prison talking about his torture

Punishments for heresy by the Catholic Church

-beginning in 12th c, the laws dealing with heresy became more severe -Roman law declared crimes of heresy punishable by death (burning alive after second conviction) -from the 15th c onward, witches were treated more harshly than other heretics, burned on a first conviction -Inquisitions, formal investigations done by bishops -instead of waiting for accusations, the authorities began to actively go looking for heretics and witches -only a small number of cases resulted in execution, most were told to repent

traditioning

-belief that religious texts are relevant to life today

!Kung (page 200)

-believe that illness is shot into people by the ancestors -by laying hands on a person, they pull the sickness and throw it into the darkness -about half the men and 10% of the women become healers (during an altered state of consciousness) -can see inside of a person and travel to the home of the gods (feel like they are flying)

mental illnesses

-believed by spiritists to be caused by perturbations brought about primarily by low level spirits who often are not aware of their discarnate status -Three gradations of perturbations are recognized and ranked according to the type(s) of conditions provoked and their degree of severity

End of Middle Ages, witches

-believed to be both men and women, who had formally repudiated Christianity and made a pact with the devil -witches ride by night and have secret nocturnal meetings -believed to be evil and antisocial, had orgies, engage in sacrificial infanticide and cannibalism, and desecrate holy Christian objects like the crucifix and the Eucharist

zombie

-bodies without souls -a corpse that has been raised from the grave and animated -cross-cultural existence, modern foundation in Haitian Vodou (not to be feared, but pitied, fated to live a life of slavery on a plantation)

tensegrity (Casteneda)

-body movements, or magical passes -tension and integrity -aim to increase awareness of the energy fields that humans are made of

apotropaic practices

-burial customs interpreted as shielding the community from evil influences associated with the dead

tobacco, often mixed with other substances, is common in South American societies

-can be smoked, sucked, or drunk, can be turned into jelly, or ground up and blown up the nose

Body actions

-can include things such as sneezing, twitching, and hiccuping. -Can be interpreted in many ways that differ from culture to culture

apocalypse

-catastrophic destruction of the world, most commonly a flood -sometimes a future battle between good and evil

bishops

-celibate -but men who are already married may become priests and deacons, although upon the death of their spouse they cannot remarry

What do we learn? (Ted talk week 11)

-change is real -belief is not a thing -we learn about our minds (the way we pay attention to our minds/imagination/inner senses changes our mental experience)

Witchcraft and AIDS

-complex disease, not very well understood -often parallels traditional beliefs in illnesses caused by witchcraft -medical technology is ineffective, strakes randomly and among the poor

1: Law of Consecration

-consecration = individuals deeding their property to the Church -the Church in turn assigned a certain amount of property back to the individual to use -in the LDS church, consecration has been replaced by tithing

Eightfold Path

-consists of right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right meditation -a person who does this can achieve Nirvana

roles of a shaman

-contact and maintain relationship with spirits -focus is on ability to contact (not on knowledge) -use ASC -fight or appease spirits, heal or cure disease -can be private or public -Use drumming, singing, chanting, dancing, costumes -Axis Mundi

fasting and the Jewish Calendar

-contains many days of fasting -best known is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and the holiest day on the Jewish calendar -includes abstinence from all food and drink, as well as sex and bathing

"postmodern turn" in anthropology

-contextualized and "complexified" ethnographic research as a product of relationship more than an observation of a fact

Kali (Hinduism)

-creativity and nature -pre-Vedic -worshipped in many forms -"Black One" and Durga -dark-skinned and naked, standing on a corpse, dripping with blood, and carrying a sword and severed head -necklace of skulls and girdle of severed hands -insatiable thirst for blood, beheaded animals as sacrifice -not seen as evil, but as loving and compassionate -symbolizes transformation -often shown dancing with Shiva

Max Weber (article unit 3)

-culture is the result of the human tendency to impose meaning on every dimension of existence

rites of intensification

-cyclical rituals that reinforce the solidarity of the group

"folk catholicism" of Mexico

-dead are seen as intermediaries between the living and God

works vs grace debate (page 285)

-debate on how a person gets to heaven

terrorism

-defined as public acts of destruction, committed without a clear military objective that arouses a widespread sense of fear -the tactics of a smaller, weaker group against a more politically established enemy with the intent to intimidate or put political pressure on the more dominant organization -generally committed with a deliberately exaggerated level of violence -justified by reference to religious beliefs -those who attack are seen as martyrs, those who get attacked are seen as demons/satan -unlawful use of force and violence against persons/property to intimidate or coerce a government to achieve political or social objectives

presence of "high gods"

-depends on community size and social stratification -larger communities/more class stratification = increase in the belief of high gods that are present and active in human affairs (high gods) -smaller communities/egalitarian societies = no high gods and not active and present in human affairs (otiose)

full-time religious specialists

-derive their income primarily from performance of religious rituals -supported by the community or through services by individuals who they have helped -may attain important political and economic positions

Nativistic movements

-develop in societies in which the cultural gap between the dominant and subordinate cultures is vast -stress the elimination of the dominant culture and a return to the past

Santeria (page 408)

-developed from Cuba from a fusion of West African religions, primarily Yoruba, and Spanish Catholicism -Cuban independence from Spain in 1898 -proper name for this religion is Regla de Ocha, or Rule of the Orisha -known for being secretive (little information released to the general public) -secrecy due to animal sacrifice in ritual

Reincarnation (Buddhism) (page 291)

-do not believe in immortal soul or a conscious personality that continues soul is conceived of a combination of 5 mental and physical aggregates: -physical body -feelings -understandings -will -consciousness these make up the human personality this is what is caught up in the endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth -Four Noble Truths and Eightfold path -Nirvana -the goal in Buddhism is not to go to a blissful heaven, but to extinguish desire and craving and escape from the suffering of this life -Wheel of Life shows 31 planes of existence (include hells, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, and gods)

The Bhat caste (jati) is composed of 16 intermarrying patrilineal clans (gotras)

-each of which is presided over by a clan goddess (kuldevi) -Each Bhat clan goddess is viewed as an incarnation (avatar) of the Mother Goddess believed to have performed a miracle that saved the clan's founder

piercing

-ear holes, plugs, weights attached -pierce lips and insert round plates -sometimes piercing represent a coming-of-age ritual

dangerous religious groups

-early warning signs -authority claimed by the leader and what that person does with this authority, like ethical rules for his followers but not for himself, or decided who people can marry -group sees itself above the law or not having a social contract with the secular state

Endocannibalistic Anthropophagers

-eating of one's own people -eating of human bodies

Western Terrorists (similar characteristics in school shooters)

-emerging male adults -dislocated from society; diaspora, unemployment, single -unremarkable -seeking grandeur, wanting to leave mark on the world -competitive -angry about marginalized status -children of immigrants -limited social networks

myths = sacred stories

-exist in all human societies -religious narratives or stories that provide the basis for religious beliefs and practices -tell of the origins and history of the world and the creation of the first human beings -prescribe the rules of proper conduct and articulate the ethical and moral principles of society -written texts or oral narratives, art, music, and dance -thought to recount real events that took place in the remote past in a world different from today -believed to be relevant to modern life and are often recounted in religious rituals -"sacred religious stories that are believed by the people who tell them to be true." -stories in the Bible or the Qur'an are myths according to this definition

exposure (page 318)

-expose to elements or consumed by animals -effective and quick in reducing the body to bones

social rite of intensification

-familiar rituals -usually prescribed and periodic -include reading of sections of sacred text, a sermon commenting on some aspects of the text, commentary on current crises, or a discussion of moral issues, and prayers to the deity

Goddesses (page 354)

-fertility, lunar cycle -Ishtar of the ancient Near East, Isis of ancient Egypt, Kali in Hinduism, Virgin Mary (debatable) -Wiccan religions

structural analysis

-focuses on the underlying structure of the myth -based on the work of Leví-Strauss -humans tend to think and categorize the world in terms of binary opposites (black/white, man/woman, heaven/earth) that are mediated by a third anamalous category (life/death, life after death) -demonstrates that stories that seem very different on the surface may have similar underlying structure -critics say this approach is dehumanizing and sterile

Raelians

-founded in 1973 by Claude Vorlihon "Rael" -race car driver, magazine editor -1970s, encounters a UFO -60,000 members (one of largest membership) -aliens, the Elohim, created using biotechnology and cloning -Elohim have been guiding us, through prophets -Rael is last prophet -immortality achieved through cloning oneself, and downloading consciousness -atheistic religion, don't believe in afterlife -pro body image, pro sexual health -Elohim created us with senses to be used to the fullest -nudity, sex are good and should be explored

Bronislaw Malinowski

-founder of the functional approach in anthropology -myths are seen as a force to help maintain society -functional approach does not deal well with cultural change

Priests

-full-time religious specialists associated with formalized religious institutions that may be linked with kinship groups, communities, or larger political units and are given religious authority by those units or by formalized religious organizations -found in more complex food-producing societies -act as a representation of the community in dealing with the deity -performance of prescribed rituals -skill is based on learning ritual knowledge and sacred narratives and how to perform these rituals to benefit the community -rituals with more generalized purposes -personify the image of the ideal person, held to higher standard Usually a full-time male specialist with high status who is able to relate to superior or high gods beyond the ordinary person's access or control, often as a go-between. Specialized doctrinal knowledge -usually in complex industrialized societies -seen as representatives of a communtiy

hunting and gathering rites of intensification

-function is to influence nature in the quest of food -hunting, gathering, fishing, herding, and farming -periodic rituals that follow a seasonal cycle -occasional rituals performed in response to some crisis such as lack of rain

Emile Durkheim

-functionalist approach -first proposed the idea that religious symbolism marks as sacred important institutions of human society that are necessary for the group's survival -points out that the powers commonly attributed to gods are similar to those of society: creating times and spaces, designating moral rules and punishing offenders, existing above all individuals, requiring sacrifice -Values we learn in society, such as obligation, loyalty, respect, and hierarchy, or mirrored in a relationship with supernatural beings

Guy Swanson

-functionalist perspective study -looked at 50 different societies to see whether social characteristics of a group are predictive of their religious beliefs

Necromancy

-generally it refers to divination through contact with the dead or ancestor -In most cases a diviner enters a trance in an attempt to communicate with the dead

witchcraft (page 374)

-generally refers to individuals who have an innate ability to do evil -witchcraft beliefs become a way of objectifying antisocial behavioral traits -does not depend on ritual to achieve their ends but simply wills misfortune to occur -different from sorcery (there is nothing to prevent a witch from using magic) -can be unconscious and unintentional, someone could be a witch and not even know it -could be male or female -witches might practice cannibalism and incest -show hatred, jealousy, and greed -found in many time periods and identified as many different things -healers and midwives in medieval times were seen as witches -Christian churches associate witches with satan

Hallucinations in other cultures can be seen as (TED talk unit 5)

-gifts -ways to predict future events -connection with ancestors or god -service to the community -mentored by older people that teach you how to understand your gift In our culture, if you're hearing voices or seeing things, you're told you have a mental disorder/illness, not a gift but a disease -given drugs to get rid of them

Ara Norenzaya

-gods are usually not concerned with issues or morality in small societies (may interact with humans and demand attention, they are usually not involved with rewarding and punishing humans for their behaviors) -"Big Gods" like those involved in Christianity and Islam, are very concerned with defining moral behavior and punishing transgressions

color (page 123)

-have cultural meanings (ex: brides wear white in some cultures, some might wear red) -also represent idea (white means pure, blue means peace) -color evokes emotions (sad = blue, green = envy)

Dani Spirits

-highlands of New Guinea, province Irian Jaya -Mulia Valley Dani -complimentary pairs -physical beings = mortal and subject to the laws of nature (humans, animals, plants) -spirits = immortal and not subject to laws of nature -different from what we might think (like the sun is believed to be a real women and this a physical being, although one with unusual abilities -ghosts = Spirits of the recently deceased that linger near the village in which they once lived. If the community fails to perform funeral rituals in a satisfactory manner, the ghost becomes disappointed and make us trouble for the community. Ghosts are seen as a negative influence but they can also be beneficial -weya spirits control the rains -many malevolent spirits are associated with an illness (particular animals)

cult

-historically, it is a particular form or system of religious worship -specific devotion to a particular person or thing -hard to define

Tana Toraja

-horticultural people living in small villages in the mountains of Sulawesi, Indonesia smoke-ascending -rising of the sun in the east, the deata, and health and fertility -deata = gods and spirits that are associated with nature found in everything natural (mountains, rivers, stars, mist, etc.) smoke-descending -nene = ancestors -bombo = souls of people who have recently died -setting sun in the west and death rituals -through ritual the bombo are transformed into nene and the nene can be transformed into deata -the 2 realms must be kept separate -separate physical death from social death (physical = cessation of heartbeat and breathing cease) (social = continues after physical death, does not take place for weeks or even years) -Puya, guardian buffalo

Ancestors in Japan

-household-level religious activities have been the main means of contacting the supernatural 4 key household roles for the living: -master and mistress of the house -the heir and his bride -after death, the soul enters a period of uncertainty -soul is polluted by death and becomes potentially dangerous -rituals create safety and purify the soul -rituals end 49 days after the death -ancestors = dead regular household members that art not in living memory -the dead are seen as a moral force -relationship with the dead is seen as mutually affectionate and supportive -Midsummer holiday - reunion

Qur'an - 3 conscious beings

-humans made from clay, angels made from light, and jinn made from fire without smoke

Witchcraze in England (page 387)

-idea of witchcraft remained closer to the idea of sorcery, emphasis of power of witches to place hexes and curses -1500s witches were NOT believed to fly, have orgies, or make pacts with the devil -believed to harm livestock, cause diseases, and hurt infants and children -witches were prosecuted under civil, not religious, law -this is why witches in England, and later in the US, were hanged not burned -height if witchcraze in England was during the 1640s (English civil War)

Euro-American witchcraft beliefs (page 383)

-ideas of witchcraft in Europe were influenced by Christian ideas about the nature of evil -satan, the devil -witchcraft seen as people who have made a pact with the devil -sorcery gets added to the idea of witchcraft, which is the reason for the idea of spells -previously, sorcery was seen as largely mechanical, a manipulation of the supernatural -now sorcery became associated with the invocation of spirits, not seen as being hostile to God -spirits of sorcery were defined as demons, servants of satan -magic and witchfract became heresy

why magic works

-if the magic doesn't work, people say the ritual was not performed correctly, or someone was doing counter-magic -people also have selective memory, success is remembered and failures are forgotten -self-fulfilling people make things happen because they believe they will happen (death magic)

Reincarnation (Hinduism)

-immortal, eternal soul that is born again and again in different bodies -bodies differ, but the personality remains unchanged -closely tied with the concept of karma -Samsara (cycles of rebirth) -ultimate goal is moksha (liberation from limitations of space, time, and matter)

symbols

-important feature of culture -shared understandings about the meaning of certain words, attributes, or objects -no obvious, natural, or necessary connection, but the connection is agreed upon (red light means stop)

communitas

-important feature of liminality -group of individuals that go through the transition/liminality stage together -sense of equality -the fact that a group of individuals is moving through the process together brings about a sense of community and camaraderie

witchcraft revival

-in NA and Europe, interest in practice of witchcraft have grown over the past 30 years, often among highly educated segments of society -paganism -Wicca

3: blood atonement

-in early days of the church, individuals were killed who committed one of many sins, including adultery, sex between white and black person, and leaving the church

Trobriand garden magic (page 250)

-in farming, good fertility and a good crop are attributed to the skill and knowledge of the farmer and the superiority of his magic -manual work and magic are essential to the success of a garden

Anthony Wallace - stages of development of a revitalized movement

-in the early days of contact or other stressors, change is occurring, but at an acceptable rate, within relatively normal levels -over time, the stress levels become intolerable to some people (this phase is characterized by increase in illness, alcoholism and drug use, and crime) -increasing exposure to the dominant society and increasing influx of new traits, which cannot be easily integrates, increases the amount of stress -society may disintegrate and cease to exist as a separate unit, or revitalization will happen -revitalization begins when an individual or small group construct a new, utopian image of society and takes steps to make it a reality

Spiritists accept modem medicine

-in their view it is limited in its ability to cure -Since it is unable to understand, let alone treat the spirit, medicine, despite good intentions, they maintain, is very limited -Doctors, at best, are seen as able to treat symptoms that appear on the somatic body. They are not believed to be able to treat those causes of the symptoms that come from the spirit world or are the result of problems of fit between the fluidic and the somatic bodies.

tabu (page 179)

-inappropriate modes of interpersonal behaviors -bring dishonor, bad luck or some negative result for a person to have contact with someone or something that is tabu

pan-Indian

-incorporate elements and draw membership from many different tribes -meditation, revelation, prayer

separation

-individual is removed from his or her former status -abrupt separation of the individual from the community, may also take place over a longer period of time

incorporation

-individual or couples reenter normal society, though in a new social relationship

gods (page 332)

-individualized supernatural beings, each with a distinctive name, personality, and sphere of influence that encompasses the life of an entire community -More powerful than spirits. They possess great supernatural power and control or influence major forces of nature. -Personalized individuals with names, origins, and specific attributes -anthropomorphic: Resemble people in their physical appearance and personalities -Born, marry, and sometimes die. -Summer sympathetic others are hostile. Gods can be influenced by gifts in the form of offerings and sacrifices and by praising lottery, and sometimes they can be tricked -Behavior of humans on earth reflects the orders and Commandments of the gods. God's set up codes of behavior and punish people who do not observe them.

Neanderthals had religion

-intentional burials -had medicine and cared for each other -symbolic expression (ornaments made of bone, bird feathers, burned stalagmites in patterns, cave art)

Satanic Panic (lecture video week 12)

-late 1970s-early 1990s Moral panic -group psychosis -seeing satanic influence everywhere -1992 FBI report: "there are no satanic cults as organizations, not even as minuscule groups" Worldwide conspiracy that wealthy and powerful were Satanists, using hidden means to induct and abduct children -books, games, etc. Everyone were potential Satanists

J. Gordon Melton's Encyclopedia of American Religions

-lists twenty-three "Flying Saucer Groups" -provides a brief history and account of their main beliefs, as well as references to some of their main publications

fundamental principles that explain failure to make any notable advances in myth studies:

-literal reading of myth -study of myth in monocultural context

First study

-looked at religious systems in which there is a high or supreme god who is higher than all other supernatural beings -more likely to be found in a society that also had a decision-making hierarchy that sontained at least 3 different levels

most commonly used hallucinogenic snuff is called ebena

-made from the inner bark of a particular tree and is ground together with bark ashes and leaves -carefully ground into a fine powder and is heated -the final result, fine green powder, is manufactured and used on a daily basis by the shamans -the effects of the drug is immediate -individual taking the drug chokes and coughs, eyes water, mucus drips from nose, difficulty walking and begins to hallucinate (bulbs of light) (hekura)

time (page 126)

-made up of recurring units that are based on observable physical events (movement of the sun) and divide these units into phases (morning, month) -some phases are arbitrary (why is a week 7 days, not 8?) = week is a symbol that stands for a particular amount of time that only exists in the human mind

illusion (page 242)

-magic in this sense refers to acts that rely on some sort of trickery and deception -"rabbit out of a hat" kind of stuff, popularly known as magic -Entertainers who perform such allusions freely admit that they are manipulating not the supernatural world, but rather human perception

offerings and sacrifice (page 157)

-may be gifts or bribes, or economic exchanges designed to influence the supernatural -the supernatural will in turn reciprocate with rain, healing, economic success, etc. -deity is free to reject the gift sacrifice: blood is shed (an animal or human sacrifice) offerings: all other gifts (object of some economic value, sacred and special)

symbol

-may be thought of as something that represents something else -communicates an idea -can be used to stand for things that are more complex than simple objects -can stand for emotions and complex philosophical concepts they exists only in the mind -many symbols are arbitrary -not all symbols are artistic representations: can be linguistic, behavioral, or paralanguage (tone, proximics)

Rastafarians

-members of an Afro-Caribbean religion that has its roots in Christianity but venerates the former emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, as the Messiah -believe that the people of African descent are the Israelites reincarnated and generally focus on issues of race relations -key beliefs is in the coming repatriation of blacks in the Americas to Africa -example of a revitalization movement, originating in conditions of social and economic deprivation and meant to improve the lives of its adherents through adopting new religious beliefs -smoke marijuana (ganga) "wisdom weed" "the holy herb" seen as a religious sacrament and way to gain new understandings

migraines and religious experiences (page 196)

-migraine: associated with a headache, but also other symptoms like nausea and aura (a type of hallucination) -auras are often visual but can distort other senses (interpretations of auras is cultural - medical condition or mystical experience)

Noninspirational divination

-more magical ways of doing divination and include the reading of natural events as well as the manipulation of oracular devices

symbols do not have to be physical

-most are physical objects or artistic representations -language is a system of symbols (sounds are symbols) -music and dance can serve as symbols

Isis (Ancient Egypt)

-most important deity for the average egyptian -"Great Mother" and "Queen of Heaven" -associated with family -son Horus, sister of Osiris -became associated with nature -present in Rome and Greece -300 BCE religion of Isis had developed into a mystery cult

rites of passage

-most studied rituals -type of ideological ritual -rituals associated with marking the transition from one social phase to another -imprint the change in a person's social status on the minds of the participants and grant community approval or legitimacy for the change -mark a person's progression through the life cycle

Ifugao gods (page 353)

-mountain-dwelling people living in Luzon in the Philippines -large pantheon of gods (1,500) -no supreme pr creator deity -deities are immortal, invisible, change shape, and can transport -"paybackables" = largest of the classes (168) -"convincers"

Hmong souls

-mountainous regions of Southeast Asia -person possesses a number of souls (as many as 30) -health is a result of balance between body and soul -soul can be stolen by a spirit or frightened out of a body by trauma -curing illness by loss of soul is the job of a shaman -at death, the soul travels back to its "placenta jacket: and this allows the soul to travel on a dangerous path to the ancestors

prophet (page 236)

-mouthpiece of the gods -led via charisma -can also be shamans -role to communicate the words and will of the gods to his or her community and to act as an intermediary between the gods and the people -roles include: healing, predicting future, control nature

Nupe and Gwari of West Africa

-neighboring societies in the Guinea Coast culture area -live in similar habitats and interact socially and economically with one another -closely related languages -religious practices pretty much the same -Gwari witches are both men and women -a way of countering and preventing witchcraft is through rituals that rid the entire community of witchcraft -witches identified through divination -victims both men and women -marriage is generally free of tension -Nupe witches are always women, but must be aided by a man -witchcraft of women is controlled through secret activities of the men -social antagonism between men and women -married women become itinerant traders and have the potential of economic success, husbands often in debt to their wives, and wives take over certain economic tasks that usually fall within the sphere of activity of men -wives can refuse to have children, or refuse to care for their children -men angry and resentful of the situation but cannot change it -all of these reasons are why witches are viewed as women who can be controlled by men

sects

-new branches of a mainstream religion -different from a denomination, farther from mainstream -generally associated with a founder or leader and new revelations -ex: LDS

Bhats (lecture week 11)

-nomadic entertainers from the western or desert side of the state of Rajasthan -employed as genealogists, oral historians, mythographers, buffoons, and praise singers in a local patron-client economy termed jajmani -In return for this work, they receive gifts in cash and kind from one of the most ritually impure patron castes of India, an "untouchable" community referred to as Bhambis -In the past 30 years, however, Bhats have taken up puppetry, now entertaining local and foreign tourists in five-star hotels and at folklore festivals with their colorful stories and wooden figures

soul (page 283)

-noncorporeal, spiritual component of an individual -spirits that inhabit the human body -each person possesses a soul that takes on the personality of the individual -usually has existence after death -when we dream, our soul leaves the body and travels rapidly through space and time to the supernatural world -death is the permanent withdrawal of the soul from the body -illness may be caused by the soul leaving the body -universal belief -meaning of life, death is culturally shaped. They are culturally shaped social processes -Tylor (1871): soul beliefs arose out of our attempt to explain dreams, the difference between a living and dead body -Bering (2006): experiments with children (story of mouse who is eaten by alligator): humans tend to "naturally" view death as another state of consciousness because it is difficult (if not impossible) to imagine the absence of consciousness

irrationalist

-normal logic and judgements do not apply and religious beliefs and rules are beyond scientific and rational understanding -believers see the rules and directives of religion as going beyond the ordinary

Yakut/Shkha shamanism (page 220)

-northeastern Siberia -many people practice both Orthodox and Shamanic rituals -christian elements have entered into shamanic rituals and beliefs

soul and ghost

-not a clear distinction -both manifestations of an individual after death -soul = essentially good, eventually moves onto afterlife or reincarnation, can bring misfortune if they are neglected -ghost = essentially negative force, tends to remain in the vicinity of the community, can bring illness and other misfortune, have to be dealt with

Atheism

-not accepting the current conception of God -became widely used only at the end of 16th century -term originally used as an insult -science-based beliefs -weak and strong atheism -agnosticism = the idea that the question of the existence of a god is unsolvable, unprovable -this has not been widely spread in the US

visions and voices (Ted talk week 11)

-not so unusual -between 10-70% of the general population will say they've had one of these experiences -not pathological -infrequent, brief, 4-6 words, positive -responds to training, gets more powerful

Mary (Roman Catholic)

-not technically a goddess -height of devotion to her during the medieval and baroque periods in the Orthodox and Roman Catholic traditions -intermediary between humans and Jesus -"Queen of Heaven"

invention

-occurs when a person, sing the technology at hand, comes up with a solution to a particular problem

shamanic intitiation

-often includes the idea that the spirits eat, dismember, or kill the person before that person can be reborn as a shaman -spirits are testing the initiate -the symbolism of death, transformation, and rebirth are very common -often train with an older shaman to contact the supernatural and how to manipulate it to achieve your goal

becoming a priest

-often inherited responsibility (priestly lineages or castes) -sometimes has to do with one's standing in the community -may receive a divine call in dreams, visions, or trances -become a priest after being cured of an illness

healer

-often used to refer to a priest or shaman, especially when the individual is focused on curing illness or injury -many activities of healers are similar to US medical practitioners -many governments have used traditional healers as conduits for the introduction of new practices in nutrition and public health

Awiche

-old woman -Although some miners deny she is the Pachamama, the earth goddess worshiped by farmers, they relate to her in the same way. -They ask her to intercede with the Tio when they feel in danger; when they leave the mine safely, they thank her for their life.

Otzi "Iceman"

-oldest evidence of tattooing -discovered in 1991, remains have been buried under glacial ice for 5300 years -tattoo: puncturing the skin and rubbing charcoal into wound -61 simple tattoos, perhaps a therapeutic ritual

2 basic categories of dreams

-one is the individual dream, which is the type familiar to us, the kind that comes from inside the dreamer -second is a dream that lies outside of the dreamer. Culturally patterned dreams that are often deliberately sought

revitalization movement

-one that forms in an attempt to deliberately bring about change in a society -the change is perceived as more bearable and satisfactory to those under pressure -may be secular, but are frequently religious movements, and may result in the formation of a new religion -deliberate activities, frequently initiated by an individual or a small group that promises better times and solutions to the problems that besiege the community -arise from a number of perceived stressful and often traumatic situations

ascribed status

-one that is given to an individual based on attributes over which they have no control, such as gender or family line -ideas will focus on lesser gods who themselves are focused on local issues

Yoruba Color terminology (page 125)

-only 3 basic color terms Funfun: silver, white, pale gray Pupa: red, pink, orange, and deep yellow Dudu: black, blue, purple green, dark brown, red-brown, and dark gray -emotional connections Funfun - coolness, age, and wisdom Pupa - hotness Dudu - dark and warm Spiritual beings called orisha Oblata (the king of orisha) is an ethical and merciful diety linked to the color Funfun Sango, associated with the color Pupa, rules thunder and lighting and is proud and quizk-tempered Ossosi, linked to the color Dudu, is associated with hunting, is introverted and unstable

stimulus diffusion

-only an idea that moves from one culture to another, and stimulated by that idea, the receiving society invents a new trait

monks

-ordained priests -live in isolated communities (monasteries or villages) -bishops are normally selected from among the monks

fundamentalism (page 444)

-originated in the 19th century -at the time, used to refer to the opponents of liberal Protestantism who were urging a return to the "fundamentals" of Christianity as a way to guide those whom they believed had lost their way -belief in the inerrancy of the scriptures and a resulting millenarianism based on the Book of Revelation -eventually generalized to other religions with a strong scriptural component -over time the term ha shifted from an emphasis on religious scriptures to being associated with religious and social movements that share certain features and worldview in common

Ordeals (page 265)

-painful and often life-threatening tests that a person who is suspected of guilt may be forced to undergo -can be thought of as a trial by divination performed on the body of the accused 2 types: First involved the handling of a hot object by the accused, usually a piece of metal or stone removed from a could rob of boiling water or fire and then is carried nine paces -3 days following the handling of the object, the hand of the accused is examined for burns that would signify guilt Other type involves typing up and throwing the accused into a lake or river. Guilty would float to the surface, innocent would sink.

Vodou beliefs

-pantheon of deities called Iwa (similar to the orisha of the Yoruba) -two important Iwa pantheons are the Rada and the Petwo nanchon , or nations Rada: consists of dieties that would be familiar to a Yoruba -ancient African deities -likes things that are cool, such as candies and sweet drinks Petwo: aggressive and assertive -born out of slave experience -appeared during the period of isolation in early 19th c. -likes things that are hot, such as strong drinks like rum and spicy foods -each Iwa is partial to certain foods and that is used as offerings Danbala = Rada serpent deity -domain is rain, fecundity, and wisdom -depicted as Saint Patrick, pictured on chromolithographs with snakes at his feet -often seen with wife Ayida Wedo, the rainbow serpent

orientation association structure

-part of the brain that shuts down when overstimulated -this part enables us to sense the boundaries of our body, to distinguish ourselves from the world around us, and to orient ourselves in space -could be responsible for the altered states described by many religious systems -unitary state

Anthropological methods

-participant-observation -interviews -kinship surveys -questionnaires -psychological and physiological measures

Orthodox priests

-participate in variety of activities -education and counseling -focus on performing rituals -primarily involved with performance of social rites of intensification that center around the Divine Liturgy or communion service -also performs rites of passage associated with birth, baptism, marriage, and death

ritual

-patterned, recurring sequence of events -any repetitive sequence of acts -symbolic behavior through which identity, culture is enacted, transmitted and embodied

violence

-people directly ad physically harming other people -whatever stops people and groups from achieving their full potential

Zuni priests (page 229)

-people of the American Southwest culture -complex hierarchy of priests form the basis for religion and political organization -young males, rarely females, are inducted to one of the 6 kiva groups (6 cardinal directions) -manipulation of sacred objects and recitation of prayers -also have priests of 12 medicine societies with both men and women -the accumulation of ritual knowledge over time is associated with prestige and power

Hell (Roman Catholic)

-people who die in mortal sin or with original sin go here for eternal punishment -eternal torment for the damned, including both humans and demons -usually conceived of as being within the earth

Apache rite of passage (page 168)

-periodic ritual held every July for girls -matrilineal society, tracing kinship through the women

funeral

-permits and channels expressions of grief -society determined correct expressions of grief

infibulation

-pharaonic infibulation: found in areas of northeastern Africa -entire clitoris, labia minora, and labia majora are removed and the remnants of the latter are sewn together leaving a small opening for urination and the passing of menstrual blood -surgery prevents sexual intercourse and is a requirement for marriage -the wound is reopened by or for sexual intercourse

psychoduct

-pipe made of brick -through which the spirit moves from the tomb into the temple sanctuary during rituals

Wiccan beliefs

-polytheistic religion -gender equality is stressed -nature-based -ritual calendar -8 solar festivals (Sabbats) -common symbols include candles or images to represent god or goddess, athame (ritual knife) and wand are commonly used to cast the circle, pentacle symbol -use of magic, folk and ritual, used only for good -three-fold law and ten-fold law -moral rule called Wiccan rede -witch = seen as reclaiming the term and reaffirming their heritage

Second study

-polytheistic systems in which no god was considered supreme -this would be connected to a degree of specialization in a society

ethnographers always need to wonder about:

-possible deception and the distorting affects of the will to believe -why one should accept testimony of violation of well-known physical processes when no causal explanation is offered -how rumors of the uncanny will spread rapidly in groups because such news is so out-of-the-ordinary -whether or not there are conflicting accounts available

evil eye (page 390)

-power lies within the body -belief found primarily in India, Middle East, parts of Europe, and Mexico -cause illness or misfortune simply by looking at someone -associated with envy -wear charms to ward off evil eye -ojo = evil eye in Mexico

Sun Dance Cheyenne (page 201)

-practiced by tribal groups in the North American Plains culture -takes place near the summer solstice -represents the theme of renewal -oxheheom "New Life Lodge" -closely tied to the creation of the earth and passages from the Cheyenne origin story -pledged by an individual who is making a commitment to supernatural beings -takes 8 days to perform -"hanging from the central pole" self-sacrifice

interaction with gods

-prayer (praise and petition, thanks and asking) -ritual -blessings and miracles -divination and prophecy -possession

female circumcision/genital cutting/clitoridectomy

-prepuce of the clitoris or part of it is removed -sometimes the labia is removed as well -may be done at adolescence as a rite of passage, but is often performed much earlier -protecting the family honor and controlling female sexuality -UN and other organizations are working to eliminate this practice

protective rituals (page 154)

-prescriptive in that they are routinely performed at the start of a dangerous activity -occasionally in response to a gathering storm -rituals designed to protect the safety of the people who are involved in dangerous tasks -also performed in response to some unexpected threat to the success of an economic endeavor -used to bless transportation (ships, cars, etc.)

Pentecostal faith healers

-priests that exhibit many shamanistic traits -ASC achieved through rhythmic speech and music -"laying on of hands" -called by the supernatural "God" and describe prophetic dreams and visions

magic definition (article week 7)

-primordial attempt to control or gain access to desirable objects -we sought to connect symbolically with the object of our intentions -in the beginning there was magic and magic was with God and God was magic

shamans (page 216)

-receives his or her power directly from the spirit world -acquires status and abilities, such as healing, through personal communication with the supernatural during shamanic trances or ASC -term refers to techniques used by specific kinds of religious specialists -can be found in a wide variety of cultures and religions -"wounded healers" -control of spirit helpers and the ability to enter ASC are central to the role of shaman -can be sexually ambiguous (switch genders) Usually a part-time male specialist with high status and healing abilities. Direct contact with supernatural forces, through trance, which allows ability to heal, alter reality. Lots of different definitions: -direct communication with the supernatural -use spirit helpers -use culturally appropriate paraphernalia

urban legends

-recounted as having really happened, primarily on the internet or in tabloids

corrupt god of wealth

-referred to as El Tio -a composite of the Christian Devil and an ancient god of the underworld -believed to encourage selfish pursuits and individualism

nationalism

-refers to a sense of identification with and loyalty to one nation above all others (in this sense it is a purely secular phenomenon) -nationalism and patriotism share many parallels with religions from and analytical and functional perspective -nationalism and religion are both based on deep emotions and serve as sources of identification and for defining self and other -both provide major themes for an individual's worldview, and include important stories, symbols, and rituals -people will give their lives for their nation just like religion -United States = flag is predominant symbol of nationalism

pentagram/pentacle (page 115)

-refers to any 5-sided figure but is generally used to refer to a fine-pointed star -one of the most widely used religious symbols, both historically and cross-culturally -symbol of many different things in lots of different religions -during the Witchcraft that the pentagram began to take on the connotation of evil ("witch's foot") and was later adopted by Satanists as their symbol (inverted pentagram, commonly shown with a goat's head in the center)

Neo-Pagan

-refers to pre-christian religious traditions that have been revived and are practiced in contemporary times -example of revivalistic movements -one of the best known is the Wiccan religion

Arab Spring 2011

-refers to the successful uprising in Tunisia and referenced the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe in 1989 -two conflicting principles: the desire for more implementation of Islamic fundamentalism on one hand and the belief that secularism had to be defended on the other -resulted in the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria

societies that are technologically simple tend to be (page 402)

-relatively isolated from outside influences and tend to change slowly over time -internal change occurs through the process of discovery and invention

Superstitions

-relatively simple forms of magical thinking -simple behaviors that directly bring about a simple result

small-scale (instead of primitive)

-relatively small communities, villages, and bands that practice foraging, herding, or technologically simple horticulture -not usually based on the lives of a particular prophet or founder -limited to one or a few societies -people only number in a few hundred or thousand

handicaps: the signals that are most believable are those that are costly to fake.

-reliable because they are too costly to display or perform for those of low quality -the costs are higher for low-quality individuals, that the benefits are higher for high-quality individuals, or both. -it must be possible to send a false signal, in other words, for a low-quality signaler to send a signal suggesting high quality. -signal must be costly to fake but not impossible to fake.

Vodou

-religion that is found in the country of Haiti and in the Haitian diaspora -extremely rich in symbolism, with art and dance playing central roles in ritual -grew out of several religions indigenous to West Africa -term vodou comes from the Fon language of Dahomey (now Benin) and means "spirit" or "deity"

circumcision (page 172)

-removal of foreskin -performed by a ritual specialist -traditional in Jewish and Islam religions -marks a covenant with god

other physical alterations

-remove body parts -deform the skulls of infants (bind or shape them) -sometimes deformations are accidents and unintentional

Obamacare (PPACA) 2010

-required businesses to provide health insurance coverage for their employees -insurance would include FDA approved contraceptive methods

Global Deaths from terrorism

-risk much lower in the US than in other areas in the world -more risky outside of US, like Western Europe and the Middle East

Situational rituals/crisis rituals

-rituals are performed because of the particular need of an individual or a community -often arise spontaneously, frequently in times of crisis -rituals for those going off to war, or in response to terrorist attacks, etc -could be as simple as flying a flag, or more complex like lighting candles -used to address the concerns of society

therapy ritual

-rituals focused on curing -among the most important rituals found in many societies

periodic rituals/calendrical rituals

-rituals performed on a regular basis as part of a religious calendar -may be performed daily or several times a day, weekly, annually, etc -may be aligned with the phases of the agricultural or moon cycle

Prescriptive rituals

-rituals that are required to be performed -requirement might me set forth in a religious text, may be required by a deity or religious authority, or may simply be based in tradition

technological rituals (page 152)

-rituals that attempt to influence or control nature, especially in activities that affect human activities and well-being -hunting, fishing, and farming -hunting and gathering rites of intensification, protective rituals, and divination rituals

anti-therapy rituals (page 160)

-rituals that bring about illness, accident, or death -can be directed at a member of the same community, and the person responsible is usually punished -can be directed towards an enemy, warfare to help defeat them

Satanism (page 394)

-satan is more like a force of nature than a deity or devil -Church of Satan - form of hedonism

Holiness Churches

-series of independent churches found primarily in Appalachia, most predominantly in West Virginia -during services, members of the congregation enter an altered state of consciousness through intense concentration in prayer and with loud music with a repetitive beat -dance energetically and enter trancelike states -some will pick up poisonous snakes and drink poison -entrance into an altered state is a highly desired religious experience and is interpreted as being filled by the Holy Ghost (unitary state) -speak in tongues (unknown language) that is interpreted as the voice of God (language also known as glossolalia) -language uses sounds, rhythms, and accents of the speaker's native language

Orthodox churches

-series of independent religious organizations -complex religious hierarchy -head of religion = bishop -priests = assigned to specific churches and are responsible for performance of rituals -deacons = assist the priests in ritual performance and work under their direction ascenticism = individuals separate themselves from everyday world and spend their lived as monks and nuns

ideological rituals (page 155)

-serves to maintain the normal functioning of a community -delineate codes of proper behavior, define good and evil, moral and immoral, and articulate the community's worldview -assist people and the community in getting through times of change and crisis -facilitate the orderly running of society -social rite of intensification

music (page 134)

-set the mood for a ceremony -primary vehicle for telling stories -communication with the gods -memorization of prayers or narratives -meaning behind certain music is symbolic, and the meanings/feelings are not universal

Korean Shamanism (page 222)

-shamans, mostly men, had considerable political influence at one point -over time it moved from being a prominent public institution to a private secretive activity -today most shamans are women, provides a good source of income and influence -shamans chosen by the spirits (possession illness until she accepts the call) -called to guide the dead to the underworld, cure illnesses, for divination, ensure a family's or community's good fortune

South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) (page 458)

-shows the role of religion in the peacebuilding process in post-apartheid South Africa -says that Christianity was needed to achieve reconciliation -operated from 1995-2002 with the mandate of investigating human rights violations

indexical signals

-signal that refers to what it denotes by being truly affected by it. -signals that are actually impossible to fake and are consequently quite reliable.

original sin

-sin of Adam in Genesis, which is washed away by baptism

Ifaluk Ghosts

-small island atoll, 1.5 km2, pop. 600 2 supernatural beings (alus): High gods (not active in daily life) Ghosts (malevolent and benevolent dead) -all behavior and misfortune is caused by ghosts -great fear of bad ghosts (avoid going out at night, visiting certain areas, public executions and rituals to rid themselves of these ghosts) -this belief is viewed as adaptive

teeth

-some societies see white teeth as resembling animals -to create a boundary between human and animal, teeth are often knocked out, filed into various shapes, or colored (often blackened)

diviner

-someone who practices divination -series of techniques and activities that are used to obtain information about things that are not normally known -things that will happen in the future, things occurring in the present time but at a distance -things that touch the supernatural, such as the identification of witches -interpretation of natural phenomena, entering an ASC, and obtaining the requested information -usually focus on practical questions (including cause of illness) -often work for private clients and are paid for their services -practices a set of techniques that obtains unknowable information -usually of the future or things dealing with the supernatural -often use ASC -answer practical questions diviner gives diagnosis and healer gives cure

Christopher Partridge's New Religions

-somewhat lengthier entries -historical background to the rise of Ufology and distinguishes between apocalyptic strands and non-apocalyptic strands -among the prominent themes of these UFO religions is the synthesis of science and religion.

sorcerer vs witch (lecture video week 12)

-sorcerer: a practitioner usually of low status who uses certain materials to invoke supernatural powers to harm people. transgressive -witch: a practitioner usually of low status who harms others by supernatural means through only the use of emotions and thought (it may be unconscious intention that they are not aware of) often the label of a witch goes to someone who breaks social norms, conventions, and/or is a convenient target for scapegoating

Hobby Lobby case in 2012

-sought an injunction under the RFRA -didn't agree with the contraceptive methods under obamacare -injunction originally denied but upheld on appeal, eventually ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby -first time the court recognized a corporation's claim of religious beoiefs

afterlife beliefs vary

-soul could be rewarded or punished (heaven/hell): abrahamic faiths -soul may exist in diminished state (greek and roman mythology) -may exist and stay with dead body for extended amount of time (toraja, indonesia) -soul may stay in the community, protecting or causing misfortune (ifaluk/ifalik)

Purgatory (Roman Catholic)

-souls that are in a state of grace but in need of purification will go there -for souls that die with lesser faults for which the person had not repented or if the penalty was not fully paid before death

Witchcraft and the Azande - Zandeland

-southern Sudan and NE Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) -Evans-Pritchard -witchcraft = mangu -something that exists within the body of a witch, a physical substance (0val blackish swelling, associated with intestines and liver) -witchcraft is inherited (parent to child of the same sex) -the psychic aspect of mangu is the soul of witchcraft -witchcraft is responsible for accident, illness, and death but also economic misfortunes -death is the only way of dealing with a witch, but only used for those who are responsible for many deaths -do not accept coincidence, everything that happens has an explanation, a witch involved -accusations are based on real tensions in society -witches are not strangers -accusations grow out of negative emotions and behavior, such as greed envy, and hatred -accused witches identified through divination (dakpa, iwa, benge) -believe that some people possess mangu without knowing it and not purposefully trying to hurt people

Okinawan priestesses (page 230)

-southwest of the main islands of Japan -indigenous religion based on animism and shamanism, but has been heavily influenced by Shinto, Buddhism, and Taoism -supernatural beings referred to as the kami -pleasing the kami through rituals can bring blessings -all religious specialists are women -only known society in which women lead a mainstream, official, and publicly funded religion that is practiced by both sexes -kaminchu and yuta -kaminchu is semihereditary (mother to daughter)

herbalist

-specialists in the use of plant and other material as cures -various plant materials that are used in tribal societies actually do have medical properties -intimately familiar with the various plant materials in the habitat and gather, process, and administer various medicines made from these materials -use plants for curing -many plants do have medicinal properties

age grade

-specific status defined by age, such as warrior or elder -classification of an individual into age categories

call from spirits

-spirits will commonly call to the future shaman during a particularly difficult time of their lives, including periods of stress, illness, accident, possession, or near-death experiences

swastika (page 114)

-stands for very complex ideas and carries great emotional resonance -some see it and experience anger or dread (americans and europeans) because the Nazi's adopted it as their symbol -also a religious symbol found in many religious systems and seen as religious art (positive meaning such as prosperity and good luck) -some cultures reverse the swastika (called the sauvastika) and it stands for darkness, misfortune, and suffering

mummification

-started with the Egyptians and Bronze Age Britain -complex and time consuming -remove water, organs removed, body filled with resin-soaked linen, wrapped body, hot resin painted on outside, body wrapped in cast of linen and plaster

Musth: African elephants

-state of heightened aggressiveness and sexual arousal that occurs in adult male elephants for several weeks to several months per year -Testosterone levels are frighteningly increased by a factor of 50, accompanied by vocalizations, threatening poses, and dribbling urine -smaller males occasionally escalate a fight with larger males, and it is almost always the case that the smaller are in musth while the larger are not. -the smaller who are in musth generally win these conflicts. Musth is thus a handicap: a costly trait that reliably signals aggressiveness and willingness to escalate agonistic encounters.

Four Noble Truths

-state that life is imperfect and inevitable involves suffering -this suffering originates in our desires but will cease if all desires cease -the only way to achieve release from the cycle of reincarnation is to follow the Eightfold Path

"ecstatic anthropology" (Fabian)

-stepping outside of oneself to truly enter the life world of the Other -believes this should be a "prerequisite for, rather than an impediment to, the production of ethnographic knowledge"

folktales

-stories meant to entertain (not myths or religious) -take place in the fictional world -include supernatural elements and frequently contain a moral -exist independent of time and space

Heaven's Gate sect in Rancho Santa Fe, CA. (Week 14 article 1)

-suicides of 39 members, all dressed in identical black outfits, neatly arrayed on cots and bunk beds -exit this planet during the Christian Holy Week. -videotaped farewells by group members, serenely explaining to loved ones the reasons for their actions. -deliberation, intention, and absolute confidence that their deaths would convey them to the "next level." -ritualized death, castrations, and expectations of rescue operations by alien beings in spacecraft -bizarre -standard dress and buzz cuts were ways of diminishing sexual differences, just as castration for some of the men was a way of diminishing sexual desires. -science fiction mythology, blended with elements of Christianity and astrological divination -appearance of the Hale-Bopp comet signaled the advent of extraterrestrials, whose starship in the comet's wake would rescue the faithful from Planet Earth. -the members of Heaven's Gate saw themselves as following the same pattern established 2,000 years ago, when Jesus of Nazareth discarded his physical vessel in exchange for a spiritual one. -not exactly a "cult" leader = Marshall Applewhite "Do" -emphasized sexual negation -Sexuality was merely an aspect of the bodily container that would be sloughed off as believers passed to the next level "above human." -Do himself had been castrated, perhaps as a desperate effort to cope with his own homosexual proclivities, about which he felt apparent guilt.

Robin Horton

-supernatural beings function to extend the realm of social relations -behavior of the gods provides a model for humans -ascribed or achieved

mana (polynesia)

-supernatural power -impersonal supernatural force that is found concentrated in special places in the landscape -tabu; things that possess supernatural power is seen as dangerous and often best avoided -mana comes from the gods

cross (page 118)

-symbol most clearly associated with christianity -was not adopted in the beginning of christianity, some even thought it had pagan associations -cross most widely used today is the Roman cross

Octavio Paz's Labyrinth of Solitude

-the Mexican "is familiar with death, jokes about it, caresses it, sleeps with it, celebrates it; it is one of his favorite toys and his most steadfast love" -the Mexican looks at death "face to face, with impatience, disdain or irony"

The Day of the Dead is a specifically Mexican term referring to (week 9 article)

-the Mexican version of pan-Roman Catholic holy days: All Saints' and All Souls' Days, observed on November 1 and November 2 -known in Spanish as el Día de Animas (Souls' Day), el Día de los Finados (the Day of the Deceased), or el Día de los Fieles Difuntos (the Day of the Faithful Departed) -entire period from October 31 through November 2 -key symbol of national identity

Ngundeng (page 236)

-the Nuer, cattle-herding people living in the Eastern Sudan area -have a history of prophets -born in the 1830s with the supernatural power

John Galtung negative peace

-the absence of war

ancestor worship (page 293)

-the beliefs and behaviors surrounding the veneration of ancestors -the importance of ancestors to a culture is a reflection of the importance of kinship -not all souls become ancestors -can stay and protect, provide guidance and blessings, and punish inappropriate behaviors -funeral rituals of the deceased is an important way to make sure the soul gets to its final resting place

Christian Symbols

-the cross is the symbol that is most associated with Christianity -the cross did not gain general acceptance for many centuries after the founding of the Christian religion The cross that is widely used today is the Roman cross -there is considerable variation in the exact look of the cross symbol -not the earliest important symbol in christianity (that was the fish)

societies do not exist in isolation

-the existence of other cultures with different technologies, social organizations, and religious practices exposes a society to new ideas and technologies

most important early christian symbol was (page 120)

-the fish -"fishers of men" -greek word for fish, icthus, form an acrostic -"Jesus Christ pf God the Son the Savior" -symbol served as a type of password during times of persecution

Spiritists, or Kardecists, believe that there are two planes of existence

-the material one of the visible world familiar to us in our daily lives, and the spiritual one of the invisible world of which we are for the most part ignorant. -The invisible world is inhabited by spirits, the vital force in the universe, who are assumed to go through a number of lifetimes, or incarnations, developing progressively. -Human beings are spirits incarnated in a material body -Spirits are believed to return to the material world in order to learn lessons required for their moral advancement -perispirit = personality -misfit between the perispirit and the somatic body, according to spiritists, manifests itself in illness.

consciousness

-the process underlying the mental model we create of the world of which we are aware -allows us to retrieve a fact, an idea, an emotion, or a memory and combine it with critical thinking -we are only aware of our own consciousness and provide others the benefit of the doubt -consciousness and "reality" are subjective

Structural violence (direct violence)

-the result of societal conditions such as lowered life expectancy in lower socioeconomic classes

"commodities"

-the source of economic value rather than a mere product of the human imagination. -can come to possess a seeming vitality and power surpassing that of the human beings who conceived them, even assuming, in some ways, the status of divinity

magic worldview

-there is a connection between the universe and the individual -individual can tap into this connection to foresee and alter events

characteristics of fundamentalist groups

-these groups protest against, and fear modernization in general and the secularization of society specifically -believe society is no longer focuses on the big questions of morality and salvation and traditional values -worldview focused on finding certainty and simplicity in an otherwise complex and uncertain world -see issues in terms of black and white and reject the idea of relativism -believe that religion should be in all parts of society -totalism, scripturalism, traditioning -millenarianism, activism -mormon - polygamy

Small-scale societies and specialists

-these men/women usually have other responsibilities within the society -generally no distinction between secular/religions activities, so from an emic perspective, the term "Religious Specialist" would not exist -most adults have some religious function, with elders the most: men more than women -increased integration with medical systems

"exobiology" and "exotheology"

-they reflect the scientific and theological questions that are asked about extraterrestrial intelligences or beings. -disciplines are highly speculative, but they are indicative of the human quest for knowledge of the universe as a whole and the rejection of the provincial attitude that limits research to the planet Earth

Freud

-thought that religion as a whole can be seen as a symbolic expression of relationships between children and their parents

The Gods Have Landed (week 14 article 2)

-three distinct UFO religions -includes important overviews of literature both on the contactee phenomenon and on the religious, sociological, and psychological aspects of UFO beliefs.

Perturbations of the first order result from mild spiritual influences causing such conditions as mild depression, inhibition, fear, malaise, complexes, jealously, sadness, irritability, nervousness, and domestic misunderstandings.

-treated by means of a procedure in which a knowledgeable and articulate spiritist leader explains the situation to the errant spirit (who appears through a medium) and requests that it stop disturbing, or perturbing, the patient. -The healer also orients the spirit in the moral advantages of behaving appropriately. -The patient usually is not present at these sessions.

clown doctors (page 223)

-use clowns in pediatric hospitals with similar characteristics of shamanic healers -meditate between order and chaos, sacred and profane, natural and supernatural

Fore divination (page 268)

-use divination to identify the sorcerer who cursed someone with kuru -The most common definition technique uses a possum as a vehicle for supernatural revelation -healers, or "dream men", who we would label as mediums, enter ASC to identify sorcerers

tere-mere sochte karte hai

-used to describe a person who clearly distinguishes his property from that of others and thus, literally, "thinks in terms of yours and mine." -people who refuse to share economic resources -use the phrase to criticize gossips and backbiters

Axis Mundi (Axis of the World)

-view that there are 3 zones of the world (supernatural, natural, and underworld) -shamans can travel through these -central vertical axis linking the three worlds of the upper, middle, and lower world -shamans move between the realm of natural and supernatural, living in the middle zone between them -shamans move along this central axis

Yup'ik

-western Alaska -a newborn has the soul of someone who has recently died in the grandparental generation, after whom the child is named -after death the soul remains nearby for a period then leaves to await rebirth -immortal soul recycled through time -animals also possess immortal souls (based on a reciprocal relationship between humans and animals) -seals "allow" themselves to be killed if the hunter is religiously worthy -the soul of the seal retracts into its bladder when dead (the collect all the bladders from seals killed during the year - they are inflated and hung throughout a 5 day festival then are shoved through a hole in the ice into the water, where the souls are eventually reborn)

religious ritual

-when a ritual involves the manipulation of religious symbols such as prayers, offerings, and readings of sacred literature -a patterned form of behavior, generally communal and consisting of prescribed actions and words for religious purposes -used to contact supernatural forces, communicate with supernatural, communicate to others, help to develop relationships with supernatural forces, effect human transformation

assimilated

-when the dominant society has changes so much that it has ceased to have its own distinct identity

Viuda

-widow -appears to miners who have been drinking chicha, a fermented corn liquor -describe her as a young and beautiful chola, or urbanized Indian, who makes men lose their minds—and sometimes their paychecks. -consort of the devil and recruits men to make contracts with him, deluding them with promises of wealth.

Muslim dress code (page 451)

-women cover heads, and sometimes their entire bodies in the presence of non-family males -seen as modesty that is required by religious and social custom -most common is hijab, covers head and neck -niqab, covers entire body except for the eyes -chador, shawl that covers head and body except the face -burqa, full-body veil with eye opening covered by mesh -wearing these coverings is mandated by law in several countries -wearing hijab becomes important symbol not only of a religious system but of one's cultural origins and identity

Non-Western Terrorists

-young men -low education (most have less than primary education) -little formal knowledge of their faith -grew up in places in violence, eg post-Saddam Iraq -personal experiences with death and violence

Haitian zombies

-zombies are known from other cultures, but are most closely associated with Haiti and the religion of Vodou -Haitian zombies themselves are not feared -fear comes from fear of being made into one -seen as soulless creatures, animated for a life of slavery on a plantation

Three phases in the typical rite of passage (page 163) (Van Gennep and Victor Turner)

1 - separation 2 - transition (marginality or liminality) (communitas and anti-structure) 3 - incorporation (reaggregation)

6 characteristics (lecture week 14, 8:40)

1- belief in extraterrestrial beings 2- emphasis on relationship between aliens and humans 3- belief in prior and ongoing context 4- benevolent beings, offering help, progress to humans 5- millenarian: aliens will usher in rapid change, sometimes saving humans 6- need to prepare ourselves for arrival

consciousness has 3 main functions: (lecture unit 5)

1- consciousness restricts our attention 2- keeps our brain from being overwhelmed by stimulation by processing things serially and limiting what we notice and think about 3- provides us with a mental "meeting place" where sensation combines with memory, emotions, and motives

Six main characteristics set UFO religions apart as a unique phenomenon that came into being in the second half of the twentieth century:

1. A belief in extraterrestrial beings, who reside mainly, but not exclusively, in our solar system. 2. An emphasis on a relationship between aliens and human beings 3. A strong belief that that there have been a series of encounters and communications between human beings and aliens 4. A conviction that aliens are visiting Earth to offer help for human beings 5. A belief that a millennial age will begin with the public advent of the aliens. 6. A stress on the need for human beings to make preparations for the public arrival of the aliens.

first hanging of a witch in America (New England) wasn't until

1647

embalming was first practiced in the US in the

1840s to preserve medical cadavers

Three stages: trance state of Upper Paleolithic humans

1: geometric visual images are seen -entoptic phenomena and are forms painted on the cave walls 2: individual attempts to make sense of these phenomena and interprets them in cultural terms 3: deep trance -entoptic images are still seen -combine with iconic images of people and animals that are seen as part of the spirit world -individual will often feel changed into an animal and shares the power of the spirit-animal

During 2000-2004, there were (article week 13)

472 suicide attacks in 22 countries, killing more than 7,000 and wounding tens of thousands. -Most have been carried out by Islamist groups claiming religious motivation, also known as jihadis.

On September 11, 2001, for example, 15 of the 19 suicide attackers came from Saudi Arabia, where nearly

5,000 U.S. combat troops were billeted at the time, with 7,000 more stationed elsewhere on the Arabian peninsula.

_______ percent of Americans believe there is a heaven

72

opinion polls conducted in the United States between 1994 and 2003 indicate that

79 to 84 percent of adults believe in miracles

Dowsing

A forked stick is used to locate water underground

high demand religion

A religious group in which much is demanded of members in terms of strict adherence to rules for thought and behavior. -ex: heavens gate, fundamentalist LDS

A cargo cult is___________________.

A religious movement that believes a liberating power will bring an abundance of Western goods, leading to a period of supernatural bliss

Which of the following is NOT a common characteristic of new religious movements?

All are aspects of new religious movements A desire for massive societal transformation Charismatic leadership Driven by a perceived dislocation between a group and the rest of (dominant) society A return of secret knowledge to realize a pristine past

What is not a criteria that determines if an altered state of consciousness is viewed as pathological or not?

All are criteria Cultural meanings Duration Frequency Purposeful or accidentally induced

What factor(s) influence one's ability to enter into an altered state of consciousness?

All of the above A. Biological predisposition B. Cultural context and meaning C. Practice A and B

What is the purpose of religious rituals?

All of the above Contact supernatural forces Communicate with supernatural forces Communicate to others (public vs. private) Effect human transformation (health, healing, sickness)

What are the social functions/reasons for the belief in witchcraft (and Satanists)?

All of the above Defining culturally appropriate behaviors Stress release of anxieties Social control of "moral" behaviors Group think/moral panic

Sir James Frazer is associated with which idea(s)?

All of the above Magic is naive science Religion is institutionalized magic Magic functions through the law of contagion Magic functions through the law of similarity

The Raelian religion is notable because it is a belief system that explicitly denies the existence of what?

All of the above Supernatural beings God (s) Immortal souls A and B

What is/are possible explanations for the prevalence of the flood myth?

All of the above Symbolically related to dreams that happen when someone's bladder if full Floods are frequent occurrences Related to the cycles of creation and destruction, and the ability of water to do both

Which of the following is a reason for the universal existence of religion?

All of the above The need to understand Reversion to childhood feelings Anxiety and uncertainty The need for community

Which is NOT a reason for UFO faiths' emergence on the religious landscape?

All of the above are reasons discussed in class Omnipresence of technology Counter-culture movement Similarities between UFO beliefs and traditional religious doctrine Similarities between UFO beliefs and cargo cults

Xango, is the god of fire and lightning with the Candomble faith. He is also the personal orixa (god/dess within the Candomble pantheon) of Dr. Dengah. What type of god is he best described as?

Attribute god

Mayan calendar starts on

August 11, 3114 BCE

jajmani

Bhats patron-client system -revolve around the grain heap

Which of the following is not one of the B's used by Richard Sosis to analyze religious ritual?

Blood

human universals

Characteristics that are found in all human societies.

Ching: The Book of Changes (page 260)

Chinese divination text -reveals what a person needs to do to l in harmony with the forces of the universe that control the future -yin and yang

fastest growing faith group in US history

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (page 419) -claims to have more than 15 million members worldwide

According to lecture, what theory explains both peacocks' feather and provides a reason why The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is so successful in terms of growth and longevity?

Costly signaling theory

strategic costs

Costs that extend beyond these baseline costs -include the risk of consequences if a false signal is discovered.

What is not a phase during a rite of passage, as outlined by Victor Turner?

Crossing the threshold

_________ is the attitude that a society's customs and ideas should be viewed within the context of that society's problems and opportunities.

Cultural relativism

Unarius Academy of Science

Diana Tumminia = Leading researcher -Unariuns did not lose their faith when the prophecies of their leader, the archangel Uriel, failed repeatedly -Instead of abandoning their faith, most Unariuns accepted the interpretation that Uriel was actually experiencing one of her past lives as the Egyptian goddess, Isis. -the myth of flying saucers has become part of the Unariuns' perceived reality, how it is derived from and maintained by social interactions, and how it is exhibited in the sharing of dreams and past life experiences -the interplay between myth and reality can be observed in their healing practices and dream sharing -an example of the Weber's model of charismatic authority Lewis -see Unarius as an attempt, though not a very successful one, to bridge the traditional gap between religion and science. -stresses the need for healing.

types of ASC

Dissociative states: "the mental process of splitting off information or systems of ideas in such a way that this information or system of ideas can exist and exert influence independently of the person' conscious awareness" Trance: visible and culturally informed (symbolic) display of ASC Possession: Cultural idea that a supernatural force has entered the body Possession-Trance: ASC that is attributed to a supernatural force

How do the Yanomamo of the Amazon dispose of their dead?

Endocannibalistic cremation, where the cremated remains are consumed with plantain soup

Anthropologists studying religion are often interested in proving the validity of beliefs.

False

As a rule of thumb, anthropologists should not do ethnography on their own culture.

False

Because innovation is generally not tolerated, rituals do not change over time.

False

Cross-culturally, hearing voices is universally viewed as a pathology and/or illness.

False

Judaism, from its very beginning, has always been a monotheistic religion-believing in only a single god.

False

Most of the world's major religions are not open (doctrinally) to the existence of extra-terrestrials.

False

"commodity fetishist"

deification of monetary relations and subsequent devaluing of people

According to Dundes, the mud in many origin myths, symbolically represents what?

Feces -corrected

functional approach to analyzing myth

Focuses on outcome: "What is the function? What does the myth do? Franz Boas: myths as source of ethnographic data. A literal reflection of culture Malinowski: Myths help explain religious rituals and social/moral rules

Prophecy is

Fortuitous in that the prophet received information through a vision unexpectedly, without any necessary overt action on the part of the individual

Possession can be either

Fortuitous or deliberate

Religion is sometimes seen as different from Magic because

It is based on the persuasion of supernatural beings rather than the manipulation of supernatural forces -in most societies magic, religion, and science coexist

Azande oracles (page 268)

Iwa -most often used oracle -rubbing-board oracle -manufactured and used by humans and therefore is thought to be prone to error Dakpa -termite oracle -greater level of reliability Benge -most important zande oracle -poison oracle -can be used as evidence in legal proceedings

Jewish high holy days (page 130)

Jewish New Year and Day of Atonement -most important of all the jewish holidays and are the only jewish holidays that are purely religious and not based on any historical or natural event

Shiva (page 131)

Judaism - period of mourning -starts as soon as the mourner has returned from the cemetery and lasts for 7 days -mourner remains at home and dos not participate in any normal activities

Marxist approach

Karl Marx -theorist of the 1800s -critical of religion -felt that religion reflected society so that any criticism of religion must also be a criticism of society -saw religion as a human construction, as a construction of those in power religion is a natural consequence of the human experience of distress -religion seen as a means of compensation and as a way of getting people to go along with a capitalist culture that is not in their best interests -religion teaches people to be obedient to authority

The Aetherius Society

Lewis -largely ethnographic -their imminent expectations are toned down by their belief that the next master will come only when human beings are ready to receive him. -a weak effort to unite religion and science -stresses the need for healing. Simon G. Smith -history of the Society -founder, George King -this role has changed from being a medium for extraterrestrials to taking a more active role in Society's mission to save the Earth -when King founded the Aetherius Society, his position was that of the primary messenger of the extraterrestrials with whom he communicated on a regular basis and whose instructions he followed -Later, as his status developed, he was regarded as almost equal to the extraterrestrials themselves -he became a more active participant in, and contributor to, their mission to save Earth from destruction. -stress on "the importance of karma in the ritual and spiritual activity of the movement"

What is the name of the abdominal organ responsible for witchcraft among the Azande?

Mangu

Shanafelt proposes what term to describe a non-religious ultra-natural phenomena?

Marvel

Neo-Pagan religion

Meaning is it a perceived revival of pre-Christian religious practices

polygamy

Mormon church: -secretly practiced until 1852 when Brigham Young brought it out into the open -federal government made it a crime -ended in 1890 -after 1904, church members were excommunicated for practicing polygamy Mormon fundamentalist groups: -1920s began to accept the claim by Lorin C. Woolley that he had the divine authority to solemnize polygamous marriages -law of consecration, give up their property -still will not let African Americans hold the priesthood -murders in the 1970s and 1980s have been attributed to fundamentalist groups practicing blood atonement -today, they are small groups with leaders commanding ultimate obedience, polygamy still practiced as young as 12 and 13

psychological approach to analyzing myth

Myth is comprised of symbols Sigmund Freud: Myth as "shared dream"/ childhood experiences becomes myth Carl Jung: Our brains have "archetypes" or certain characters that we, humans, have in our unconscious -"the prodigal son" "the hero" "the helper" "the fool" -always pop up not only in myths but also in our stories and fiction Collective Unconscious: shared elements of the human unconscious mind that are manifested in myths/dreams

What theory can explain why terrorists, and others who commit atrocious acts, don't recognize themselves as "the bad guys?"

NOT Theory of Mind

The violence currently being seen in many parts of Mexico, as a result of drug cartels, can be classified as what type of terrorism?

Narcoterrorism

Skin walkers are considered witches within what cultural group?

Navajo

Great Disappointment (page 129)

October 22, 1844

In Dr. Glass-Coffin's article, "Anthropology, Shamanism, and Alternate Ways of Knowing-Being in the World," she emphasizes what anthropological approach in her study of altered states of consciousness?

Participating in ASC herself

____________ symbols are infused with cultural (i.e., shared) and idiosyncratic (i.e., individual) meanings.

Personal

According to our debrief, Pachelbel's Canon in D is an example of:

Popular songs have similar patterns or "shapes" -corrected

Image magic

Practice of making an image to represent a living person or animal, which can then be killed or injured through doing things to the image, such as sticking pins into the image or burning it -animals drawn on the walls of caves with arrows through them might be an example of image magic

What analytical approach looks at the symbols of myths and what that says about our shared unconsciousness?

Psychological

What approach does Dundes take in his analysis of the Earth Diver Myth?

Psychological

Types of symbols:

Public symbols -communication of status/belonging -widely shared meaning or understanding (like the crucifix) Private symbols -only idiosyncratic private meaning -could only be applicable to yourself of a very small group of people (like a family) Personal symbols -public symbols infused/invested with private meanings (like an heirloom with a cross on it)

According to anthropological research, what is the key ingredient in Haitian zombificaiton?

Puffer fish

Heaven's Gate

Robert Balch and David Taylor -promised them eternal life in outer space -implies a conversion that "refers to a profound psychological change in which members come to identify so completely with a new belief system that their very being becomes one with it" Ted Peters -the UFO phenomenon is an intrinsically religious one and points out that from the insider's point of view the members did not commit suicide -Rather, they thought they were opening the door to salvation, to reach the higher level that was part of their religious ideology. James Lewis -larger, spiritual sub-cultural settings, particularly that of the New Age. -"the notions that death is a potentially positive experience and that one can exit one's body to consciously re-emerge in another realm are simply not odd or irrational within religious communities, New Age, or otherwise"

Durkeim: Sacred and Profane (Mundane)

Sacred: Uncommon and extraordinary aspects of social life that inspire believers feelings of awe, reverence, and respect Mundane: Represents ordinary, commonly understood, and routine -occasionally replaced with "profane" to distinguish that which brings offense Example: the cow -ordinary in some cultures -sacred in other cultures Example: kneeling for the anthem -sacred act inspired by injustice -profane and disrespectful at the country Example: money -seen as mundane and profane -seen as sacred when given in tithing and offerings

The Axis Mundi is generally associated with what type of religious specialist?

Shamans

The term, "shaman," comes from the Tungusic people located where?

Siberia

American author, Kurt Vonnegut, who received his MA in anthropology from the University of Chicago, argues:

Stories have shapes, or trajectories, that can be charted and compared -corrected

folklore

Stories we tell ourselves about ourselves -contain cultural specific values and cross-cultural universals Have functions: -moral lessons -explain nature of the world -justification/charter for customs or stratifications -emotional release, reinforcement of taboos

The Raëlian Movement

Susan Palmer = Leading researcher -Raëlians are significant because they bridge the cultural and cognitive gap between science and religion -essentially post modernists who are fundamentalists in their religious beliefs about Raël, the planet of the Elohim, and a creation story which has no room for evolution. -a creative tension between the pessimism of the apocalyptic view and the optimism of the millenarian view Mikael Rothstein -explains how the not yet built Embassy is a symbol of the millennium and how it serves as a sacred space, a place of communication with the aliens, and a place for pilgrimages -Embassy is a means of communicating with the aliens who, although not equated with gods, are transcendent beings in all respects -shows how the Embassy has a religious function, since it has both millenarian and eschatological meanings. George Chryssides -Raëlian religion has a coherent worldview which is scientific, hedonistic, materialistic, and atheistic -Its success is due, in part at least, to its efforts to deal with secularization and modern science, both of which are contemporary and unresolved challenges to traditional religions -only scholar who offers some critical reflections on the movement: finds several problems inherent in its belief system, problems that are bound to limit its appeal -one has to accept its "scientific creationism" on faith -seem oblivious to the moral and philosophical problems linked with human cloning

Divination definition

Techniques for obtaining information about things unknown, including events that will occur in the future -comes from the same route as the word divinity. This implies that divination has to do with the supernatural The nature of many forms of divination is magical. Such magical rituals are used to manipulate the supernatural world in order to provide information. Many divination techniques also involve contact with supernatural entities, as when a medium contacts the spirit of a deceased individual. Magic is based on the manipulation of perceived connections between things. Divination is based on observing these connections. 4 categories: Fortuitous noninspirational Deliberate noninspirational Fortuitous inspirational Deliberate inspirational

Oneiromancy

The Interpretation of Dreams

Who is El Tio, the deity that is worshiped deep within the Bolivian mines?

The devil, both worshiped and feared by Catholic Bolivian miners

Traditional herbal medicine is often based on

The doctrine of signatures

Heaven's Gate isn't so strange

There is nothing particularly startling or unusual about the group's finding ominous significance in the appearance of a comet. -Across the centuries and across human cultures, scanning the heavens to discern the signs of the times has been the standard rather than the exception There is really nothing strange about sacrificing one's sexuality through celibacy and even castration -history of Christianity--or the history of virtually any religious tradition--knows that these are not uncommon practices for many faithful -Apostle Paul Wearing identical clothing and haircuts and following a regimented life style is not a unique religious practice -The professional clergy and monastics in most religions do so, as do many lay people, such as the Amish. Even the sci-fi mythology of Heaven's Gate is not as weird as it might appear -Millions of people do believe in extraterrestrials and alien visitations to Earth -These include sane, thoughtful individuals, not just readers of tabloids Ended up dead -many have died in the name of their religion, or sacrificed others -these people died in pursuit of the ideals of freedom and happiness.

As discussed in class, what is adaptive about the Ifaluk ghost beliefs?

They are the source of all antisocial behavior and misfortune, alleviating individuals from blame within the small community

The Norse deity Loki, and Coyote from Native American belief, represents what type of supernatural figure?

Tricksters

A structural explanation for the monomyth is that humans have shared psyches (or brains) that allows for commonality in our experiences.

True

According to anthropologist Radcliffe-Brown, rituals tend to come before the associated belief and meaning behind them.

True

According to your textbook, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a revivalistic religion.

True

High gods that are present in human affairs are most common among societies stratified by class.

True

The vast majority of Satanists don't actually worship Satan as the personification of evil.

True

There is no universal criteria for determining when a person is dead

True

While not necessarily labeled as such, there is universal cross-cultural belief in the human soul: the noncorporeal, spiritual or psychic essence of an individual.

True

Within Azande culture, the benge oracle is the poison that is fed to baby chickens.

True

the term shaman comes from the

Tungus language of Central Siberia (page 220) -religious specialists who use handheld drums and spirit helpers to help members of the community by healing the sick, divining the future, and ensuring success in hunting 3 realms of the world -upper: light and good spirits -middle: home of people and spirits of the earth -lower: darkness and evil spirits Shaman can journey to the different realms

In the last two years, suicide attackers have struck in 18 countries, mostly among

U.S. allies linked to undemocratic regimes, such as Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, and Egypt, or in places with perceived occupations, such as the Palestinian territories, Chechnya, Kashmir, Afghanistan, andIraq

structural approach to analyzing myth

What is the structure of the myth? Based on Levi-Strauss -light/dark, day/night, male/female -structure of nature and society

Belief in the evil eye--that thought, often in the form of jealous or praise--can cause harm, is similar to what type of religious practitioner?

Witchcraft

Wade Davis is an anthropologist who provided one of the first serious studies on what supernatural being?

Zombies

animism (Edward B. Tylor)

a belief in spirit beings (gods, souls, ghosts, demons, etc.) -believed that primitive people focused on spirits and ghosts while more civilized people focused on gods

tinku

a collision and restructuring of elemental forces, to create new possibilities for exchange, communication, and connection between worlds that are too often viewed as dichotomous or opposite.

"tension"

a coward's (darpok) disease

Such an entrance into the modern economy, and the peculiar way it regulated Ramu's life, according to many within the Udaipur Bhat community, led to

a destructive stinginess that triggered his wife's possession -Ramu has entered the new economy in a manner unlike any other Bhat—as a paid employee of a local folklore institute -commodity relations and capitalist values were the "evil" that triggered Bedami's possession -"possessive individualism"

Scapulamancy

a divination technique in which a dried scapula, or shoulder blade, is placed in a fire and the pattern of cracks and burns are interpreted

Andrew Heywood argues that politics, in particular democratic politics, is in essence (page 441)

a form of conflict resolution

Santino calls the Day of the Dead a "cognate" or

a functional equivalent of Halloween.

OED defines a miracle as

a marvelous event not ascribable to human power or the operation of any natural force and therefore attributed to supernatural, esp. divine, agency; esp. an act (e.g. of healing) demonstrating control over nature and serving as evidence that the agent is either divine or divinely favoured

Sect

a new branch of a mainstream religion, usually involving new revelation, new scripture, new leader -example: mormonism

Denomination

a religious group that differs on just a few points from the mainstream religion (mainstream = christianity, denomination = catholic, lutheran, baptist, etc)

Cultural violence (indirect violence)

a society's way of justifying this kind of violence and making it seem natural

collective conscious (Emile Durkheim)

a system of beliefs that act to contain natural selfishness of individuals to promote social cooperation

displacement

ability to use symbols to refer to things and activities that are remote from the user

Bedami's possession, then, unlike the first two narratives, is neither a condemnation of her greedy husband nor of her own backbiting relatives. Rather, it represents

an attempt to fuse old and new worlds and thus reintegrate her husband back into the community.

Phenomenologists and reflexive seekers share the goal of coming to

an empathetic understanding of marvel experiences

personal symbols for

an identifiable set within the larger class of psychological symbols, not all of which have motivational significance.

C.S. Lewis defined a miracle as

an interference with Nature by supernatural power

doubt is

an intrinsic feature of religious experience. -Questioning is in fact built into the human situation in which language using animals create representations of entities to help deal with their intellectual, social, and psychological needs

participant observation

anthropologist lives within the community and participates to a degree in the lives of the people under study, while also making objective observations

cultural relativism

attempts to describe and understand people's customs and ideas without judgement -study what people believe, not whether or not what they believe is true -do not try and impose your own beliefs onto others -opposite of ethnocentrism

emic perspective

attempts to see the world through the eyes of the people being studied

millenarian movements

based on a vision of change through an apocalyptic transformation

rituals and costly displays are actually a form of

communication -engaging in costly displays and costly signals shows commitment to the group and belief system -prevents individuals from free riding -the significant time, energy, and financial costs involved in some ritual practices serve as deterrents for free-riders, back-sliders, and peripheral believers

religion

concept constructed by the human mind that includes a particular set of human beliefs and practices -strongly influenced by culture and philosophical and theoretical backgrounds -set of cultural beliefs and practices that usually include some or all of a basic set of characteristics (page 53)

psycho-physical dualism

concept of the soul being separable from the body -basis for the Christian traditional dualism

Charles A. Ziegler

concludes that "tens of millions of adults in the United States believe that some UFOs are manifestations of an un-Earthly intelligence

heresy

crimes against God

postmodern movement

denies the possibility of acquiring, or even the existence of "true" knowledge about the world -all knowledge is seen as being a human construction that we must try to deconstruct -emphasized the limitations of science, that there was multiple viewpoints and truths

New class of Sinhala ecstatics - both Buddhist and Hindu at the same time

devotees of three major gods - Kataragama, Kali, and Huniyan

a methodological perspective that emphasizes intersubjectivity, engagement, vulnerability, willingness to lose control, and the ethnographer's willingness to be transformed by spiritual and cognitive maps different than her own is more

ethically defensible and decolonizing than the detachment typical of participant observation

sorcery

evil form of magic

secular rites of passage (non-religious) that have characteristics of rights of passage (page 169)

example: military training, patient entering a hospital

unique to Mexico are three features of the celebration:

first, the name Day of the Dead; second, the abundance and variety of whimsical sweet breads and candies; and third, the humor and gaiety that pervade the holiday.

analytic definitions

focus on the way religion manifests itself or is expressed in a culture ("religious practices generally include rituals")

functional definitions

focus on what religion does either socially or psychologically ("religion seen as a means to bring a group together or being individuals comfort") -problem: can apply to beliefs and behaviors that are not religious in nature, or they reduce religion to a few feelings and behaviors that are not seen as religious

students of anthropology are initially introduced to small communities such as

foraging bands, small horticultural villages, and groups of pastoral nomads

although performing a ritual does signal belief, it is not an indexical signal of belief but rather a

hard-to-fake signal or handicap that faces the potential of deception.

defining characteristic of the shamanic practitioner is

his or her direct access to the normally unseen worlds of spirit and divine power, as well as the ability to channel knowledge garnered from these experiences for the good of a human community.

those who think that religion has a built-in tendency to cause conflicts and violence point to specific characteristics or warning signs,

including that religion is absolutist, divisive, and irrationalist. -Others argue that these features are not unique to religion and can be found associated with such things as nationalism

while belief both constitutes and is constituted by experience,

it is the differing patterns of experience that shape these beliefs

two of the most salient features uniting any people are

language and religion -a potential cultural resource for forging a sense of national identity.

features of altered states

lecture unit 5 7:22

Terrorist attacks in the US from 1970-2011

lecture video week 13, 6:30

in 1978, Congress amended the American Indian Religious Freedom Act to

legalize the use of peyote as a sacrament in Native American Church rituals

essentialist definition

looks at what is the essential nature of religion -emphasizes the fact that religion is the domain of the extraordinary ("religion is a system of beliefs that deals with the relationship between humans and the sacred supernatural") -problem: risk becoming too specific or too vague

Magic vs. illusion (lecture week 7)

magic -process to influence supernatural world -for good or evil illusion -uses deception or trickery -distinction is often culturally determined

magic vs. divination

magic: based on the manipulation of perceived connections between things divination: based on observing these connections

_________________ is based on the manipulation of perceived connections between things, whereas ________________ is based observing those connections and ascertaining truths/knowledge.

magic; divination

encantos

magical landscapes

One of the common features of these studies is that they depict the worldviews of UFO religions as accurately as possible

make several attempts to draw up some theoretical bases for understanding them

More suicide attacks occurred in 2004 than in any previous year,2 and 2005 has proven even more deadly, with attacks in Iraq alone averaging

more than one per day

burial

most common way of disposing of a body

Kataragama

most popular deity in South India -other names: Murugan, Subramaniam, Velan, Kartikeya, Sanmugan, Guha -the focus of devotional religiosity, or bhakti

arbitrary

most symbols have no direct connection with the thing they refer to (blue triangle for an apple) -as long as there is an agreement in a community, any symbol can be used to represent anything

goal of anthropology

move past ethnocentrism toward an approach of cultural relativism

Messianic

movement led by charismatic "savior"

diffusion

movement of cultural traits from one society to another -technological traits are more likely to diffuse than social and religious traits -when a trait diffuses from one culture to another, it is often altered to a greater or lesser degree to become consistent with the rest of the receiving culture

folklore definitions:

myth: sacred stories. Regarded to be true, accepted on faith, provides moral/ethical authority. Takes place in a remote time/place) legend: based on real people but exaggerated, considered mostly fact, sometimes has to do with religion folktales: fiction, meant for entertainemnt/non-religious

"Cargo cults"

name given by anthropologists to a group of new religious movements in Melanesia -Members of these movements believe that their ancestors will be sending cargoes of Western European goods by means of airplanes.

three masses on November 2 are more common:

one in honor of the departed souls, a second in honor of a cause designated annually by the pope, and the third in recognition of a cause selected by the parish priest himself.

bloodletting

page 139

Factors bringing about an altered state of consciousness

page 190

ritual activities symbolize the

particular beliefs and values of that community -people attending the ritual are usually familiar with what it means

horticulturalists

people who garden in the absence of fertilization, irrigation, and other advanced technologies

agriculturalists

people who plow, fertilize, and irrigate their crops

sorcerer

person who practices sorcery a practitioner usually of low status who uses certain materials to invoke supernatural powers to harm people. Transgressive

The electromagnetic forces that upset the balance of an individual's fluidic and somatic bodies usually cause

physical illnesses -imbalances of other kinds manifest themselves in mental illnesses -perturbations are brought about either by low level disincarnate spirits trying unsuccessfully to communicate with and/or even control, an already animated body, or by the bad thoughts and feelings, such as jealousy, greed, envy, etc., of incarnate beings.

four-fields anthropology

physical/biological anthropology, archaeology, linguistic anthropology, and cultural anthropology

there are probably few Mexicans who perceive Halloween as

posing a threat to their national culture. -But those who do are articulate and visible Mexicans, the intellectuals, representatives of the church and the state, and out- spoken members of major cultural institutions -All over Mexico today, there appears evidence of formal and informal resistance to the Halloween invasion from the north. -For many Mexican intellectuals, Halloween represents the worst of the United States.

pastoralists

primary livelihood comes from herding domesticated animals

a society will include shamans or priests

rarely is there both

Tasseography

reading of tea leaves

Revivalistic

return to percieved golden age, return of ancient rituals/customs, knowledge

In small-scale societies with relatively simple techniques,

rituals are usually performed by most or all of the adult members of the community -some individuals may develop a special interest in religious practices and may develop a special ability to contact the supernatural

modernity

science is seen as the means for the discovery of knowledge, truth, and progress

two frequently used terms to categorize religious specialists

shaman and priest -not mutually exclusive

the best-developed discussions of witchcraft in anthropological literature describing witchcraft in

small-scale societies in Africa -witchcraft here is a common belief and is described as the ability of a person to cause harm by means of a personal power that resides within the body fo a witch

culture

technical term in anthropology -complex whole -culture is learned -includes customs and knowledge and beliefs and symbols acquired by growing up in a particular society -gives meaning to reality The set of learned behaviors and ideas (including beliefs, attitudes, values, and ideals) that are characteristics of a particular society or population -it is shared -it is learned/acquired -culture constructs meanings -it is adaptive (mostly) -it is integrated -while it is shared, it is also variable (variation within cultures)

the ability of one group to establish control over another is usually due to

technological, economical, and political factors -once this control has been established, it is possible for features of other parts of the culture to flow from one society to another -religion may play an especially important role

the absence of direct violence would be negative peace

the absence of structural violence would be positive peace

The Tigers have carried out only two confirmed suicide attacks since

the beginning of 2002. -Although they perhaps remain the leading single organizer of suicide attacks (77 in total), there have been more suicide attacks by various Iraqi groups in 2005 (where more than 400 attacks killed more than 2,000 people) than in the entire history of the Tigers

Religious practices are supported and sustained by

the emotions they evoke.

etic perspective

the perspective of the outside observer

intrinsically motivated

those who attend church to worship and connect with their Creator

in general, religious practices are said to be

very conservative -derives from their sacred nature and because the beliefs are usually considered to be ancient -however, change must occur for the society to survive

functional approach (Malinowski)

what does religion do? what role do religions play in a society? -religion does something -social institutions exist to fulfill the needs of, and serve the interests of, members of a society -religion enforces social cohesion by bringing people together for rituals and providing a foundation for shared beliefs -relives individual anxiety by providing explanations and meanings for life religion = "social glue" religion provides common values to make individuals want to do what they must do if social order is to be achieved -religions provide models OF and FOR society

Spiritual expectations will always be based on people's implicit assumptions about

what it means to exist in the physical world

culture definition (article unit 5)

what we think, what we do, and what we leave behind

Mythology must be studied in cultural context in order to determine

which individual mythological elements reflect and which refract the culture.

those who engage in the suite of behaviors, badges, and bans required by a religious group can be trusted to sincerely believe in the doctrines of the group,

which often includes behaving altruistically to other group members. -As a result of increased levels of trust and commitment among group members, religious groups are able to overcome free-rider problems that typically plague communal pursuits and limit overconsumption and exploitation of the mutual benefits they generally offer their adherents

80 percent of suicide attacks since 1968 occurred after the September 11 attacks,

with jihadis representing 31 of the 35 responsible groups

acrostic

word that us derives from the first letter of a series of words

syncretism

fusing of traits from two cultures to form new and yet, at the same time, permit the retention of the old by subsuming the old into a new form -ex: halloween and Day of the Dead

openness

if we discover something that has never been seen before, we can create a symbol, such as a name, to refer to it

The Hebrew calendar is a

lunar calendar

all-night ceremonies

mesas

Who are the Nacirema?

mid 20th century USA

Religion is universal

no societies known to anthropologists that are devoid of religion -34,000 different religions known -it is unique to our species

"fetish"

object, image, or concept receiving undue and even irrational attention and reverence -manner in which images (such as money, a tool for representing value) become so compelling as to eclipse their referents (labor)

foragers

people without any form of plant or animal domestication -tend to live in small isolated groups that are found in areas that are difficult to farm

Palmistry

The reading of lines of the palm of the hand

religious behaviors, badges, and bans are a more reliable means of communicating commitment than

spoken promises.

the interest in shamanism took off

starting in the 1970s

hero myths (Campbell)

stories involving heroes -always involve a monomyth

anthropological approach

study what people believe and do in regard to a sacred supernatural, not to judge whether these beliefs and actions are based in an objective truth or not

symbols can create a

supernatural world or create myths about the past

totem/totemism (page 131)

symbol or emblem of a social unit -frequently an animal -special relationship exists between a person and a totem -mascots, business logos, athletic team names (the bears)

language can be thought of as a string of

symbols

religious rituals center on

symbols and the manipulation of symbols

white and red lotuses

symbols of purity in Buddhist thought

secondary burial

takes place at a later time after death, months or even years later -often marks the end of the mourning period and commonly involves digging up, processing, and reburying the body in some way

No realm of human culture--science and technology, law and government, education and scholarship--is immune to

the destructive potential of "bizarre" notions.

syncretism

the fusion of elements from two different cultures

agnosticism

the natural of the supernatural is unknowable, impossible to prove the nonexistence or existence of the supernatural

diffusion

the spread of cultural traits from one group to another

A society's mythology consists of stories that reflect

the underlying worldview of the society

The Aetherius Society distinguishes three categories of membership:

"Friends of the Society," "Associate Membership," and "Full Membership" -latter two indicating the level of commitment and benefits received.

occasional rituals

-rituals performed when a particular need arises, such as a marriage or death -may be associated with nature and the impact of nature on the agricultural cycle -associated with important events in life (birth, marriage, death, etc)

Dia de los muertos in Mexico is same thing as Halloween.

False

legends

-seen by members of a culture as representing events that have actually taken place, although some embellishment often occurs -take place in comparatively recent past -they may or may not include include supernatural elements -may or may not be considered sacred -"Atlantis" "El Dorado" "King Arthur"

cicatrization/scarification

-seen in people with dark skin tones whom tattoos would not show well -piece of skin is raised and cut, and some material (like ash) is rubbed in to encourage the production of scars -closely related to branding (scars created by burns)

Large-scale societies and specialists

-separation of labor allows for "full-time" religious specialists -may gain most of their income for performing religious duties/ceremonies -may attain important political and economic positions

Deliberate possession involves an overt action where by the individual falls into a trance

Such people would be called mediums

Cross-culturally, religion is the culturally constructed belief system that is concerned with what?

Supernatural forces and personalities

types of gods and goddesses

Supreme God pr Goddess -Zeus, Heavenly Father Attribute Gods -manifestation of elemental or natural force -Mars = War, orixa -Xango = Fire, Lightning Creator gods -Brahma, Enki, Odin Otiose gods -Ifaluk gods, ethulu -don't care about human life at all, distanced

The temple of Apollo at Delphi was (page 270)

The most important religious site in Ancient Greece -1400 BCE -believed to be the center (navel) of the world -Pythia

Lectures vs. Prayers (Ted talk week 11)

Those in the prayer group: -sharper mental images -more sense of God's presence -more sense of God as a person -more unusual spiritual experiences Some people are more "gifted" in this

Nusta

Virgin of the Mineshaft

animism

a belief in spirit beings that animate all living things -Edward Taylor

although everyone may gain if all group members invest in the cooperative goal,

attaining such large-scale cooperation is often difficult to achieve without social mechanisms that prevent individuals from slacking off and free riding on the efforts of others -religion is a mechanism

The complexity of human communication is made possible through the ability of humans to

create and use symbols

Islamic calendar is a (page 130)

lunar calendar -each month begins with the sighting of the first crescent of the new moon

psychosocial approach

relationship between culture and personality and the connection between the society and the individual -Freud and defense mechanisms (projection) -individuals emotions also get projected at a cultural level

social charter

religious text that explains that culture's view of the proper organization of human relationship (patriarchy in the bible shapes the patriarchy found in the family and church relationships (only men get priesthood, men dominate women))

Vikings "blooding the keel" (page 155)

ritual human sacrifice to christen a new ship

religions use "standard" forms of communication, such as (unit 4 article)

speaking, singing, and writing

attribute gods

specialized deities

cultural anthropology

study of contemporary human societies and makes up the largest area of anthropological -study social organization, politics, family life -study of religion

ethnography

the descriptive study of human societies -ethnographers study human societies and write ethnographies (cultural anthropology)

paralanguage

type of symbolic communication that occurs outside of clear language (speech and language) -can be tone of voice, dance, etc.

kiva (page 139)

underground room that is entered from a hole in the roof

witchcraft accusations reflect

underlying social tensions in society -targets are usually individuals who exhibit antisocial behavior and people in relationships characterized by conflict -cultures in which witches are considered primarily to be women will tend to exhibit tension between the sexes

Verstehen (Weber)

understanding social behavior by putting yourself in the place of others

ethnocentrism

use our own society as the basis for interpreting and judging other societies -our actions and rituals are normal/good, others are odd/wrong in comparison

divination ritual

used to reveal the identity of the sorcerer

medium

usually a part-time female practitioner who divines while in possession trances

Modern terrorist (lecture 13 video)

-4 waves over the past 130 years

Mayan sarcophagus of Lord Pakal (page 121)

-Albert Ruiz Lhuiller -discovered sarcophagus in the temple, Lord Shield, Pakal -visual representation of the Mayan cosmos -many different symbols represent their religious beliefs

Japanese Ghosts

-ghosts, demons, and goblins -at death an individual is transformed into an impure spirit -7 years of rituals to transform into an ancestral spirit (if not done, the spirit will turn into a ghost and cause misfortune)

What is the role of religion in terrorism?

-group identity -group sacred values -culture of Honor (extended to "imagined community")

human sacrifice (page 157)

-huge part of the Aztec religion to help feed the sun (food=blood) -four-day preparation of fasting and offerings -participants, dressed in costume, would walk to the specific temple of sacrifice -human sacrifices were called deity impersonators, believed to be transformed into gods -would be ritually bathed, and taught special dances -decapitation, drowning, strangulation, shooting with arrows, combat, thrown from heights, heart removed -body often dismembered and eaten

Church of Satan and Satanic Temple

-humanists, egoistic religion -most satanists are atheists -focus on self, individual indulgence

denomination

-if a new group is still considered mainstream and differs on just a few points from the mainstream religion

Collective Unconscious (Jung)

-inborn elements of the unconscious that are manifested in dreams and myths -archetypes = main characters of these dreams and myths

2: prohibition against African Americans entering the priesthood

-LDS church rejected this policy in 1978

shamanic role and rituals

-may contact the supernatural by traditional, standardized methods of a ritual -rituals is a means for contacting and establishing a relationship with a supernatural entity

demons in monotheistic religions

-Often said to have been originally angelic creatures, created by God is good innocent beings. They became evil by their own actions, by rebelling against God and war cast from heaven. -closely associated with human evil and temptation -demonic possession

The Lightside UFO Study Group

-Oshkosh, Wisconsin -six core members -weekly Sunday meetings and yearly conferences are held, there is no information about the number of participants and/or committed members beyond this core group.

Neo-Paganism and Wicca: Revivalist movements

-Paganism: typically refers to indigenous non-Abrahamic religion -Wicca: type of Neo-Paganism, gender equality is stressed, rituals and holidays often Celtic in nature

many differences among UFO religions

-Some have an elaborate ritual and/or mythology, while others do not -Several groups have regular communal worship services; others have little or none -Some have a core membership that lives communally, while members of other groups live independently -Quite a few UFO religions are widespread, with a presence on several continents, others are more limited geographically, and some apparently exist mainly on the Internet

Western medicine

-The World Health Organization estimates that there is 1 doctor for every 40,000 people

McCarthy era

-USA in early 1950s -President Truman's "loyalty" programs -root out radicals and communists -witch hunt

Wicca

-nature-based, polytheistic religion that emphasizes the use of good magic and not doing harm -recently adopted the pentagram to represent earth, air, fire, water, and the spirit

Chavanda Mata

-oldest of the Nine Durgas or "Nine Sisters" -has particular authority within the Bhat community -

scripturalism

-refers o the practice of justifying beliefs and actions by reference to the religious textx

fundamentalism in Islam

-scripturalism and traditioning -call for a return to the Qur'an Iranian Revolution in 1979 -religious revolution against secular nationalism, led by religious leaders using religious idioms -US = "Great Satan"

transition/liminality

-several activities take place that bring about the change in status

stigmata (page 193)

-some individuals have experienced localized pain in areas of the body that correspond to the crucifixion woulds of Jesus. Sometimes these are seen as marks on the body known as stigmata

pantheon

-some religions have a heirarchy of gods with a supreme god on top -Related to one another in various ways, often making up a large family unit characterized by family relationships. -sometimes small number of gods each controlling a larger slice of human activity, or there are many gods, each highly specialized.

dance (page 137)

-a system of patterned, traditional movements -culturally determined meanings (like the hula dances) -can act as offerings, or dancers can act as conduits of supernatural power

mortal sin

-an act that is contrary to Divine Law and separates the sinner from God

karma (Hinduism)

-an individual's actions and the consequences of those actions -every act you perform in this life determines the quality of your next life -the life you live now is the consequence of past actions

cursing ritual (page 161)

-anti-therapy ritual found among Australian Aborigines

altered states of consciousness (page 188)

-any mental state that is recognized by the individual or observer as differing from a normal state -everyone experiences them to some extent, but in many cultures these states are encourages and are interpreted by the culture as important religious experiences -subjective definition -can be brought about by a number of physiological, psychological, and pharmaceutical factors Conditions in which sensations, perceptions, cognition, and emotions are altered -modify the relation of the individual to self, body, sense of identity, and environment of time, space, or other people -induced by modifying sensory input by increasing or decreasing stimulation or alertness, or through exogenous chemical means

anthropological perspective

-approach that compares human societies throughout the world - contemporary and historical, industrial and tribal.

substantive view

-argue that conflict and violence are inherent to religion

functional view

-argue that religious conflicts are always really about something else

Mark Juergensmeyer terrorism

-argues that terrorist acts are highly symbolic and can be analyzed in much the same way that religious ritual is

high demand religions

-at the far end of the continuum from mainstream to sects but otherwise are no different from other religious groups -beliefs and behaviors are strictly controlled -communal living is common

revivalistic movements

-attempt to revive what is often perceives as a past golden age in which ancient customs come to symbolize the noble features and legitimacy of the repressed culture

France law 2004

-banning the wearing of conspicuous religious objects in public schools -controversial

Halloween (page 323)

-based on a Celtic festival called Samhain (New Years Day) -gates opened and the souls of the dead could move into the underworld -Christianity (300-400 CE) changed the narrative -honored people who had died during the past year -stylized representations of death and skeletons are common

How many souls do you have? (lecture week 9, 2:26)

-differentiation between souls that animates the body, one for emotions, one for personality, etc -Jivaro of Ecuador: 3 souls

Inquisition

-established between 1227 and 1235 -Catholic Institution, but Protestants were also involved in conviction and execution of witches during this time -Ad Extirpanda = bull authorized the imprisonment of heretics, the seizure of their possessions, and their torture and execution -all of this done on minimal evidence

Neoshamans (page 225)

-focused on the individual, often self-help means of improving one's life -focus on the positive aspects of shamanism -have been criticized for presenting shamanic beliefs and practices out of their cultural context through core shamanism

Antisocial magic is often referred to as

-sorcery -antisocial magic is used to interfere with the economic activities of others and to bring about illness and even death -the Fore "kuru" is believed to be caused by sorcery

Judaism origins

-ultimate theme is monotheism -jews chosen by god to enter into a special relationship with Him -may not have been monotheistic in ancient times -Yahweh

subincision

-underside of the penis is cut and the urethra slit open

why is anthropology important?

-understand cultural differences -communicate across cultural differences -understand our own culture - we cannot understand human behavior without taking different cultures into account -culture models everything: eating, sleeping, sex, talking, etc.

land of the dead

-usually at some distant place from the place where the person lived -often located at a known geographic place, such as a mountaintop or island, or a place "over the horizon" -place not considered part of the normal physical world, like the sky or undergroumd

training of a priest

-usually involves memorization of vast amounts of knowledge, and memorizing performance of such rituals

cremation

-way to destroy the corpse so that the soul is cut off from its former body -more economical than burial

Wade Davis

-zombies -bodies without souls -The Serpent and The Rainbow -with the help of Haitian psychiatrist Dr. Lamarque Douyon, tracked down "zombie powder" (contained pieces of dried pufferfish) -emphasized the roles of a powerful priest in depriving a person of their will, and psychologically helping to create the "zombification" process

__________ is an Afro-Brazilian faith practiced in Brazil

Candomble

Which of these would be considered a kind of homeopathic or imitative magic?

Cave paintings of a successful hunt

What is unique about the Toraja understanding of death?

Death is a process, with the soul staying with the body for weeks, even years.

Heaven's Gate members supposedly found psychological comfort through which activity?

Extreme asceticism, including castration to free themselves from sexual temptations

A priest relies more on charismatic authority than does a shaman.

False

According to lecture, rituals that are frequently preformed also tend to be the most intense types of ritual.

False

According to the anthropological definitions, souls and ghosts are exactly the same thing.

False

Altered states of consciousness are rarely seen within Christian faiths.

False

Anthropologist Janice Boddy did extensive research among the Hofriyati of Sudan. In their belief system, the Zairan jinns often take on the human form of members of the Hofriyati village.

False

Christian-based terrorism isn't a problem in the United States.

False

One roughly has the same chance of dying from suffocation in bed as being killed in a terrorist attack.

False

The only difference between a sorcerer and a witch is their gender.

False

evolutionary approach to analyzing myths

How they change over time and why Comparative approach: By comparing the mythology of other societies, could get a "common form" of myth which was seen as also occurring in early society ex: Frazer, the Golden Bough

"Vampire" burials, such as one with a sickle placed across the throat of the body at the time of internment, is an example of what type of burial?

Apotropaic burial

Anthropologist EB Tylor thought that soul belief arose out of our attempt to understand:

B and C Dreams Difference between a living and dead body

anthropology

study of humanity science of mankind -integrated study -holistic

linguistic anthropology

study of language (unique feature of humans) -religious practice is linguistic in nature

archaeology

study of people who are known only from their physical and cultural remains -extinct societies

culture is learned primarily through

symbols

ethnobotany

the anthropological study of medicinal plants -led to the development of several drug therapies

kavadi (article unit 3)

joyous, exuberant dance in honor of the god (Kataragama)

interpretive approach/symbolic approach (Clifford Geertz)

make sense of cultural systems by studying meaning -seek to interpret significance that people create -find meaning and interpret through detailed ethnographic descriptions -religion described as a cluster of symbols that together make up a whole and provides a charter for a culture's ideas, values, and way of life -symbols are both models of and models for representing the way things are while also directing human activity two stages: -analysis of the systems of meaning that are embodied within religious symbols -relating these systems to social structures and psychological processes religions are a cultural text that can be deciphered -cultural meanings, human universals, invoke emotional responses

UFO religions

most common (lecture week 14, 7:00)

a symbol can be a word or label

naming an object is creating a symbol for it (arbitrary)

fetishes

obsessions with "lucky" and/or powerful objects

belief in the supernatural—specifically, supernatural agents such as ghosts, demons, angels, spirits, and gods—is

one of the most robust features of religion

Australian Aborigines

page 132 -Dream Time When claiming a totem, it brings special obligations -prohibits eating the flesh of the totemic animal, except during rituals -others can eat your totem, but not you because you share a special relationship with the totem -responsibility to perform religious ceremonies and initiations Initiation of young men Pregnancy of women with totemic spirit Arrangement of sacred art and decorations

yin and yang symbol

page 140

Huichol pilgrimage/Wirikuta

page 178

Characteristics of altered states of consciousness

page 189

roles of a priest

perform prescribed rituals -periodic (calendrical) -and in times of need -rites of passage (wedding, baptism) -focus on knowledge and memorization (not on contacting spirits) -usually formally trained and specialized -rites of passage (ordained) -often exist with a rigid hierarchy

recitation is a

performance -costumes, facial expressions, and tone of voice all serve to create the experience

The use of a Magic 8 Ball is an example of what type of divination?

Non-inspirational deliberate

the serpent

One of the oldest and most widespread symbols: -Hopi: fertility (renew skin, umbilical cord) -Ancient Judaism: sexual desire (phallic) -Ancient Greece: life and death, medicine, knowledge -Christianity: serpent and the trees, life and knowledge of good and evil -Cosmic Serpents: Hindu Shesha Christianity today: serpent represents evil/satan Example of a profane, mundane symbol that becomes sacred through certain behavioral acts (like handling the snake to show dominion over evil)

The anthropological definition of culture is ____________.

Organized systems of learned behaviors shared among a group of people

Magic and definition exist because of how

The human brain considers cause and effect

Latin miraculum

an 'object of wonder'

Disease definition (week 6 article)

biological, biochemical and psychological malfunction -stress plays a considerable role in producing disease

What is religion?

culturally constructed beliefs and practices concerned with supernatural forces and personalities religions have one or more of these characteristics: -beliefs that shape "worldview" -community -rituals -ethics and morals -material symbols -sacred vs profane/mundane -supernatural connection

Peruvian female shamans (article unit 5)

curanderas

operant definition

define terms so that they are observable and measurable and can be studied

ethnographic present

discussed in the present tense even if they no longer exist

physical appearance serves to

distinguish individuals socially with regard to age, gender, social status, and occupation as well as membership in age and social groups -many rituals involve temporary alterations to the body, like paint being applied -some involve more permanent changes to the body: painful procedures, cut, pierced, tattoo

one prediction of the "costly signaling theory of ritual" is that groups that impose the greatest demands on their members will

elicit the highest levels of devotion and commitment

research shows that both poor and wealthy individuals

engage in terrorist acts -support for terrorism actually increased among Palestinians that were higher on the economic continuum -increasing levels of education often show increased support for terrorism (target university students for recruitment)

5 approaches used to study religion

evolutionary, Marxist, functional, interpretive, psychosocial

birth rituals:

example: baptisms in Catholic church, circumcision in Jewish religion

psychological symbol analysis

focuses on the shared nature of human cognition and psychology Sigmund Freud -interprets myths as being symbolic and sees this symbolism as being rooted in human psychology-Freud defense mechanisms -myths = "shared dream" Carl Jung -collective unconscious between humans

comparative approach to myths

gather many examples of myths and magical practices from around the world and compared them, trying to find an original story from which all myths derived -Golden Bough by Frazer -found that no single myth exists cross-culturally, but characteristic versions of a story may be found in specific areas

cultural areas

geographical area in which societies tend to share many cultural traits

a sign

graphical physical representation of a phenomena

idiophones

instruments that are struck, shaken, or rubbed (rattles, bells, wooden drums, xylophones)

membranophones

instruments that incorporate a taut membrane or skin. -includes drums

two of the most basic elements in religious practices are

ritual and myth -rituals are often based on myths (directive to perform the ritual may lie within the myth) -myth is reflective in ritual, other rituals are reenactments of myth

periodic rituals (page 129)

rituals performed according to a temporal cycle -commemorate anniversaries of important historical events in religion

one main belief common to UFO religions, namely, that the solution for many current human problems will come only from alien intervention,

is not presently open to scientific experimentation and confirmation

because ethnographers have begun embracing the value of stepping outside themselves and of being changed by the process,

the tired assertions that anthropology cannot be good science unless the participant-observers remain "detached" from the cognitive and spiritual worldviews of their informants can no longer be accepted at face value.

The Day of the Dead helps to create an interpretation of

the world in which Mexico is unique, culturally discrete, and above all different from the two powers that have dominated the country throughout its long existence: Spain and the United States.

Huari lives on in the hills where the mines are located

they venerate him in the form of the devil, or Tio -believe he controls the rich veins of ore, revealing them only to those who give him offerings -If they offend the Tio or slight him by failing to give him offerings, he will withhold the rich veins or cause an accident.

supernatural

things that are above the natural -entities and actions transcend the normal world of cause and effect -defy basic laws of nature

anthropomorphic

things that are not human but have humanlike characteristics and behave in humanlike ways

one soul might be responsible for a person's animation and will disappear at death

this soul can be reincarnated into other living things

extrinsically motivated

those who attend church for reasons other than the religious experience

revolutionary terrorism

to bring about total political change

Religious behavior appears to contradict the principles of natural selection,

which claims that to secure the resources necessary for reproduction and survival, organisms, including humans, are designed to maximize the rate at which they extract energy from the environment. -Most religious behaviors seem entirely counterproductive to this goal, and, indeed, some religious practices, such as ritual sacrifices, are a blatant conspicuous display of wasted resources.

New England vampire

-revolved around consumption (tuberculosis)

divination rituals

-rituals that seek information

Aleuromancy

The use of flour, as in fortune cookies

games and gods

(page 348)

Participant-observation is mostly:

Intensively interviewing people -corrected

Haitian Vodou can be considered a type of __________ religion.

Syncretic

Phrenology

The study of shape and structure of the head

devil = body

god = spirit

separation = death

incorporation = rebirth

state terrorism:

terrorism of the government against their own people

narcoterrorism:

use of violence in the trafficking of drugs

Heavens Gate

-founded by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles -communal house in San Diego -believed the soul was superior entity to the body -spirituality involved individuals would be taken to join the ranks of ETs who were coming to earth -hidden in the tail of the Hale-Bopp comet -mass suicide March 1997 -21 men and 18 women -heavy christian influence -prophets, "Jesus", were souls of ET, guiding humanity -physical death necessary for further evolution -stressed asceticism, self denial of sexuality -believed apocalypse was imminent -gender neutral

Franz Boas

-founder of the academic study of anthropology in the US -felt that mythology could be read almost like an autobiography written by the culture itself -used myths as sources of ethnographic data about things like kinship systems, housing types, division of labor, and hunting techniques Boas and Malinowski -did not like the idea of myths could be symbolic, just literal -emphasized in-depth study of one culture at a time as opposed to comparing myths cross-culturally

How to become a shaman (page 218)

-frequently chosen by spirits to become a shaman -chosen through regard to sacred objects when young, dream or trance, or ASC -chosen by the spirits -can be called by dreams, visions, trances, or abnormal behavior -also after surviving an illness or have certain illnesses -can decide whether or not to pursue it

jihadis

-frequently middle-class, secularly well educated, but often "born-again" radicalIslamists -including converts from Christianity -embrace apocalyptic visionsfor humanity's violent salvation.

coming-of-age rituals

-marks the transition from childhood to adulthood -menarche: girl's first menstruation -puberty -more of an individual ritual than a group ritual for girls, but can be a group initiation (everyone transitions/goes through puberty at different times) -initiation rituals are often more elaborate for boys, as the timing of puberty and initiation is arbitrary -male rituals are usually group rituals with boys of similar ages

pilgrimage

-journey to a sacred place -can also be a series of rituals that are associated with a sequence of sacred spaces -can often be seen as a right of passage

Anti-cult movement

-largely composed of mental health professionals -targets what they consider to be dangerous and authoritarian mind control (brainwashing) and doomsday cults -most concerned with deceptive recruitment techniques and psychological techniques used to control members -many researchers instead use the term "new religious movement"

Perpetrators of Terror Incidences in the USA 1980-2005 (lecture week 13, 7:00)

-majority were done by latino revolutionary groups -extreme left eco-terrorism

drug use and altered states of consciousness

-maladaptive: altered states caused by addiction (secular drug use) which leads to many personal and social problems -adaptive: ritual drug use that is highly controlled

New religions or modern offshoots?

-many UFO religions incorporate existing beliefs from Abrahamic Faiths -complex syncretism -logical outcome of globalization and science?

use of drugs is ubiquitous in South American traditional societies

-many plants, both wild and domesticated, can be found in forests that are exploited by traditional societies and used in religious rituals

death rituals (page 311)

-rites of passage whereby an individual moves from the status of living to that of dead -death is a disruption of the social fabric of the family and community -provide explanations for death and what happens after death

___________ is a broad category comprising all myths, legends, folktales, ballads, riddles, proverbs, and superstitions of a cultural group.

Folklore

the Rajasthani economy does not merely organize the production, exchange, and consumption of goods; nor do local religious beliefs only reflect the parallel world of gods and spirits.

Rather, both are complex symbolic systems, which share some of the features of language and are used to articulate, express, and communicate aspects of Bhat identity.

Apantomancy

Refers to a chance meeting with an animal, such as a black cat crossing your path

Oracle

Refers to a specific device that is used for divination and can refer to inspirational or non-inspirational forms.

Channeling

Medium becomes possessed by the spirit who then speaks through her

Xoomei (Throat-singing) (page 136)

Tuva (Siberian cultural area) -vocal technique used to produce two distinct pitches at the same time in a cave -used to contact the spirits

The first Native American Church was incorporated in

Oklahoma in 1918

souls that live after death may spend some time near their family,

often until the funeral is completed, and then they may travel someplace else or be reincarnated -one function of funeral rituals is to aid the soul in its journey -the ability of a soul to survive its journey to the land of the dead may depend on the quality od the person's life

inner sense cultivation = skill

over time: -sharper mental images -things imagined feel more real -visions and voices

although the pilgrimage process can operate on the same logical terms as magic, there is an

overarching theology that interprets the resulting supernatural power as the ultimate product of the transcendent God.

religious toys and games

page 119

Handsome Lake

prophet of the Seneca tribe during the time when the reservation system was first imposed -his teachings ultimately became the foundation for the Longhouse religion

age set

-boys or girls who are initiated together that form very close bonds and will usually remain close friends throughout their lives -cut across group boundaries -create solidarity between groups -can serve as important social units, such as military units

Branch Davidians (Students of the Seven Seals) (page 429)

-broke off from the Seventh Day Adventists in 1940s -led by Victor Houteff, then his wife and many more -high demand religion -gathering of large supply of weapons, people died, 52 day siege, more died, including Koresh -still continues today

cross-cultural trends in folklore:

-catastrophes (esp. floods) -monsters -incest -sibling rivalry -castration -hero's journey

part-time specialists (page 215)

-people who earn their living at some economic task but are called on to perform rituals when necessary because of their special knowledge or abilities -can be paid for services but many are not

Functions of ritual:

-reinforce social bonds -relieve social tension -deal with life crises -celebrate life cycle events -way a society remembers (through habit, through bodily practices)

Anthropology is:

All of the above The study of universals and differences among human societies Greek for the "Study of Humanity" Wider in scope than any other social science Holistic

Michael Cuneo

American Exorcism: Expelling Demons in the Land of Plenty

menstrual tabus

page 182

The earliest human religions likely centered on what?

Fertility

ritual inversion

inverts aspects of social structure

leading causes of death in the US

-heart disease is #1 -more likely to die from suicide than from terrorist attack

Creator gods

- Responsible for the creation of the physical earth and the plants and animals that live on it -Very powerful deities and often occupy the top rung of a pantheon

rituals are distinct from habits

-habits = idiosyncratic self-generates, lacking shared symbolic meaning -sometimes repetitive compulsive activity (OCD)

peyotism (page 208)

-hallucinogenic cactus peyote -grown in northern mexico and southern texas -used in religious ritual for Native American populations

unitary state (page 197)

-hen divisions between the self and the outside world disappear and one feels as being "one" with the universe or supernatural beings

View of magic in early anthropology

(lecture video, week 7, 2:00) -James Frazier, the Golden Bough -similarity, contagious

Christian demonic exorcism in the US

(page 341)

John Frum cult

(page 415)

types of supernatural beings

-gods -spirits -ghosts and ancestor spirits

Who is Dr. Fritz?

Deceased German physician that possesses people who perform surgery

psychoactive San Pedro cactus

Echinopsis pachanoi

Cult

Historical meaning: a particular form or system of religious worship -used to describe a small, recently created, and spiritually innovative group, often with a single charismatic leader -high demand religion

According to anthropologist Scott Atran, what is the motivation behind the violence attributed to Islamic extremism, particularly in Europe?

Lack of identity and a sense of cultural dislocation

Who is John Frum?

Mythical prophet of a Cargo Cult

What was argument in Dr. Tanya Luhrmann's Ted Talk?

That learning to hear god requires practice and imagination

Supernatural rewards and punishments can

change the payoffs that individuals perceive when performing religious practices

Millenarian

change through "apocalyptic" (massive, destroying existing institutions) transformation

authority of a shaman lies in his or her

charisma and ability to heal

matted hair =

medusa/snakes (article, unit 3)

engaging in private practices appears to be an extremely effective method of convincing oneself that

one believes in the doctrine that gives meaning to the rituals.

symbols can stand for emotion and complex philosophical concepts that

only exist in our minds

worldview

the way in which societies perceive and interpret their reality

Spanish conquest of Mexico

1521

The most important oracle in Azande culture is:

Benge, the poison oracle

Ornithomancy

Involves reading the path in form of a flight of birds

world's largest publisher of Bibles

Zondervan

goddess Pattini (article, unit 3)

chaste and devoted mother and wife of the Sinhala religion

taboos

strictly forbidden actions or items

monomyth "Hero's Journey" (Campbell)

"A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encounteres and a decisive victory is won

bhav a gaya

-"feelings have come" -describe a state of spiritual possession

christianity reached its peak between

15th-17th centuries -Doctrines for produce detailing the hierarchies, in vocation, methods, and exorcism of demons. -Witchcraze -interest in incubi and succubae (male and female demons who have sex with humans while they sleep) said to be responsible for the birth of demons, witches, and deformed children

What differentiates a Cult from a Sect?

All are aspects of a cult Historical perspective Former is characterized by very costly religious signaling Smaller membership Relatively recent origin

difficult to estimate the number of people who are involved in UFO religions

Almost none of them report the number of their respective members

In the video "Cave of Forgotten Dreams," Chauvet Cave was used for what purpose?

As a place for ritual

According to the video, where does our sense of morality originate?

From our evolutionary past

the first psychoanalytic anthropologist

Geza Roheim

Which of the following is the best example of an American inversion ritual?

Halloween -corrected

Religious symbols

Have "religious" (supernatural, sacred) meaning -very emotionally laden Can also be "profane" -depending on the perspective in-group vs. out-group, historical vs presentist perspective -placement in cultural space - profane object in sacred place becomes sacred -diminishing power of profane symbol -juxtaposing sacred symbols (can't have good without bad)

UFO religions (page 433)

Heaven's Gate (Applewhite) -overcoming process -castration detachment from human emotions and possessions -committed suicide together, march 1997 (Hale-Bopp comet) Raelians -founded in 1973 by Claude Vorilhon (Rael) -Elohim -Age of Apocalypse -cloning is only hope for immortality -The Structure -CLONAID

The paintings of animals in Chauvet cave can be viewed as an example of:

Imitative magic

Carnaval in Brazil, where people can gender switch and the poor can be raised to the level of elites, is best thought of as an example of what kind of ritual?

Inversion

Today most anthropologist consider magic to be part of religion because

It is associated with supernatural mechanisms

Between 1980 and 2005, which "group" of people committed the most acts of terror on US soil?

Latino Extremists

According to your book, approximately how many Americans believe that there are multiple religious paths to "heaven"? (i.e., other faiths can also lead to eternal life.)

NOT 50%

largest Native American group in the USA

Navaho -large reservation in Arizona and New Mexico

Hajj/Mecca pilgrimage

Page 176

Spiritualism and séances

Page 263

God (Ted talk week 11)

Person -talks back -chats -hangs out

What term best describes the Spiritualist healer in the Greenfield article?

Prophet -corrected

Wicca and Neo-Paganism are what type of religious movement?

Revivalist

Law of Sympathy (page 246)

States that magic depends on the apparent association or agreement between things 2 parts: Law of Similarity -things they are alike are the same -Gives rise to homeopathic, or imitative, magic -causal relationship between similar things Law of Contagion -things that were once in contact continue to be connected after the connection is severed -gives rise to contagious magic

Haruspication

The examination of the entrails of sacrificed animals

Many of the practices that are labeled or alternative medicine or homeopathic medicine in American society are based on

The law of similarity

holism

The study of human societies as systematic sums of their parts, as integrated wholes. -sees human behavior as a complex set of interacting behaviors and ideas

Three approaches to studying religion

Theological -usually conducted by believers -focuses on doctrinal origins of a specific belief and behaviors Skeptical -conducted by nonbelievers -trying to disprove or debunk religion Anthropological -not trying to prove or disprove anything -want to understand from an insiders point of view -religion is a cultural phenomenon like any other -focus is on the role religion plays in human life -like other aspects of culture, religion generally is adaptive for individuals and the group

What theory explains the preponderance of soul beliefs--not only for humans, but for the attribution of souls to animals and even the landscape?

Theory of Mind

Deliberate divination

These forms are those that someone set out to do, such as reading tarot cards or examining the liver of a sacrificed animal.

Fortuitous divination

These forms happen without any conscious effort on the part of the individual. An example is a person sees a flight of birds overhead or unexpectedly falls into a trance and has a vision.

In witchcraft among the Azande, the source of the witchcraft is found:

Within the body of the witch, who often does not recognize it

k'araku

a ceremonial banquet of sacrificed animals.

Most Bhats, then, are stuck between

an old and a new economy

Certain badges, such as tattoos and ritual scars, are permanent

and are thus quite difficult to fake

Costly ritual behaviors, badges, and bans serve to protect these benefits--

and similar benefits offered by religious communities throughout the world -- from free-riding nonbelievers.

The same myth or folk tale can be profitably compared using versions from two or more separate cultures,

and the differences in detail may well illustrate significant differences in culture.

roughly 40 percent of Americans per week

attend church

shamans are usually part-time

independent contractors -personal relationship between shaman and community -focus on specific problems -can gain significant social authority

myths can and usually do contain both

conscious and unconscious cultural materials.

One way spirits can communicate with their incarnate fellows is through a medium

believed that when a medium goes into trance he or she is able to turn his or her body over to another spirit who then is able to use it to communicate and interact with the living.

messianic movements

believe that a divine savior in human form will bring about the solution to the problems that exist within the society.

evolutionary approach

centered on the questions of when and how religion began -developed in late 1800s -only real knowledge is scientific knowledge -studied "primitive" people to learn how their "civilized" societies began religion is an adaptation for individual and group survival the abilities associated with experiencing the supernatural are "hard-wired" in the brain separated into 3 subgroups: -Hyperactive-Agency Detection Device (HADD): believing in purposeful (supernatural) action behind events (our brian sees nothing as random, everything has a reason) -Costly Signaling: honest displays of group commitment, solidarity (used to explain more strange behaviors done in the name of faith, like snake handling or body mutilation)(show proof of real belief and commitment to the faith) -Minimally Counter-Intuitive Ideas (MCI): share morals through "catchy" narratives

spiritist surgery must be done as (week 6 article)

charity without charge -giving of social assistance to the poor -healing

signaling theory suggests that while such signals are fakable, they are certainly useful indicators of belief and more reliable than uttered statements of belief. The reliability of

church attendance as an indicator of belief, of course, increases with intensity and costs, such as more frequent attendance, higher financial contributions, or more tedious sermons.

human behavior is

complex and variable

sacred

denotes and attitude wherein the subject is entitled to reverence and respect

hero's journey

first stage: departure -thrust out of their community for one of several reasons second phase: initiation -hero training, learn to utilize supernatural tools, under the direction of a master third phase: the return -hero returns and accomplishes the task same characters: Hero Herald (can be an event or object) Mentor Threshold Guardians (try to stop the hero) Trickster (sometimes sidekicks) Shape-Shifter (characters change roles) Shadow (enemy) 12 Steps: 1: ordinary world 2: call to adventure 3: refusal of the call 4: meeting the mentor 5: crossing the threshold 6: tests, allies, enemies 7: approach the inmost cave 8: supreme ordeal 9: reward 10: the road back 11: resurrection 12: return

Graphology

handwriting analysis

disillusionment with secular models of geopolitics was key to

how religion became prominent in conflicts in the last few decades

animatism (Robert R. Marett)

human emotional reaction to the power of nature

theory of mind

idea that people know, or they think they know, what is going on in other people's minds -essential for the development of complex social patterns

therianthropes

images of transformed shamans

Illness definition

impaired functioning as it is interpreted and shaped cognitively within a cultural framework so as to make possible its treatment

ritual is most effective at transforming beliefs when

initial views and attitudes are either ambiguous or not too divergent from those implied in the ritual performance

aerophones

instruments in which air is blown across or into a passageway, such as a pipe -whistles, pipes, flutes, trumpets

cordophones

instruments with taut strings that can be plucked or strummed, hit, or sawed -harps, zithers, and violins

Christian philosopher David Johnson argued that

it is not necessary to include reference to God in defining a miracle -Instead, he identifies miracles with paranormal phenomena in general

vista

magical "sight"

October 1766 Royal Criminal Chamber

prohibited attendance at cemeteries and also imposed a prohibition on the sale of alcoholic beverages after nine in the evening

"cults"

scholars in religious studies endeavor to make the strange familiar -take ideas, beliefs, and practices that seem odd and try to show how they make sense to adherents, or at least how they operate within the framework of another construction of reality -do this by demonstrating how alien notions compare with more familiar beliefs and practices scholars in religious studies endeavor to make the familiar strange -By comparing other beliefs and practices with our own, we shed light on the assumptions and perspectives that we take for granted but which other people do not subscribe to -Our own values and beliefs--many of them unacknowledged until they are challenged--appear to us in a new light -Having once seen the strangeness of our worldview, it is difficult to return to it with the dogmatism of the true believer

Valhalla

special place for Viking warriors who died a good death (died in battle)

liminality/transition stage (page 166)

state of ambiguous marginality during which the metamorphosis takes place during transitions -communitas

physical anthropology

study of human biology and evolution -genetics and genomes, evolutionary theory

The costly signaling theory of religion additionally assumes that increased commitment among the faithful will

translate into successful cooperation. -Groups that require the most of their members are expected to achieve the highest levels of cooperation, whereas groups that demand less of their members will find it more difficult to achieve collective goals.

Johan Galtung, Norwegian sociologist, defines violence

very broadly as whatever stops people and groups from achieving their full potential -dirent violence (structural violence) ad indirect violence (cultural violence)