Questions and Answers
What does the term ethnocentric mean?
Believing in the superiority of one's own ethnic and cultural group and having a corresponding disdain for all other groups.
What is naturalization in the context of culture?
Ideas and behaviors so deeply embedded in a culture that they are regarded as universally normal or natural.
Define projection as a psychological concept.
A defense mechanism that involves attributing one's own threatening feelings, motives, or impulses to another person or group.
What is a theory?
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How would you define methodology?
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What is phenomenology?
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Explain the husserl phenomenological method.
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What does methodological agnosticism refer to?
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Define cultual relativism.
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What is empiricism?
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What was Evans-Pritchard's view on Azande witchcraft?
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What does representation mean in social sciences?
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What is interpretation in the context of social phenomena?
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Summarize Tylor's argument about how animism developed.
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Study Notes
Key Concepts in Anthropology of Religion
- Ethnocentric: Belief in one's own ethnic and cultural group superiority, often resulting in disdain for others.
- Naturalization: Cultural ideas and behaviors considered universally normal or natural due to deep embedding in a culture.
Psychological Processes
- Projection: Defense mechanism where individuals attribute their own threatening feelings or impulses to others.
- Methodological Agnosticism: Neutral approach to religion, focusing on its power rather than determining its truth or falsehood.
Research and Analysis
- Methodology: Comprehensive policies and procedures applied to technical and management challenges.
- Interpretation: Complex process of understanding social phenomena, varying greatly across disciplines and cultures.
Research Methods
- Phenomenology: Focuses on individual experiences and meanings derived from them, emphasizing knowledge gained through experience.
- Husserl's Phenomenological Method: Encourages "bracketing" unverifiable claims to focus on observable appearances and the essence of experiences.
Cultural Perspectives
- Cultual Relativism: Belief in judging cultures by their own standards, asserting no group is superior to another.
- Empiricism: Knowledge theory positing that all understanding originates from sensory experience, rooted in the works of Locke, Berkeley, and Hume.
Witchcraft and Beliefs
- Evans-Pritchard: Azande Witchcraft: Witchcraft as an inherited substance causing autonomous harm; rituals exist for protection and mitigation due to pervasive belief in its presence.
Representation and Description
- Representation: The way social scientists describe and analyze the people they study; standards are evolving with increased understanding.
- Tylor's Argument on Animism: Proposed that animism, the belief in spirits inhabiting beings, is fundamental to all religions and arose from humanity's need to explain the world.
Insights on Religion
- Religion as Survival: Tylor viewed religion as critical for understanding worldly phenomena. He argued animism is the most basic form and foundation of all religions, highlighting its historical and cultural significance.
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