SSF 1044 Introduction to Anthropology & Sociology Lecture 6 PDF

SSF 1044 INTRODUCTION TO ANTHROPOLOGY & SOCIOLOGY Lecture 6 Religion & Belief System WHY STUDY RELIGION? Anthropologists and sociologists are NOT interested in whether or not a religion is true or false. Then, what are anthropologists and sociologists interested in when studying religion?...

SSF 1044 INTRODUCTION TO ANTHROPOLOGY & SOCIOLOGY Lecture 6 Religion & Belief System WHY STUDY RELIGION? Anthropologists and sociologists are NOT interested in whether or not a religion is true or false. Then, what are anthropologists and sociologists interested in when studying religion? HOW DO SOCIAL SCIENTISTS THINK ABOUT RELIGION?  Not concerned with whether religious beliefs are true or false  Concerned with the social organisation of religions  View religion as major source of social solidarity  Tend to explain the appeal of religion in terms of social forces instead of personal, spiritual or psychological factors RELIGION: ANTHROPOLOGIST’ DEFINITION  “…any set of attitudes, beliefs and practices pertaining to supernatural power, whether that power be forces, gods, spirits, ghosts or demons” (Ember, C.R. & Ember, M., 1992: 324)  What is considered supernatural?  ALL societies possessed beliefs that can be grouped under the term religion  Religion is a cultural universal! SOCIOLOGIST’S DEFINITION  Religion = cultural system of commonly shared beliefs and rituals that provides a sense of ultimate meaning and purpose by creating an idea of reality that is sacred, all-encompassing and supernatural (Durkheim 1965; Berger 1967; Wuthnow 1988)  3 key elements in this definition:  Religion = a form of culture  Religions involves beliefs that take the form of ritualised practices  Religion has functions in society DURKHEIM’S 3 FEATURES OF RELIGION  Durkheim identified 3 essential features that are common to all religions, past and present  Beliefs about the sacred and the profane  Rituals  Community of worshipers THE ‘COMMUNITY’ IN RELIGION  Religion as a group behavior  Congregants or adherents subscribe to and internalise a common system of meaning  Religious effervescence: the bubbling up of collective emotional intensity generated by worship (Durkheim 1912)  Communitas: An intense community spirit, a feeling of great social solidarity, equality, and togetherness (Victor Turner 1969)  Note: the term ‘religion’ is derived from Latin ‘religare’, which means “to tie/bind” ANIMISM (E.B. TYLOR, 1871)  Animism: belief in spiritual beings (souls)  Inanimate objects (trees, stones etc) are animated by spiritual forces/beings  According to Tylor, animism is the earliest form of religion  Religion developed as people tried to understand conditions and event that could not be explained by reference to daily experience  Death, dreaming and trance intrigued our ancestors. In dreams and trances, they see ‘images’  To explain dreams and trances, early humans began to believe that two entities inhabit the human body  One is active during the day  The other (soul?) is active in dream/trance state  Death occurs when the soul (Latin ‘anima’) departs the body EVOLUTION OF RELIGION (TYLOR)  Animism → Polytheism → Monotheism  As societies evolve to become more complex, so too their supernatural beings ‘MANA’  ‘Mana’ is a concept derived from Melanesian/Polynesian understanding  Mana: impersonal (external) sacred force existing in the universe  Mana can reside in people, animals, plants and object  Melanesians attribute success to batu pera’it (Kelabit) mana, which people could acquire or manipulate in different ways (e.g. through magic)  Objects with mana could change someone’s luck (e.g. charms, amulets) TABOO  When persons or objects are highly charged with mana, they become taboo (set apart as sacred and off-limits to ordinary people)  Example:  In Polynesia, chiefs and nobles had more mana than ordinary people. Contact with chief is ‘dangerous’.  Contact between chief and commoner is forbidden  When commoners become accidentally exposed, purification rites were necessary Megaliths (stone monuments), Kelabit Highlands MAGIC AND RELIGION  One important element of religion is magic.  According to Merriam- Webster online dictionary, “magic” means:  a power that allows people (such as witches and wizards) to do impossible things by saying special words or performing special actions  tricks that seem to be impossible and that are done by a performer to entertain people Huh??? But this is not anthropology’s definition of magic!!! ANTHROPOLOGY’S DEFINITION OF ‘MAGIC’  Magic = supernatural techniques intended to accomplish specific aims  Magic involves the manipulation of the spiritual for good or evil purposes  E.g. magical rituals to ensure good crops, to cure illness MALINOWSKI & MAGIC  Pacific islanders developed all sorts of magic to be used in sailing, a high-risk activity  Malinowski proposed that when people are faced with situations that they can’t control, they turn to magic “[H]owever much knowledge and science help man in allowing him to obtain what he wants, they are unable completely to control chance, to eliminate accidents, to foresee the unexpected turn of natural events, or to make human handiwork reliable and adequate to all practical requirements” (Malinowski 1931/1978, p. 39) QUESTIONS:  Can you think of examples of the use of ‘magic’ in your culture?  Have you used ‘magic’? Or have you seen other people use ‘magic’? EXAMPLE: IBAN CROCODILE EARTHMOUNDS  Previously used by the Iban in a ritual called “mali umai”  It was believed that the crocodile spirits will protect crops (e.g. paddy) from pests VARIATIONS IN RELIGIOUS BELIEFS  There is no general agreement among scholars as to why people need religion. Or how spirits, gods and other supernatural beings/forces come into existence.  However, there is a recognition of the enormous variations in religious beliefs and practices.  How do they differ?  The kinds of supernatural beings/forces  The structure and hierarchy of the supernatural beings  How the supernatural interact with humans (prayer, trance, fasts/feasts, rituals, sacrifices)  What happens to people after death? RITUALS  Ritual: formal, repetitive, stereotyped behaviour  People perform them in special (sacred) places and at set times  Repeated year after year, generation after generation, rituals translate enduring messages, values and sentiments into action  Rituals are social acts! In taking part in ritual (a joint public act), the performers signal that they accept a common social and moral order, one that transcends their status as individuals RITES OF PASSAGE  Rites of passage: rites marking transitions between places or stages of life  Passage rites involve changes in social status  Religious rites of passage: example, baptisms, bar mitzvahs  Passage rites are often collective TOTEMISM  Totems can be animals, plants, or geographic features  Totemism uses nature as a model for society Australian Aborigine totems  Thus, totemism is a form of cosmology – a system, often religious, for imagining and understanding the universe  In each tribe, groups have particular totems  Members of each totemic group believe themselves to be descendants of their totems Native American totems  Traditionally, they customarily neither killed nor ate a totemic animal (taboo!) TOTEMISM (EMILE DURKHEIM)  ‘Elementary forms of the religious life’ (Durkheim 1912)  Durkheim saw origin of religion in totemism  Studied totemism in Australian Aboriginal societies. Why?  Totemism is a religion where the totemic emblem, the totem animal/plant, and the members of the clan are all considered sacred  Totem represents both ‘god’ and ‘society’  Consider this: in worshipping a totem, are people worshipping themselves (society)? FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE OF RELIGION  Religion serves vital social functions for the individual and for the group  On the individual level, people embrace religion in the face of uncertainty; they draw on religious doctrine and ritual to comprehend the meaning of life and death and to cope with misfortunes and injustices  Religion promotes group unity and solidarity  Shared beliefs and rituals create emotional bonds among believers  Religion offers ideas of proper conduct in daily life  Observance of rituals functions to alleviate anxieties and to establish social relationship CRITICISM OF FUNCTIONALIST VIEW  Religion is not just an integrative force  Religion can unify, bond and comfort believers – TRUE!  BUT, religion can also do so in such a way that it supports war and other conflicts  Throughout human history, religions have also been used for ‘negative’ purposes  E.g. to justify going to war, public executions THE CONFLICT PERSPECTIVE  Conflict theorists acknowledges the unifying and comforting functions of religion, but such functions are viewed as problematic  Conflict theorists sees religion as an instrument to repress, constrain and exploit others  To Marx, religion contains a strong ideological element: religion provides justification for oppression and the inequalities of wealth and power found in society  Religion is “opium of the people” (= false consciousness)  Prevent people from fighting oppression CRITICISM OF CONFLICT PERSPECTIVE  Religion is not always a tool of oppression  Sometimes religion has been used as a vehicle for protesting or working to change social and economic inequities SYMBOLIC INTERACTION PERSPECTIVE  Religious practices and rituals as symbolic behaviours