Window on Humanity

Conrad Phillip Kottak

Third Edition

Chapter 15
Religion

Overview

Expressions of religion
Religion and social control
Kinds of religion
Religion and change
Secular rituals

CHAPTER 15
Religion
Anthropology of religion
Wallaces definition of religion belief and ritual
concerned with supernatural beings, powers, and forces
Anthropologists have stressed the collective, shared,
and enacted nature of religion, the emotions it
generates, and the meanings it embodies
Durkheim religious effervescence collective emotional
intensity generated by worship
Turners notion of communitas an intense community spirit;
a feeling of great social solidarity, equality, and togetherness

CHAPTER 15
Religion
Anthropology of religion
Like ethnicity and language, religion is
associated with social divisions within and
between societies and nations
Religion is a cultural universal, but societies
conceptualize divinity, supernatural entities,
and ultimate realities very differently

CHAPTER 15
Religion
Expressions of religion
E. B. Tylor
First anthropologist to study religion
Proposed that religion evolved through three stages: animism,
then polytheism, and finally monotheism

Spiritual beings
According to Tylor, animism originated from peoples attempts
to explain dreams and trances

Polytheism belief in multiple gods

Monotheism belief in a single, all-powerful deity

CHAPTER 15
Religion
Expressions of religion
Mana a sacred impersonal force that can reside in
people, animals, plants, and objects
Belief in mana was especially prominent in Melanesia
Melanesian mana:
Similar to our notion of efficacy or luck
Could be acquired by chance or through hard work, and
manipulated in different ways (e.g., magic)
Success was attributed to mana, and failure to a lack of mana
thus, notion of mana provided an explanation for differential
success that people could not understand in ordinary, natural
terms

CHAPTER 15
Religion
Expressions of religion
Polynesian mana:
Mana was attached to political offices
Chiefs and nobles had more mana than ordinary people did
Chiefs had so much mana that contact with them, or with
things they touched, was considered dangerous to
commoners
Thus, the bodies and possessions of high chiefs were taboo
set apart as sacred and off-limits to ordinary people

CHAPTER 15
Religion
Expressions of religion
Magic and religion
Magic supernatural techniques intended to accomplish
specific aims
Imitative magic magicians produce a desired effect by
imitating it (e.g., use of voodoo dolls)
Contagious magic whatever is done to an object is
believed to affect a person who once had contact with it
Magic can be associated with animism, mana,
polytheism, or monotheism

CHAPTER 15
Religion
Expressions of religion
Uncertainty, anxiety, and solace
Religion and magic can help reduce anxiety
Malinowski argued that people turn to magic as a
means of control when they face uncertainty and
danger
Trobriand Islanders used magic only in situations (e.g.,
sailing) that they could not control that is, times of
psychological stress
In contemporary societies, magic persists as a means of
reducing psychological anxiety in situations of uncertainty

CHAPTER 15
Religion
Expressions of religion
Rituals:
Behavior that is formal (stylized, repetitive, and stereotyped)
and performed in sacred places at set times
Include liturgical orders sequences of words and actions
invented prior to the current performance of the ritual in which
they occur
Convey information about the participants and their traditions
Translate enduring messages, values, and sentiments into
action
Inherently social by participating in rituals, performers signal
that they accept a common social and moral order

CHAPTER 15
Religion
Expressions of religion
Rites of passage:
Customs associated with the transition from one
place or stage of life to another
Three phases:
Separation participants withdraw from the group and
begin moving from one place or status to another
Liminality period between states, during which the
participants have left one place or state but have not yet
entered or joined the next
Incorporation participants reenter society with a new
status, having completed the rite

CHAPTER 15
Religion
Expressions of religion
Rites of passage:
Liminality involves the temporary suspension and even reversal
of ordinary social distinctions, behaviors, and expectations
Communitas an intense community spirit, a feeling of great
social solidarity, equality, and togetherness during collective
liminality
Permanent liminal groups (e.g., sects, brotherhoods, cults)
exist in certain societies, particularly nation-states

Not all collective rites are rites of passage some may

be rites of intensification, which enhance social
solidarity

CHAPTER 15
Religion
Expressions of religion
Totemism
Important in Native Australian societies, as well as
Native American groups of the North Pacific coast
Each descent group had a totem (an animal, plant, or
geographical feature) from which they claimed
descent
Members of a totemic group did not kill or eat their
totem, except once a year when people gathered for
ceremonies dedicated to the totem

CHAPTER 15
Religion
Expressions of religion
Totemism
Totemism uses nature as a model for society
People relate to nature through their totemic association
with natural species
Each group has a different totem, so natural diversity
becomes a model for social diversity
At the same time, unity of the social order is enhanced by
symbolic association with totems, all of which are part of
nature

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Religion
Social control
Religions help ensure proper behavior:
Offer rewards and punishments
Many prescribe a code of ethics and morality

Throughout history, political leaders have used

religion to promote and justify their views and
policies
Leaders may mobilize people either by
persuasion or by instilling hatred or fear

CHAPTER 15
Religion
Social control
Witch hunts
Powerful means of social control create a climate of danger
and insecurity
Witchcraft accusations are often directed at socially marginal
or anomalous individuals people who can be accused and
punished with least chance of retaliation
Accusations may serve as a leveling mechanism
Leveling mechanism a custom or social action that operates to
reduce status differences and thus to bring standouts in line with
community norms

CHAPTER 15
Religion
Kinds of religion
Religion is a cultural universal, but religious
beliefs and practices vary cross-culturally
Wallace identified four types of religion:

Shamanic
Communal
Olympian
Monotheistic

CHAPTER 15
Religion
Kinds of religion
Shamanic religion
Most characteristic of foraging societies
Shamans:
Part-time religious figures who mediate between people
and supernatural beings and forces
Examples: curers, mediums, spiritualists, astrologers,
palm readers, diviners

Shamans sometimes assume a different or

ambiguous sex or gender role sets them off
symbolically from ordinary people

CHAPTER 15
Religion
Kinds of religion
Communal religion
Found among some foragers, but more typical of
farming societies
Both shamans and community rituals (e.g., harvest
ceremonies, collective rites of passage)
Communal religions are polytheistic their
adherents believe in several deities who control
aspects of nature

CHAPTER 15
Religion
Kinds of religion
Olympian religion
First appeared in states
Full-time, professional priesthoods that are
hierarchically and bureaucratically organized, like
the state itself
Olympian religions are polytheistic pantheons of
powerful anthropomorphic gods with specialized
functions

CHAPTER 15
Religion
Kinds of religion
Monotheistic religion
Priesthoods
All supernatural phenomena are manifestations of,
or are under the control of, a single eternal,
omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent supreme
being

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Religion
World religions
Largest religions:

Christianity more than 2 billion practitioners

Islam 1.3 billion practitioners
Hinduism 900 million practitioners
Buddhism 376 million practitioners

More than a billion people claim no official

religion

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Religion
Religion and change
Revitalization movements:
Social movements that occur in times of change
Religious leaders emerge and undertake to alter or
revitalize a society
Examples:
Beginnings of Christianity
Colonial-era Iroquois reformation led by Handsome Lake

CHAPTER 15
Religion
Religion and change
Cargo cults:
Revitalization movements that emerge when traditional
communities have regular contact with industrial societies but
lack their wealth, technology, and living standards
Name is derived from a focus on European cargo
Indigenous communities attempt to:
Explain European domination and wealth
Achieve similar success magically by mimicking European
behavior and manipulating symbols of the desired lifestyle

CHAPTER 15
Religion
Religion and change
Cargo cults in Melanesia and Papua New Guinea:
Blended Christian doctrine with aboriginal beliefs and
practices
Melanesians believed that all wealthy people eventually had to
give their wealth awaylike big men
Europeans refused to distribute their wealth or let natives
know the secret of its production and distribution
Cargo cults emerged as a means of magically leveling
Europeans
Paved the way for unified political action indigenous
communities eventually regained their autonomy

CHAPTER 15
Religion
Secular rituals
Ritual-like behavior can occur in secular
contexts
The supernatural and the natural may not be
distinguished consistently in a society
Can be difficult to define what constitutes religion
and what does not

Behavior considered appropriate for religious

occasions varies cross-culturally