Spirituality, Religion, and the Supernatural

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Chapter 24

• Spirituality, Religion, and the Supernatural

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Chapter Outline

• The Anthropological Approach to Religion
• The Practice of Religion
• Rituals and Ceremonies
• Religion, Magic, and Witchcraft
• Religion and Culture Change Revitalization
  Movements
• Religion and Art

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Worldview

• The collective body of ideas that members of a
  culture generally share concerning the ultimate
  shape and substance of their reality.

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Religion

• An organized system of ideas about the spiritual
  sphere or the supernatural, along with associated
  ceremonial practices by which people try to
  interpret and/or influence aspects of the
  universe otherwise beyond their control.

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Spirituality

• Also concerned with the sacred but it is often
  individual rather than collective and does not
  require a distinctive format or traditional
  organization.

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Religion

• An organized system of ideas about spiritual
  reality, or the supernatural.
• It consists of beliefs and practices by which
  people try to interpret and control aspects of
  the universe otherwise beyond their control.
• Among food-foraging peoples, religion is
  intertwined in everyday life.
• As societies become more complex, religion may be
  restricted to particular occasions.

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Supernatural Forces and Beings

• Religion is characterized by a belief in
  supernatural beings and forces, which can be
  appealed to for aid through prayer, sacrifice,
  and other rituals.

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Supernatural Forces and Beings

• Supernatural beings may be grouped into three
  categories
• major deities
• ancestral spirits
• other sorts of spirit beings.

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Gods and Goddeses

• Gods and goddesses are great but remote beings
  that control the universe or a specific part of
  it.
• Whether people recognize gods, goddesses, or both
  has to do with how men and women relate to each
  other in everyday life.
• If more than one is recognized (polytheism), each
  has charge of a particular part of the universe.
• A pantheon, or the collection of gods and
  goddesses such as those of the Greeks, is common
  in nonwestern states.

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Ancestral Spirits

• Belief in ancestral spirits is based on the idea
  that human beings are made up of a body and a
  soul or vital spirit.
• Freed from the body at death, the spirit
  continues to participate in human affairs.

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Animism

• A belief that nature is animated or energized
  through what people perceive as manifestations of
  power.
• Common among peoples who see themselves as part
  of nature.

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Animatism

• A belief that nature is enlivened or energized by
  an impersonal spiritual power or supernatural
  potency.

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Priests and Priestesses

• A full-time religious specialist formally
  recognized for his or her role in guiding the
  religious practices of others and for contacting
  and influencing supernatural powers.

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Shaman

• A person who enters an altered state of
  consciousness at willto contact and utilize an
  ordinarily hidden reality in order to acquire
  knowledge, power, and to help others.

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The Shamanic Complex
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Rites of passage

• Rituals that mark important stages in an
  individuals life cycle, such as birth, marriage,
  and death.
• Three stages
• Separation death - The removal of the individual
  from society.
• Transition - Isolation of the individual
  following separation and prior to incorporation
  into society.
• Incorporation - Reincorporation of the individual
  into society in his or her new status.

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Witchcraft

• Functions as an effective way for people to
  explain away personal misfortune without having
  to shoulder personal blame.
• Even malevolent witchcraft may function
  positively in the realm of social control.
• It may also provide an outlet for feelings of
  hostility and frustration without disturbing the
  norms of the larger group.

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Social Functions of Religion

• Sanctioning conduct by providing ideas of right
  and wrong.
• Setting standards for acceptable behavior to
  perpetuate an existing social order.
• Lifting the burden of decision making from
  individuals and placing it with the gods.

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Social Functions of Religion

• Maintaining social solidarity enhancing the
  learning and ensuring continuity in a nonliterate
  culture.
• Building hope for a specific goal, such as
  healing physical, emotional, or social ills.

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Revitalization Movements

• Arise when people seek radical reform in response
  to social disruption and feelings of anxiety and
  despair.
• Among Melanesian islanders disturbed by Western
  colonization and capitalism, these movements have
  taken the form of cargo cults, which have
  appeared at different times since the beginning
  of the 20th century.
• All religions stem from revitalization movements.

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Religion and Art

• Religion is often intertwined with artthe
  creative use of the human imagination to
  symbolically interpret, express, and enjoy life.
• It stems from the uniquely human ability to use
  symbols to give significance to the world for
  more than a utilitarian purpose.
• Anthropologists are interested in art as a
  reflection of cultural values and concerns.

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Chapter 25

• The Arts

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Art

• What is art?
• Visual arts
• Verbal arts
• Musical arts
• Function of Art

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What is Art?

• In anthropology, art is the creative use of the
  human imagination to aesthetically interpret,
  express, and engage life, modifying experienced
  reality in the process.
• Can include ideas about religion, kinship, and
  ethnic identity.

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Anthropology Art

• Art reflects a groups collective ideas, values,
  and concerns. As anthropologists, we can
  understand different worldviews, political ideas,
  social values, kinship structures, economic
  relations, and historical memory.

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Understanding Art

• 13 people at table, bag of money, and a spilled
  salt.
• Aesthetic composition fits pace, attitudes of
  men, sense of movement.
• Interpretation
• Narrative Record of customs, table manners,
  dress, architecture of the period.
• Interpretive Money is the root of all evil
  spilled salt indicates disaster beliefs of
  Christianity (why is the last supper important?)

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Folk Art vs. Fine Art

• Folklore (or folk art) is a term coined in the
  19th century to identify unwritten stories and
  other artistic traditions of rural people
• It is used to distinguish between it and fine
  art of the literate elite

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Art

• Three major art categories are visual, verbal,
  and musical.

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Visual Art

• Visual art may be regarded as representational or
  abstract. Could be drawings, sketches, paintings,
  engravings, carvings, or tattoos.

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Visual Art

• In the West, art is seen as a luxury. It is
  valued for its creativity, originality, and the
  unique vision of the artist.
• In non-Westerns societies, art is all about the
  community and shared symbolism.

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Symbols
Faa aveau (starfish) motif, which is
traditionally characterized by its circular
center
Faaaliao (trochus shell) motif
Tusilii relate to linear patterns seen in items
such as coconut midribs that are used in bundles
for brooms and individually as needles
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Rock Art

• Paintings and engravings made of the faces of
  rock outcroppings and in rock shelters is one of
  the oldest art traditions. It usually pictures
  stylized animals and abstract designs.
  Anthropologists now believe these are the
  depictions of a shamans dream-quest or journey.

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Tattoo Evolution
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Verbal Art

• Verbal art can be narratives, dramas, poetry,
  incantations, proverbs, riddles, word games, or
  even compliments or insults.
• i.e., You mad mustachio purple-hued malt worm!

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Insultslike rap

• This symbol on my arm is off limits to
  challengers.
• You hold and bust swords, I swing the Excalibur.
  . . .
• Blow you to pieces, leave you covered in feces
• With one thesis.
• Every little boy wanna pick up the mike
• And try to run with the big boys and live up to
  the real hype. LL Cool J
• So I'm gonna let the world know the truth, you
  don't want me to shine,
• You studied my rhyme, then you lay your vocals
  after mine. . . .
• You walk around showing off your body cause it
  sells,
• Plus to avoid the fact that you ain't got skills
  . . .
• While 99 percent of your fans wear high heels.
• Now watch me rip the tat from your arm,
• Kick you in the groin, stick you for your
  Vanguard award
• In front of your mom, your first-, second- and
  third- born,
• Make your wife get on the horn,
• Call Minister Farrakhan
• So he could persuade me to squash it.
• I say, ''Naw, he started it.'' -Cannibus

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Myth sacred story to explain the beginnings of
the world (where we came from, how it happened,
etc.)
Here is the story of the beginning,when there
was not one bird,not one fish,not one
mountain.Here is the sky, all alone.Here is the
sea, all alone.There is nothing moreno sound,
no movement.Only the sky and the sea.Only
Heart-of-Sky, alone.And these are his
namesMaker and Modeler,Kukulkan,and
Hurricane.But there is no one to speak his
names.There is no one to praise his glory.There
is no one to nurture his greatness.
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Legend

• Legend story about a memorable event or person
  handed down by tradition and told as true but
  without historical evidence (G. Washingtons
  cherry tree)

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"Oh Goddess of Inspiration, help me sing of wily
Odysseus, that master of schemes!"

• Epic long dramatic narrative recounting the
  celebrated deeds of a historical or legendary
  herooften sung or recited in poetic language

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Tales

• Tale Recognized as fiction, but it usually
  contains a moral or parable

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Musical Art

• Ethnomusicologists study music.
• They must be careful not to judge music on
  European tonality (scale systems and
  modifications for music), which uses different
  scales and octaves than other music.
• Music can organize, entertain, pass on political
  messages, love, show inclusion in a group, or be
  used for religious purposes.

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Functions of Music

• Music is a powerful identifier, i.e., whats on
  your playlist?

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Function of Art

• Affirm identity totems, flags, symbols
• Used for politics or to influence events
• Explain various phenomena or to pass down history

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Functions of Art

• Art serves a wide and varied number of functions,
  many of them relating to religion
• setting values and standards for behavior
• identifying and reinforcing beliefs
• honoring or beseeching the aid of a deity, an
  ancestral spirit, or an animal spirit.