Anthropology 301
Dr. Judkins
Spring 2013
RELIGION, SOCIETY AND CULTURE
Objectives
The objectives of this course are to become familiar with examples of the enduring ethnographic literature on religion, and to consider the prominent theories of the anthropological description and analysis of religion.
Texts
Eliade, Mircea. The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion. Harcourt
Evans-Pritchard, Sir E. E. Theories of Primitive Religion. [TOPR] Oxford UP
Evans-Pritchard, Sir E. E. Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande. Oxford UP
Frazer, Sir James. The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion. Wadsworth
Geertz, Clifford. The Religion of Java. U of Chicago Press
Ortiz, Alfonso. The Tewa World: Space, Time, Being and Becoming in a Pueblo Society,
U of Chicago Press
Speck, Frank. Midwinter Rites of the Cayuga Longhouse. U of Nebraska Press
Turner, V. W. The Forest of Symbols: Aspects of Ndembu Ritual. Cornell UP
Grading
Five (5) two-three page assigned topic response/review papers during semester (3/4 of grade)
Comprehensive Final Exam (1/4 of the grade).
Final Exam: Thursday, May 9, Noon - 3:00 PM.
Office Hours:
Sturges 15 T/Th 11:30-1:00 Wed by appt only 245-5433 judkins@geneseo.edu
COURSE OUTLINE, LECTURE, DISCUSSION TOPICS & READING SCHEDULE
WEEK 1 - (Jan 22, 24) Key Concepts and Theoretical Orientations
Ethnography: intellectually unique & substantive; defines the field of anthropology;
general background; specific origins in the work of Lewis Henry Morgan (and
Ely S. Parker), League of the Iroquois. 1851
Subsistence types: historic dominance of “adaptation” thesis vs. “developmental” and
“devolutionary” theses: 20th century thought over 19th century; function over
origins; systems over survivals
Religion <-- Society <-- Culture = paradigm of increasing depth & influence + feedback
Society = patterns of behavior Culture = patterns for behavior
Culture (meaningful complexes of shared, significant symbols;
culture = symbols = meaning):
“Culture is man’s adaptive dimension.” “Man is a culture-bearing animal.”
“A culture = a shared world of symbols.” “Culture archives human experience”
Ritual and Symbol (smallest units conveying meaning in a culture); VW Turner, E Leach
Cf. Melville. Moby Dick. “The Whiteness of The Whale,” chapter 42
http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=Mel2Mob.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=42&division=div1
Reading: VW Turner, “Muchona the Hornet,” in VW Turner, The Forest of Symbols
Reading: Evans-Pritchard, TOPR, Chapter I, “Introduction” (class discussion)
Suggested: Edmund Leach, “Introduction,” Political Systems of Highland Burma
- concepts of ritual and symbol in Social Anthropology
WEEK 2 - (Jan 29, 31) The Individual, Magic and Psychology as Explanation of Religion I
Reading: Wikipedia: “Theories of Religion” - a utilitarian, setting-the-stage overview;
(just a “quick & dirty,” baseline preview of the topic)
Reading: Evans-Pritchard, TOPR:
Chapter I, “Introduction”
Chapter II, “Psychological Theories”
Video: “Trance and Dance in Bali” Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson (1939/1952)
- Fear and psychology as common sense “explanations” vs. social anthropology
WEEK 3 - (Feb 5, 7) The Individual, Magic, and Psychology as Explanation of Religion II
Reading: Frazer, The Golden Bough, Chapts 1-10, 24-29, 38-50, 68, 69
WEEKS 4 & 5 - (Feb 12 - 21) Case Studies: Social Anthropology and Religion
The Sedna story: religious world view and religious institutions of the Eskimo/Inuit
Social Anthropology vs. “Pre-rational mentality of savages”
Reading: Evans-Pritchard, TOPR: Chapter III, “Sociological Theories”
Reading: Evans-Pritchard TOPR: Chapter IV, “Levy-Bruhl” - (Cf. Paul Radin)
Readomg” VW Turner, The Forest of Symbols, “A Ndembu Doctor in Practice”
(Chapt. 10)
Reading: Evans-Pritchard, Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande,
WEEK 6 - (Feb 26, 28) Tools for a Social Anthropological Understanding of Religion
Shamanism: Knud Rasmussen, Intellectual culture of the Iglulik Eskimos, Cf. Sedna
- Eskimo case-studies and the general concept of “shamanism”
Contributions of Arnold van Gennep (Rites of Passage) and Marcel Mauss (Prestation)
Reading: VW Turner, The Forest of Symbols, “Symbols in Ndembu Ritual” (Chapt 1)
“Betwixt and Between: the Liminal Period in Rites de Passage,” (Chapt 4) and
“Color Classification in Ndembu Ritual” (Chapt 3)
WEEKS 7 & 8 - (March 5-14) Case Study: Iroquois Religion
Myth Cycle; Medicine Societies & Shamanism; Revitalization
Reading: Frank Speck, Midwinter Rites of the Cayuga Longhouse
Video; “Oren Lyons: Faithkeeper: (Iroquois, with Bill Moyers, interviewer)
WEEK 9 - (March 26, 28) Case Studies: Pueblo Religion (Tewa & Hopi)
The Pueblo Emergence Myth as World View Summary for the Southwest
Readings: Alfonso Ortiz, The Tewa World
Reading: Hopi Emergence Myth, handout TBA
WEEKS 10 - 12 (April 2 - 18) Religion in Modern and Complex Societies I
Reading: Evans-Pritchard, TOPR, Chapter V, “Conclusion”
Reading: Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane
WEEK 11 - (April 9, 11) Guest Lectures and Videos
Lecture(s): The Enduring Magical Traditions of Western Culture
Alchemy / Hermetic Tradition / The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
Videos: “The Nuer” (Parts 1 - 3)
WEEKS 13 - 15 - (April 23 - May 7) Religion in Modern and Complex Societies II
Reading: Clifford Geertz, The Religion of Java
Reading: Clifford Geertz, “Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight”
Reading: Clifford Geertz, excerpts from Negara: The Theatre State in 19th Century Bali
Video: “The Three Worlds of Bali” (Cf. Hindu “layer” of Javanese religion)
Religion: its complex and systemic relations with social phenomena
Durhkheim: excerpt from The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
Video: “Ongka’s Big Moka: The Kawelka of Papua New Guinea” (1974)
Tylor, “Animism”
Frazer, The Golden Bough, extracts on “sympathetic magic”
The enduring ‘primitive mind” or ‘savage mind’ thesis
Video: “Dead Birds” (1964)
Reading: Evans-Pritchard, TOPR, Chapter IV, “Lévy-Bruhl” (class discussion)
Reading: Paul Radin, “Preface” to Primitive Man as a Philosopher
Marx, his “Ethnological Notebooks,” focused on the writings of Lewis Henry Morgan:
http://libcom.org/library/karl-marx-iroquois-franklin-rosemont
Video: “The Nuer” (1970)
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FINAL EXAM: Thursday, May 9, Noon - 3:00 PM