In this chapter, students will learn:

• reasons for the development of supernatural belief systems.
• the earliest evidence is for supernatural beliefs.
• what functions religious belief serves in society.
• about the roles of deities, ancestor spirits, and spirits of nature.
• about the different roles that religious practitioners play in society.
• how oppressed peoples resist the imposition of a new set of beliefs.
• about the intersections of religious beliefs and other forms of cultural expression.

Introduction
Religion is based on symbols, which play important roles within the social group and for individuals.

Defining Religion
Anthropologists examine a supernatural belief system for the part it plays in society and for practitioners. For instance, anthropologists trace the earliest religious beliefs to sites in which the dead are deliberately buried. The reasons for these belief systems involve creating community, instilling values, renewing faith, providing reasons, and solving problems.

Sacred Roles
Worship occurs in many forms, including the veneration of deities, ancestors, or spirits in nature. The form of belief reflects a group’s social organization.

Religious Practitioners
Priests or priestesses and shamans practice supernatural ritual within a society.

Religious Resistance
Launching a religious revitalization movement is one way in which a subordinate society can resist the imposition of an external belief system, such as in a colonial encounter.

Supernatural Beliefs and Cultural Expression
Supernatural belief systems are integrated into many forms of cultural expression. Art, body modification, and healing are some of these forms of expression.

1. What does it mean to say that human culture is founded on symbolic systems?

2. How and why do anthropologists think the earliest religions developed?

3. What kinds of political systems tend to correlate with the veneration of deities, ancestors, and spirits in nature?

4. What are the functions of religious belief in society, both on an individual and social level?

5. What are some differences between the roles of priests and shamans?

6. What are the goals of a revitalization movement?

7. How do religion and cultural expression overlap?

1. Use the five functions of religion stated above to describe the functions of your own belief system. If you do not subscribe to a formal religion, then describe your system of morals and values.

2. What are some differences between scientific and spiritual systems of healing? What are some similarities?

3. Have you personally undergone a medical treatment that relied on traditional knowledge of medicine? How was the experience different from Western scientific medical treatments?

ancestor veneration worship of one’s ancestors

ancestral spirits the essence of one’s family ancestors who have remained in contact with the mortal world

animatism the belief that spiritual forces inhabit natural objects

animism the belief that spiritual beings inhabit natural objects

BCE “Before the Common Era,” a secular calendar notation equal to BC

cargo cult a religious revitalization movement in Melanesia that uses ritual to seek help and material wealth

cultural materialism a framework for understanding society that is directly related to whatever adaptations are necessary to survive in its environment

deities gods and goddesses

divination the art of reading the future

emic an insider’s view; the perspective of the subject

etic an outsider’s view; an objective explanation

Ghost Dance a religious revitalization movement, started among the Northern Paiute, that used a five-day circle dance to seek help from the supernatural realm

gods and goddesses distant and powerful supernatural beings

ideology refers to beliefs and values, including religion

imitative magic a form of magic in which a practitioner creates something to represent real life, then manipulates it in a way that imitates the desired effect; the magical idea that like produces like

Islamophobia fear of and prejudice toward people perceived to be of the Islamic faith (Muslims)

magic the use of powers to contact and control supernatural forces or beings

metaphor a comparison to something as a way to suggest a similarity

monotheism a religious belief system worshipping a single god or goddess

myth a sacred story that explains the origins of the world or people in it

pantheon a set of gods and goddesses in a religious belief system

petroglyph inscription on stone

pictograph painting on stone

polytheistic describes a religious belief system in which multiple gods and goddesses are worshipped

priest (priestess) a full-time religious practitioner

religion a set of beliefs and behaviors pertaining to supernatural forces or beings that transcend the observable world

religious revitalization movement a process by which an oppressed group seeks supernatural aid through the creation of new ritual behaviors

rites of passage rituals marking life’s important transitions from one social or biological role to another

ritual a symbolic practice that is ordered and regularly repeated

September 11th in 2001, the day on which a group of extremists affiliated with a group known as al-Qaeda hijacked four planes in the United States; under the direction of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, these coordinated attacks killed thousands of Americans in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC

shaman a part-time religious practitioner

spirits of nature unobservable beings and forces that inhabit the natural world

supernatural describes those aspects of life that are outside a scientific understanding and that we cannot measure or test; religious

supernatural beings personified or embodied beings, such as deities or spirits, that exist beyond the observable world

supernatural forces disembodied powers, such as luck, that exist beyond the observable world

syncretism a synthesis of religious belief systems

trance an altered state of consciousness with diminished activity and lack of memory recall

xenophobia the fear of foreigners, or people outside of one's nation

Ember, C.R., & Ember, M. (2004). Encyclopedia of Medical Anthropology: Health and illness in the world’s cultures‬. New York: Springer Science and Business Media.

Harris, M. (1985). India’s Sacred Cow. In Good to Eat: Riddles of Food and Culture. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.

Geertz, C. (1973). Religion as a Cultural System. In The Interpretation of Cultures. New York, NY: Basic Books.

Gmelch, G. (1978). Baseball Magic. Human Nature 1(8):32-40.

Klass, M. (1995). Ordered Universes: Approaches to the Anthropology of Religion. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Kopenawa, D. & Albert, B. (2013). The Falling Sky: Words of a Yanomami Shaman. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Warms, R., Garber, J. & McGee, R.J. (2009). Sacred Realms: Readings in the Anthropology of Religion (2^nd edition). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Religion-Centered Ethnographies

Brown, K.M. (2001). Mama Lola: A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn. Oakland, CA: University of California Press.

Fadiman, A. (2012). The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures. New York, NY: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux.

Luhrmann, T. (1989). Persuasions of the Witch's Craft: Ritual Magic in Modem Culture. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Stoller, P. & Oakes, C. (1987). In Sorcery’s Shadow: A Memoir of Apprenticeship Among the Songhay of Niger. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Academia.edu – Anthropology of Shamanism
academia.edu/Documents/in/Anthropology_of_Shamanism

Cave Art of Chauvet
culture.gouv.fr/fr/arcnat/chauvet/en

Cave Art of Lascaux
lascaux.culture.fr

Cultural Anthropology – Ritual and Religion (open access wikibook)
en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cultural_Anthropology/Ritual_and_Religion

Religion and Magic Tutorial (Dennis O’Neill, Palomar College)
anthro.palomar.edu/religion/default.htm

Religious Tolerance (broad listing of religious belief systems)
religioustolerance.org

Royal Anthropological Institute – Discover Anthropology Religion Page
discoveranthropology.org.uk/about-anthropology/specialist-areas/anthropology-of-religion.html

Society for the Anthropology of Religion (SAR)
aaanet.org/sections/sar

1. What evidence do we have for the earliest religious systems?

2. How do religious systems create community?

3. How do religious systems renew faith?

4. How do religious systems provide explanations for life’s events?

5. What are the differences between a supernatural being and a supernatural force?

6. What are the differences between animism and animatism?

7. What are the differences between a priest and a shaman?

8. What is the connection between religion and art?

9. What is the connection between religion and medicine?

10. What is the connection between religion and body art?

Answers

1. Answers should discuss how people understand and recognize the earliest examples of a religious belief system. This should include the following:

• The earliest evidence for religion is linked to burial sites.
• The idea of a burial is an early marker of culture and community.
• The choice to bury or the preparing of the body of a deceased community member is radically different from simply leaving them and moving away.
• Burials may have represented a belief that what happens to a person’s body after death is important, which signifies a belief in some form of afterlife.

See page 328 of your text.

2. Your answer should discuss how religious systems create community and provide examples. They should include the following:

• Ceremonies or rituals that are shared or practiced in public can make individuals feel support from the group.
• Rites of passage can be examples of community recognition of the transcendence from one life stage to another. They simultaneously play a religious and a social role.

See page 331 of your text.

3. Your answer should discuss how religious systems renew faith and provide examples. This should include the following:

• The regular repetition of rituals can elevate the mood of participants.
• The generally use positive practices such as song, clapping, or dance.
• Participation in dangerous activities can also be used to renew faith.
• The survival of dangerous activities can be an example of the acceptance of the participant by a supernatural force or being.

See page 333 of your text.

4. Your answer should discuss how religious systems provide explanations for life’s events and provide examples. This should include the following:

• Humans desire to understand why we do certain things, and religious traditions provide reasons.
• These can include taboos (e.g., food restrictions) or specific practices that must be conducted in certain times/places.
• Religious systems often use the concept of predetermination to explain bad or negative events

See page 333 of your text.

5. Your answer should demonstrate an understanding of both concepts and should include examples. Your answer should include the following:

• Supernatural beings are personified or embodied gods, demons, spirits, or ghosts (i.e., there is a specific being that can be referred to).
• Supernatural forces are disembodied powers that exist in the world. They do not have specific bodies or identities, but can still be manipulated or controlled.

See page 335 of your text.

6. Your answer should demonstrate an understanding of both concepts and that they are both spirits of nature. Your answer should include examples. These can include the following:

• Animism is the belief that spirit beings can inhabit natural objects. These objects can often be understood to be that spirit (e.g., the Hawaiian goddess Pele is physically embodied within the volcano Kilauea).
• Animatism is the belief that supernatural forces reside in everyday things. These forces are not understood as physical beings and are impersonal.

See pages 338-339 of your text.

7. Your answer should demonstrate that you understand the differences between the two and the broader context of these differences. These could include the following:

• Priests are full-time religious practitioners who are often found in societies with a social hierarchy that can support individuals as religious specialists. These are often agricultural societies.
• Shamans are part-time religious practitioners who are often identified through a life experience. These are most often found in egalitarian societies, such as foragers.

See page 340 of your text.

8. Your answer should demonstrate that you understand that there is a connection between religion and art and you should be able to provide examples of how they are connected. Art and religious practices emerged around the same point in human history. Early art forms often represent a visual image to try to connect with the supernatural realm. This is often referred to as magic. Some examples can include the following:

• Pictographs and petroglyphs of geometric designs that are interpreted as having religious significance (e.g., Lascaux caves).
• The depiction of animals in advance of a hunt to ensure success (imitative magic).

See pages 328-329 of your text.

9. Your answer should demonstrate that you understand that there is a connection between religion and medicine and you should be able to provide examples of how they are connected. As medical issues can often be difficult to explain, supernatural forces or beings can be invoked as part of the healing process. People’s worldviews are often intertwined with medicines and healing. Some examples can include the following

• The use of trance to heal among the Ju/’hoansi.
• The performance of sandpainting ceremonies by Diné healers to cure diseases.

See pages 339-340 of your text.

10. Your answer should demonstrate that you understand that there is a connection between religion and body art and you should be able to provide examples of how they are connected. Some examples can include the following:

• The physical manipulation of a body can demonstrate physical devotion.
• The marking of the body can be used to harness healing forces and magic.
• Ötzi the Ice Man had numerous tattoos that were likely for healing purposes.
• Body art can also be used as a social practice.

See pages 344-346 of your text.

1. An emic perspective is

• a) a perspective from someone outside a group.
• b) a perspective from someone inside a group.
• c) a perspective that compares two groups.
• d) a perspective that removes the divide between two or more groups.

2. What is a myth?

• a) A story that explains events and is outside of recorded history.
• b) A story that names deities and is enacted by a shaman.
• c) A story that instills a set of moral values and is regularly recited from a spiritual text.
• d) A story that is a rite of passage and is sung by a community.

3. The purpose of stories that illustrate the consequences of social transgressions is to

• a) instill moral values.
• b) honor the ancestors.
• c) define social insiders and outsiders.
• d) empower the religious leaders.

4. A priest is to a shaman as a

• a) city is to a county.
• b) dog is to a wolf.
• c) professor is to a teaching assistant.
• d) standing army is to army reserves

5. Syncretism refers to

• a) the synthesis of religious belief systems.
• b) the replacement of a religious belief system.
• c) the revitalization of a former belief system.
• d) the rejection of a formal belief system.

6. The term magic refers to

• a) the regular repetition of rites that are believed to influence the real world.
• b) the use of deceptive practices/actions to hold power over a group of people.
• c) the use of powers to contact/control supernatural forces/beings.
• d) the amount of influence a religious practitioner has on their own community.

7. Why is it believed that Ötzi the Ice Man’s tattoos were a form of healing magic?

• a) They were located on parts of his body that had various ailments.
• b) Their complexity showed a level of care and concern that is usually only present in medical situations.
• c) Another person had to have placed them on his body for him.
• d) They most often depicted a snake, which is an almost universal symbol of a healer.

8. What is cultural materialism approach?

• a) The study of how external pressures of the environment dictates cultural practices.
• b) The study of how internal pressures create unique belief systems.
• c) The study of how artifcats and ecofacts were used by the peoples of the past.
• d) The study of medicines and healing techniques used by non-humans.

9. Which of the following is an animatistic belief? Belief in

• a. a personified god, demon, spirit, or ghost.
• b. a disembodied power that exists in the world.
• c. a physical feature that is embodied by a spirit.
• d. a religious practitioner who controls events through magic.

Answers

1. b

Feedback: An emic perspective is one from inside a group and is often contrasted to an etic, or outsider’s, perspective.

See page 327 and Glossary.

2. a

Feedback: A myth is a story that explains events, such as the creation of the world, and is outside the recorded histories.

See page 327.

3. a

Feedback: Stories that outline moral behavior and the consequences of transgressions are used to instill a set of moral values.

See page 331.

4. ​d

Feedback: A priest is a full-time religious practitioner, whereas a shaman is a part-time religious practitioner.

See page 340.

5. a

Feedback: Syncretism refers to the incorporation of aspects of one belief system into another.

See page 341.

6. c

Feedback: Magic refers to the use of powers to contact and control supernatural forces or beings.

See page 329.

7. a

Feedback: The location of the tattoos on parts of his body that were afflicted with ailments suggests that they were a form of healing magic. The fact that they were applied by another person could suggest that the other person was a healer, but does not in itself suggest the tattoos’ purposes.

See page 344.

8. b

Feedback: Medical anthropology is the subset of anthropology that examines people’s ideas about illness, healing, and the body, using a holistic view.

See page 312.

9. b

Feedback: Animatism is a belief that disembodied and impersonal powers exist in the world, such as “luck.”

See page 338.