AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL APPROACH TO RELIGION & RITUAL
DEFINITIONS
Religion - belief in the supernatural
– all that which is non-ordinary, mysterious, unexplainable, in the extra-ordinary realm outside (but believed to impinge upon) the observable world. Includes distinction between the sacred (common moral values and collective beliefs) and profane (perceived reality). In the broadest sense includes belief in supernatural beings, forces and supernatural power, as well as the symbolic expression of feelings and rituals performed both individually and in groups for the purpose of positively influencing supernatural powers (distinct from “world view” – serves to codify particular view)
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functions to define and pattern the unknown in order to make it predictable and thus cope with it (explain the way the world is and the appropriate stance to take-validates particular way of feeling, acting and being in the world)
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a human response to four universal questions o What is the nature of humans (nature/culture & male/female)? o What is the nature of the universe? o What is the relationship between humans and the universe? o What is the nature of death?
World view – a people’s basic assumption about the kind of world they live in, what forces or entities control it, and what the place of humans is;
 way of making sense of one’s lived experiences;
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foundation of world view lies in key metaphors employed o societal metaphor (model of the world is the social order —universe run by personified beings) o organic metaphor (applies image of the body to social structures and institutions) o capitalism metaphor (key tenet is that land, labor, and wealth are commodities
– goods produced not for use but for sale; the world is a market and everything within it has, or should have, its price
Ideology – those products of consciousness – morality, religion, metaphysics – that purport to explain to people who they are and to justify to them the kind of lives they lead; system of symbols, models of and for reality defining how the world is and how it should be
Myth
– stories whose truth seems self-evident because they do such a good of integrating our personal experiences with a wider set of assumptions about the way society, or the world in general, must operate; describe the “oughts” of the world (that which is desirable, undesirable and mediation between the two)
Ritual – how symbolic objects are used, set up and manipulated in religious observances; rites of passage (mark transition/change in place, condition, social position, or age; involves 3 stages of separation, liminality and incorporation); rites of intensification
(reinforce basic values/world view of society); also note questions used to analyze ritual

events (space/objects/timing etc.) as well as “modes of ritual sensibility” (riitualization, decorum, ceremony, liturgy, magic & celebration).
VARIATION IN RELIGIOUS BELIEF SYSTEMS – SHAMANISM, MAGIC, & RELIGION
DEFINITIONS
Animatism – belief in an impersonal all pervading supernatural force (“mana”, luck), openended without boundaries
Animism – belief in a personal supernatural force (spirits), 4 categories: 1) human spirit/soul (role of dreams, Shuar-arutam, ghosts, spiritual “teachers” in non-ordinary reality etc.); 2) animal spirits
(can do things humans can’t; spiritual “allies” – “power animals” – that serve as guides for action; includes “shape-shifters” – humans who merge w/ spirit allies); 3) plant spirits (hallucinogens – ebene, coca, ayahuasca; totems; medicinal plants); 4) spirits of inanimate objects (“Pachamama”, “Gaia”, “huacas”, spirits of place, the elements--earth/rocks/mountains, wind, water, fire). Serves as a key to understanding the shamanic paradigm – the belief that the spiritual force that all humans experience is ambient, of the world, cosmos and everything in it; birth, death, illustrate capacity of spirit to move thru material forms; shamans mediate between worlds and are thus liminal.
Theism
– Monotheism/Polytheism – belief in personified supernatural Beings – Gods, ancestor worship; major religions though monotheistic in form may in actuality be more polytheistic in practice particularly when adopted by indigenous cultures – significance of syncretism .
Magico-Religious Continuum: Magic (Gods/Spirits can be controlled/manipulated) – shaman as part-time religious specialist w/ a clientele (uses imitative and contagious forms of magic to bring about the well being of the individual/community as well as protect against perceived enemies & uses ecstatic state to access NOR); is often an achieved status, obtaining powers (expressed in songs, allies, sacred objects) via vision quest; may be viewed as potential witches or sorcerers. Religion (All powerful/omnipotent God to be petitioned, not manipulated) – priest as full-time specialist with a congregation seeks to influence supernatural via petition and prayer, supplication, functions as an intermediary; is part of an organized church; status often hereditary and based upon knowledge of ritual; forum for activity thru public masses/celebrations with calendrical sequence; major form of social control in hierarchical stratified societies;
Structure and Anti-Structure – Victor Turner’s Analysis of the Ritual Process
Structure – organization of statuses, roles & norms; important features include: hierarchy, classification, differentiation; stability (source of continuity for society)
Anti-Structure – reverse of structure, segment of the world within which statuses, roles and norms do not exist (source of potential change); is found outside structure (invisible world of spirits, includes attribution of special powers to people or groups beyond the cultural and social boundaries of the community —e.g., shamans); between structural categories (period of transition from one status to another —2 nd stage in rites of passage – marked by liminality, being betwixt and between, individual is stripped of status markers, all those in same state being bonded by sense of togetherness —communitas, may be viewed as having sacred/holy qualities; also describes those who combine attributes of distinct categories – e.g. transsexuals); at the bottom of the structure ( in complex

hierarchical societies those at the bottom lack power, property, prestige and are seen as having anti-structural properties
As Bill Brunton, an anthropologist and research associate with the Foundation of
Shamanic Studies reminded us in a recent gathering of FSS Council members (January
2002), culture provides the guidelines that shape the way in which we think about ourselves and the world. These cultural constructions of reality are framed in terms of unwritten and assumed axioms that are at once a powerful adaptive tool and a powerful prison that can ensnare us in maladaptive patterns of the past. Over the years, beginning back in the 1970's with members of the Red Power Movement, he has conducted a series of interviews with Native American Elders and Medicine People to describe what they saw was necessary to save the world from impending doom. They defined ten cultural axioms that contrast the Native American worldview with that of the dominant Euro-American worldview. It is also clear that if we look at the work of John Perkins and the Dream
Change Coalition as well as others, the cultural axioms drawn from indigenous peoples of
North America parallel those found among indigenous people in South America. As
Medicine People from many traditions are now saying -- the Eagle has joined with the
Condor and it is now time to share this indigenous wisdom with the rest of the world.
These axioms are as follows:
Native American vs. European American cultural axioms about the nature of reality:
1. NA: the Circle - the cyclical round of the seasons - is the guiding metaphor for life that has no beginning or ending, just the ebb and flow of nature, the waxing and waning of the moon.
EuA: the Line - linear time with a beginning and an ending, cause and effect is the guiding metaphor for life.
2. NA: Emphasis on connection -- the interconnectedness of all life "mitak oyasin" (all my relations)
EuA: Emphasis on separation -- distinctions made between Good and Evil, placing things/events/experiences into separate distinct categories with clear boundaries and unequal status, separation of mind/body with devaluation of latter
3. NA: Stewardship and responsibility - territory wherein you are responsible, working with and contributing back to Nature; recognizing important principle of reciprocity, exemplified in rituals of gratitude and thanksgiving honoring gifts of Mother Earth for all that she gives on an everyday basis, in the food, water, air -- all the elements that sustain us.
EuA: Focus on ownership, commodities - materialism, the "McDonaldization" of society, concept of "mine vs. yours", defining everything, even intangibles, in material terms -- "love is giving her a diamond ring, not an intangible emotion"
4. NA: Cooperation with Nature, working with her on her own terms, as a living animate force - concept of Mother Nature as Gaia.
EuA: Control and Dominion over Nature/environment as something inanimate
5. NA: Persistent and diligent watchfulness - paying attention to the subtle signs given by the universe as guides for making right choices of action

EuA: Cramming as much information in as possible, taking it all in as sound bites, running as fast and hard as possible, focus on immediate results vs. process unfolding
6. NA: Valuing of imagination, dreams, and intuition, right brain holistic and feeling -- vision quest of Native youths to find one's guardian spirit and purpose of life (one's sacred contract)
EuA: Valuing of rational, objective reality, reasoning abilities -- left brain analysis
7. NA: Recognition of a living conscious animistic world - the consciousness of fire, air, earth (rocks) and water -- all living conscious spirits of nature and the elements
EuA: Focus on a dead, inanimate, materialistic world that can be exploited at will without any regard for the consequences of one's actions
8. NA: Reciprocity in exchange in all relations, focus on mutual gift giving, finding winwin solutions (power with/empowerment, synergic power - working together we can find creative solutions we would not discover on our own)
EuA: Focus on personal gain, a "dog eat dog" competitive world of winners and losers
(power over, directive power, those defined as lesser than have to have decisions made for them, can't be trusted to do it on their own)
9. NA: Attribute success to the guidance of a higher external benevolent force/power
EuA: Credit for success/ blame for failure all due to hard work/ of the Self, all based on individual efforts, with no help from any Divine source
10. NA: Personal experience, the subjectiveness of reality is valued and honored
EuA: Vicarious experience at a distance - objective knowledge -learning through books, TV, etc. is valued and honored, personal experience is too subjective