Short notes
Religion
5. Religion
Definition
• Refers to intensity of religious belief, behaviour, and practice
Anthropological Approaches To The Study Of Religion
Definition
Refers to the practice of alternating between two or more languages or language varieties within a single conversation or discourse.
Thinkers
- A.R. Radcliffe-Brown — structural-functionalism: institutions function like organs to maintain social structure.
- E.B. Tylor — culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom; unilinear evolution and survivals.
Monotheism And Polytheism
Definition
Theological → Metaphysical → Scientific stage
Example / case study
- Mana, Bong (Indian Ho and Oraon tribes).
Thinkers
- E.B. Tylor — culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom; unilinear evolution and survivals.
Sacred And Profane
Definition
Violation leads to ostracism or punishment.
Myths And Rituals
Definition
Theological → Metaphysical → Scientific stage
Thinkers
- Bronislaw Malinowski — participant observation; culture exists to satisfy biological and psychological needs.
Forms Of Religion In Tribal And Peasant Societies
Definition
Holistic study of human language in relation to society, culture, and identity
Animism
Definition
No writing tradition, industrial arts, or advanced skills.
Example / case study
- Medieval Christianity Bogomils (Devil was seen as fallen angel).
- Mana, Bong (Indian Ho and Oraon tribes).
Thinkers
- Applied Anthro- Birhor Action Research Project – L.P. Vidyarthi
- (E. B. Tylor)(T: Tiles me bhi soul/sprit hota to so kaam kro mistri sahab)
- Criticised Tylor for over-intellectualising early humans.
Animatism
Definition
Holistic study of human language in relation to society, culture, and identity
Example / case study
- Mana, Bong (Indian Ho and Oraon tribes).
Thinkers
- (E. B. Tylor)(T: Tiles me bhi soul/sprit hota to so kaam kro mistri sahab)
Fetishism
Definition
Theological → Metaphysical → Scientific stage
Thinkers
- E.B. Tylor — culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom; unilinear evolution and survivals.
- Criticised Tylor for over-intellectualising early humans.
Naturism
Definition
Totem is the symbol of society; sacredness comes from collective effervescence.
Thinkers
- Claude Lévi-Strauss:( Jeans me hamesha two extreme side hota)
Totemism
Definition
Most basic institutions present in almost all societies
Example / case study
- Sons were expelled → developed envy and hostility.
Thinkers
- Bronislaw Malinowski — participant observation; culture exists to satisfy biological and psychological needs.
Religion
Definition
• Refers to intensity of religious belief, behaviour, and practice
Thinkers
- S.C. Roy (1871–1942) – First Indian Ethnographer
Magic
Definition
Compassionate Social Care: Fossil remains like the "Old Man of La Chapelle" show that Neanderthals provided compassionate care for the elderly and disabled. This individual had severe arthritis and had lost most of his teeth, yet survived long enough to reach old age, indicating that the group supported him despite his inability to forage or hunt for himself.
Thinkers
- James George Frazer, a prominent figure in the Classical Evolutionism school, proposed a unilinear model of intellectual progress that significantly influenced early anthropological thought. He presented a significant evolutionary interpretation of religion in his classic work The Golden Bough. Frazer proposed that human intellectual development passed through three successive stages—magic, religion, and science. Although influential, his theory has been widely criticized by later anthropologists.
- Frazer’s most influential contribution, detailed in his seminal work The Golden Bough (1890), focuses on the intellectual evolution of the human psyche through three distinct, sequential stages: Magic, Religion, and Science.: The Three-Stage Evolutionary Model.
- The Religious Stage: Frazer posited that religion was born from magical failure. When magic failed to produce desired results, humans shifted from trying to control nature to a state of submissiveness, attempting to please supernatural powers through prayer and sacrifice.
- The Scientific Stage: This represents the final transition to empirical observation, objective cause-and-effect patterns, and structural rationality, which Frazer viewed as the pinnacle of human thought.: Critical Drawbacks of Frazer’s Theory.
- Conjectural History: Like other classical evolutionists, Frazer was an “armchair ethnologist,” relying on speculative deductions rather than systematic, empirical fieldwork.
Science Distinguished
Definition
Theological → Metaphysical → Scientific stage
Thinkers
- E.B. Tylor — culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom; unilinear evolution and survivals.
Magico-Religious Functionaries
Definition
Totemism is a magico-religious belief; clan believes in descent from and protection by totem.
Thinkers
- Claude Lévi-Strauss:( Jeans me hamesha two extreme side hota)
Priest
Definition
Studied Parha and Munda-Manki system (political institutions of Oraon & Munda tribes).
Example / case study
- Leadership based on generosity, age, skills.
Shaman
Definition
Theological → Metaphysical → Scientific stage
Thinkers
- Philosophy for NEFA (1957) – Verrier Elwin
- Approach: Vidyarthi’s + K.N. Sahay’s model (forces of change).
- E.B. Tylor — culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom; unilinear evolution and survivals.
Medicine Man
Definition
Shows holistic worldview of tribes.
Example / case study
- Religion has not declined, but changed form.
- David Lyon - “Jesus in Disneyland” (T: S. Lyon ka religion disneyland me bhi, majak bna diya hai ye log)
- Religion becomes a commodity (cafeteria approach).
Sorcerer
Definition
Holistic study of human language in relation to society, culture, and identity
Witch
Definition
ETIC (Outsider’s Scientific Perspective)
Thinkers
- • Lewis Henry Morgan – Kinship Classification