Anthropology 326 Jonathan Andelson
Fall 2002 HHH 104, x3139
MWF 11-11:50 Goodnow 109 andelson@grinnell.edu
ANTHROPOLOGY OF RELIGION
The anthropological study of religion is a fascinating part of the discipline to which, sooner or later, nearly every eminent anthropologist has turned. Perhaps this is because religion is one of humankind's most distinctive attributes, if not the most distinctive: so far as we know, no other species has religion. Or perhaps it is because the anthropological study of religion raises so many difficult questions about social relations, the cosmos, human nature, diversity, and the human mind.
In addition to being intellectually engaging, the anthropological study of religion is also highly problematic, in that of necessity it involves an attempt to understand the belief systems of others through the lens of one’s own -- the anthropological lens -- which, whatever else it may involve, has usually meant a global, comparative, and relativistic perspective. This strikes many anthropologists as more problematic than turning the anthropological lens onto subsistence practices, economic exchange, or political systems. What, after all, are the implications of trying to study one belief system from the perspective of another? This intellectual conundrum circles around such loaded concepts as faith, dogma, truth, belief, science, and relativism.
This course must begin with the premise that religion can profitably be studied cross-culturally. Otherwise there would be no course. If you are fundamentally bothered by the attempt to understand a belief system not your own, this is not the course for you. In addition, two “operating principles” are needed to get us under way: (1) that all belief systems, “religious” or not, are worthy of consideration, be they new or old, or from literate or non-literate cultures, and (2) that while the truthfulness of the non-empirical propositions of various religions cannot be ascertained through anthropological study, whereas the meaningfulness of those beliefs to those who hold them, and the contribution that a belief system makes to a total way of life, can.
I have chosen to structure the course this semester around what anthropologists often regard as the major components of religion: alternate reality, symbolism and cosmology, myth, ritual, and religion’s relationship to environmental adaptation and to social organization. I have selected from among the many possible texts several that seem to me to adopt provocative approaches to the subject. Some were published more than a few years ago, while others are quite recent.
Since this is an anthropology course, less attention will be paid to the so-called “major religions” emphasized in the Religious Studies Department than to what I shall refer to as “local religions” (a term I much prefer to the logical sequitur, “minor religions”). The basic features, functions, and processes of religion, what Durkheim called its “elementary forms,” are perhaps more clearly revealed in local religions than in world religions, as are religion’s connections to other aspects of culture and to the development of a human way of life. At least we will be able to consider these claims. Furthermore, it should not be forgotten that local religions are not by virtue of that simple; a great deal of profound reflection and spirituality can accumulate in a local religion over millennia, and we might be able to learn from them -- perhaps as much as representatives of the major religions have sought to teach them.
In accordance with its numbering, the course presupposes some familiarity with anthropological theory. Those needing to review the basics are referred to Jerry Moore’s Visions of Culture or any other recent history of anthropology
TEXTS (all are sold through the bookstore, and most are on reserve in Burling)
Roger Keesing, Kwaio Religion: The Living and the Dead in a Solomon Island Society. Columbia University Press (1982)
Felicitas D. Goodman, Ecstasy, Ritual, and Alternate Reality: Religion in a Pluralistic World. Indiana University Press (1988)
Mary Douglas, Natural Symbols: Explorations in Cosmology. Routledge (1996 ed.) Roy A. Rappaport, Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity. Cambridge U. (1999)
Curtiss Hoffman, The Seven Story Tower. Perseus Publishing (1999)
Ernest Gellner, Postmodernism, Reason and Religion. Routledge (1992)
A packet of reserve readings (in Goodnow 304 and ARH 3XX)
REQUIREMENTS
1. several short oral and written “commentaries” on specific readings (5 points each)
2. three essays on general issues (approximately 5 pages) (15 points each), 9/17, 10/19, 11/28
3. major research paper on a topic involving local religion(s) and theory (30 points)
4. active participation in class discussion, exchanges, presentations (10 points)
SYNOPTIC SYLLABUS
I. Introduction
II. Some Early Western Accounts of Local Religions
III. A Survey of Influential Theories of Religion in the History of Anthropology to 1970
A. 19th Century
B. 20th Century
IV. Case Study: Kwaio Religion
V. A Cross-cultural “Unified Field Theory” of Religion
VI. Thematic Theoretical Studies
A. Symbols and Cosmology
B. Ritual
C. Myth
VII. Our Ideological Options: A Philosophical Overview
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
In class essay on classic anthropological views of religion, due Friday, 9/20 (20%)
Out of class essay on Goodman and the Kwaio, due Monday, 10/14 (20%)
Research paper (15-20 pages), due Monday, December 16 (40%)
Discussion leading (10%)
Class participation (10%)
ASSIGNMENTS
date topic and readings
I. INTRODUCTION
8/30 Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Religion
II. SOME EARLY WESTERN ACCOUNTS OF LOCAL RELIGIONS (on “reserve” in Goodnow 304, Student Project Room, and in ARH 3XX, Classics Seminar Room)
9/2 Ferdinand Columbus, “Of Some Things That They Saw On the Island of Espanola, and of the Customs, Ceremonies, and Religion of the Indians” [ca1510]
Bishop William Ellis, “The Tabu,” Polynesian Researches [1839]
Henry Callaway, “Divining By Familiar Spirits Among the Amazulu” [1870]
Bishop R.H. Codrington, “Mana,” The Melanesians [1891]
III. SURVEY OF INFLUENTIAL THEORIES ABOUT RELIGION IN THE HISTORY OF ANTHROPOLOGY TO 1970 (on reserve)
A. Late Nineteenth/Early Twentieth Centuryé
9/4 E.B. Tylor, “Animism” (1871)
Max Müller, “The Infinite in Nature, in Man, and in the Self” (1889)
9/6 R.R. Marett, “The Conception of Mana” (1909)
Emile Durkheim, “The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life” (1912)
9/9 Sir James G. Frazer, Chapter 4 (“Magic and Religion”) of The Golden Bough (1912 ed.)
Lucien Lévy-Bruhl, Introduction and Chapter 1 of How Natives Think (1910 [1926 Eng]
B. Mid-Twentieth Century
9/11 Bronislaw Malinowski, “The Role of Magic and Religion” (1931)
A.R. Radcliffe-Brown, “Taboo” (1939)
9/13 Claude Lévi-Strauss, “The Structural Study of Myth” (1955)
9/16 Clifford Geertz, “Religion as a Cultural System” (1965)
9/18 Mary Douglas, “The Abominations of Leviticus” (1966)
Victor Turner, “Betwixt and Between: The Liminal Period in Rites de Passage” (1964)
9/20 In-class Essay Exam on Classic Anthropological Views of Religion
IV. CASE STUDY: KWAIO RELIGION
Roger Keesing’s analysis of religion in a Solomon Island society, published in 1982, is informed by the theoretical perspectives we have considered to this point. It is a masterful case study – detailed, sensitive, and comprehensive.
9/23 Introduction, Chapters 1, 2, and 3
9/25 Chapters 4, 5, and 6
9/27 Chapters 7, 8, and 9
9/30 Chapters 10, 11, and 12
10/2 Chapters 13, 14, 15, and Conclusion
V. A CROSS-CULTURAL “UNIFIED FIELD THEORY” OF RELIGION
Felicitas Goodman’s ambitious comparative study of religion is unique in its systematic breadth and its synthesis of information and insights from anthropology, folklore, psychology, linguistics, evolution, and ecology. How well does she achieve her aim?
10/4 Introduction, Chapters 1, 2, and 3
10/7 Chapter 4
10/9 Chapters 5, 6, and 7 (to p.120)
10/11 Chapter 7 (finish), 8, 9, and Conclusion
10/14 Out of Class Essay Due
How well does Goodman’s model apply to the Kwaio?
VI. THEMATIC THEORETICAL STUDIES
A. Symbols and Cosmology
Mary Douglas possesses one of the most fertile minds in anthropology. In her book Natural Symbols she puts forward an original, integrated theory of religious symbols and cosmological order, and – not surprising, since Douglas is a British social anthropologist – she also relates them to the social order.
10/16 Preface, Chapters 1 and 2
10/18 Chapters 3, 4, and 5
10/19-10/27 Fall Recess: Have a good break!
10/28 Chapters 6, 7, and 8
10/30 Chapters 9, 10, and 11
B. Ritual
One reviewer considered Roy Rappaport’s Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity, published posthumously at the end of the 20th century, the most original and significant anthropologically informed study of religion since Durkheim’s The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, which appeared at the century’s beginning. This will be the most demanding book of the semester, but well worth the effort.
11/1 Chapters 1 and 2
11/4 Chapters 3 and 4
11/6 Chapters 5 and 6
11/8 Chapters 7 and 8
11/11 Chapters 9 and 10
11/13 Chapters 11 and 12
11/15 Chapters 13 and 14
C. Myth
Curtiss Hoffmann, author of The Seven Story Tower, is not a “famous” anthropologist, like the other authors we have read, but his recent study of myth and its role in human life is well-grounded and provocative. Will the book make him famous?
11/18 Foreword, Preface, Chapters 1, 2, and 3
11/20 Chapters 4 and 5
11/22 Chapters 6 and 7
11/25 Chapters 8 and 9
11/26 Chapter 10
11/28-12/1 Thanksgiving Recess: Eat Well and Consider the Ritual
VI. OUR IDEOLOGICAL OPTIONS: A PHILOSOPHICAL OVERVIEW
What are the major ideological options open to modern society, and where does religion stand among them? In Postmodernism, Reason, and Religion, Ernest Gellner reviews what he considers the three big ones and offers his assessment of them. Gellner, recently deceased, was a philosopher-cum-anthropologist who was known for not pulling his intellectual punches. He might make you mad, but I trust he will also make you think. An additional appeal of the book at this time is that Gellner discusses Islamic fundamentalism.
12/2 Pages vii to 40
12/4 Pages 40 to 75
12/6 Pages 75 to 96
12/9 Final discussion
12/11 & 12/13 No class: work on your papers!