Symbolic Systems in Culture

Religious systems are along with language, the most obvious symbolic systems in culture. The definition of religion in anthropology must be broad enough to cover all of the varieties of religion that exist across cultures.It is strongly linked to political systems in that it reflects and supports the political system in which it is contained.

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A system of belief which explains the NATURE OF REALITY (worldview) and humanity's place within it. Religious systems also provide a set of guidelines for proper BEHAVIOR (how to be a good human being) consistent with this explanation.

Usually religion DOES involve belief in a SUPERNATURAL, but notice that in this definition it is absent.

Functions of Religion:

• Social Functions
• primary tool for education
• creates social cohesion
• means of social control
• Psychological Functions 
• relieves stress-provides answers
• answers questions about the unknown (philosophical questions answered)
• provides a "path" and thereby eliminates decision making (ethical questions answered)
• provides cathartic experiences

 FORMS OF RELIGION

• Supernatural
• major deities
• coercive power
• all powerful and often retributive
• exist on a hierarchy as "gods" and "goddesses"
• coexistent with centralized political systems, coercive power and state level societies and large chiefdoms 
• hierarchy is reflective of political structure in which they are contained
• found in cultures with nonnaturalistic world views
• ancestral spirits
• unilineal cultures where ancestors are important
• have the same attributes, personality and powers that they had when they were alive
• interact in culture like everyone else
• animistic forces
• individual and unique spirits that enliven everything
• the whole of the universe is believed to be animated in this way
• found in cultures with naturalistic world views
• animitistic forces
• single supernatural "force" which animates everything
• This force can be lost or gathered (moves but is considered eternal)
• found in cultures with naturalistic world views
• These supernatural entities are not mutually exclusive. Larger more centralized political systems may have ALL of these supernatural forces operating. Animism and animitism are usually found to exist together.

• Religious Practitioners
• Priests & priestesses
• full time specialists
• client is "god" (the supernatural will is expressed through them)
• exercise coercive power which is vested in institutions (church)
• formal training through institutions
• part of a religious hierarchy
• Shaman(s)
• part time specialists
• client is "people" in the culture
• no formal training, but rather a "calling"
• often marginal individuals in their culture (physically, psychologically)
• legitimate power is given through consensus of community based on shaman's performance
• use magic in the manipulation of the supernatural

 Kinds of MAGIC

• sympathetic (and parasympathetic)- based on the belief that actions produce "like" effects.
• contagious- based on the belief that things that were once in contact with each other will continue to exert control over each other after they are separated.
• divination- the manipulation of the supernatural to see the future or answer questions about the unknown

MYTHS: religious stories behind beliefs and rituals

• origin myths
• stories explaining various phenomena in the culture

RITUALS : "Religion in action"

• stylized, repetitive behavior performed for a specific PURPOSE
• All rituals mark TRANSITIONS whether they are religious or secular 
  
• RITES OF PASSAGE
• transitions that mark the passage of an INDIVIDUAL from one status (stage of life) to another status
• have three stages of progression
• RITES OF INTENSIFICATION
• transitions that mark the passage of an GROUP or CULTURE from one status (stage of life) to another status
• have three stages of progression
• RITUALS OF REVERSAL
• Reinforce cultures values and beliefs by acting out their opposites in the ritual context. The ritual context is a safe place for this to occur.

• Ritual Progression (Van Gennep)
• Separation
• marks the moment when the individual or group leave their initial status
• may be composed by a number of smaller rituals
• example: engagement in marriage ritual
• Transition (liminal)
• most complex and longest stage in the ritual progression
• inherently LIMINAL (dangerous) since one is BETWEEN states and statuses
• usually composed of a number of smaller rituals which serve to educated and transition one slowly and carefully into the next status.
• Reincorporation (reaggregation, incorporation)
• One is reintegrated into culture in their new status
• may be long or short and composed of smaller rituals

PLAY versus WORK

• Play is "ritual" behavior and work is mundane
• If we see athletes as working, the spectators (fans) are playing. This is why the sporting event is so powerful for the spectators. They are interpreting this event as a ritual rife with meaning. The event will create a catharsis for them if it is performed successfully. For the athletes it is a days work. They leave the field of play unchanged. (Actors and audience as well).
• Can understand the ARTS in light of Huizinga's MAGIC CIRCLE (ritual space)
• different rules apply 
• cultural norms are affirmed
• cultural norms are tested
• the event/experience is cathartic

The testing and affirming of cultural norms (interplay between the two is where much internal change arises in cultures). Ritual provides a safe "space" in which this change can occur and norms can be challenged.
The behaviors which occur in the magic circle may be the same as outside, but the meaning of these behaviors is quite different.

• Art
• A bowl holding fruit is a "caft" (mundane)
• A bowl on a stand is a piece of "art" (sacred)- same bowl, different interpretation
• -Modern art is based on this very FACT about the nature of "sacred" and interpretation

Can apply this to all the arts in anthropology:

• music
• dance
• literature

Anthropologists study these arts as cultural artifacts. Analyzing the ways in which the arts

• EXPRESS CULTURAL VALUES
• REFLECT CULTURAL VALUES
• ARE CATHARTIC