ANTH 203 Study Guide - Final Guide: Zande People, Polytheism, Invented Tradition
17 Jan 2016
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Religion beliefs deal with supernatural entities, and concern the idea of whether they exist and how they look like. We tend to judge people from our religious and cultural point of view. Others may not consider what we consider as supernatural and they do not make distinction between natural and supernatural. Religion: system of practices and beliefs involving the worship of supernatural beings. Reasons to rely on religious beliefs towards individuals: --imitative-sympathetic magic: eg. sticking a pin to a voodoo doll to cause him pain. --contagious magic: cursing people through their body parts once belonged to them. Magic -> religion -> animism, polytheism, monotheism -> science. Azande people had no concept of bad luck, rather they believed the cause was witchcraft. Some oracles would answer with yes/no their questions about the culprits. In social control, provides notions of right and wrong behaviors, norms. Conflicts resolution, provides moral permits for individuals behaviors.
