ANT 201 Chapter Notes - Chapter 14: Abusive Power And Control, Social Inequality, Stewart Guthrie
Document Summary
As cultures evolves, religion evolves in into more complex forms. Stages of religion: animism, polytheism, and monotheism. Have personalities with emotions + consciousness and will. Believed in mana (given to people by gods, resulted in success) Myths: stories that recount the deeds of supernatural powers and cultural heroes in the past. Significance: help form a people"s worldview (conceptions of reality) North america: myths learned in formal settings (church) Could make it easier for north americans to conquer nature. Ritual: organized, stereotyped (speech, movement, events occur the same way in performance after performance), symbolic behaviors intended to influence supernatural powers. Perform a ritual of publically confessing violations in order to persuade undersea goddess to release sea mammals. Classified on two bases: conscious purposes: reasons people give for performing rituals a. i. e. : acquire information from a supernatural power, renew the world, control the weather i.
