THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF RELIGION
(ANTH 425)
Dr. Mary Lynn Morse

TEXTBOOKS:

1.  Magic, Witchcraft and Religion:  An Anthropological Study of the Supernatural, 3rd edition, A. C. Lehmann and J. E. Myers, Mayfield Publishing Co., 1993.

2.  Fusion of the Worlds, Paul Stoller, University of Chicago Press, 1990.

OBJECTIVES OF THIS COURSE:

1. To learn about non-Western religions, their deities, practices and rationale.
2. To learn more about the subject matter and methodology of anthropology.
3. To study religions in the light of cultural relativity and their function and meaning in the lives of non-Western peoples.

COURSE PROCEDURES:

There will be a take-home style mid-term exam and a one and a half hour final exam giving during the final exam period. Students will also do a study of a non-Western or tribal religion for a written paper/project to be handed in at the end of the course, and also for class reports during the semester. There will be three class reports during the semester as follows:

Report #1 – covers units 1 through 3
Report #2 – covers units 4-7
Report #3 – covers units 8-10

The written project/paper will be due the last day of class. It can either be a research project or the result of personal investigation and contacts {or both). This will be fully discussed in class.

Reading assignment: The Paul Stoller book must be read by the time of the final exam and will be covered on the exam. The ten chapters of the Lehmann and Myers textbook will be read in order, while that topic is being discussed in class.

The mid-term exam will cover units l -6 and the final exam will cover units 7- 10 and the Stoller book.

COURSE OUTLINE :

UNIT ONE - Introduction to course, the anthropological study of religion, the nature of culture and the definition of religion or belief systems. How to classify religions; pantheons of deities.

UNIT TWO –  Mythology, rituals, ceremonies and festivals; rites of passage (birth, puberty, marriage, death, etc.); mana and animism, totemism and taboo.

UNIT THREE - Religious specialists; the human role in religious systems; shamans, priests, prophets, etc. Cults and cultic organizations.

UNIT FOUR - Communication with the supernatural, such as prayer, vision quests, and dreams; also by using drugs, trance and psychedelics

UNIT FIVE - Ethnomedicine; religion and healing; cause and cure of disease.

UNIT SIX - Witchcraft, sorcery and other forces of evil

UNIT SEVEN - Demons and exorcism, divination, magic and sacrifice

UNIT EIGHT - Death and the afterlife. This unit covers such topics as souls and ghosts, ancestors, reincarnation, funerals, heaven/paradise, zombis, voodoo and vampires.

UNIT NINE - New and old religions; revitalization movements and Cargo cults; syncretism and nativistic churches, rituals of rebellion.

UNIT TEN -The occult; the New Age Movement, Tarot cards, Wicca, mediums and channeling.

NOTE: There will be several films and videotapes shown throughout the semester. These are considered an integral part of the course.  Good attendance is expected and the student is responsible for the material covered in each class, whether present or not

SUGGESTED TOPICS FOR THE PAPER OR PROJECT:

The following religions have been studied personally by previous students:

1. Wicca (modern form of (white) witchcraft)
2. Santeria (combination of Catholicism and African religions found among certain Latino peoples.
3. Rastafarianism- Jamaican religion tracing roots to Ethiopia
4. Voodoo (Haiti)
5. Various "New Age" religions and cults
6. Religion of the Seneca Indians (upstate New York)

The following religions have been studied as library research projects:
Mayan religion, Aztec religion, Yoruba religion, Yanomamo religion, Lakota Indian religion, Cherokee religion, etc

It might be possible to contact people from Nigeria, Ghana, India, Philippines, etc. to study their religions personally. You will profit much more from personal investigation than from library study.  So try to locate a non-western religion!

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