Download Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion Exam 1 Study Guide

Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion Exam 1 Study Guide
Section 1: Anthropology and Culture
What is anthropology? What are its subdisciplines and special methods and paradigms? What area of
anthropology does this course fit into best? Why? How does science fit into what we do in this course? What
is the scientific method and how is it used within the social sciences? How does anthropology vary from the
other social sciences? How does taking a cross-cultural approach help us understand our own culture? What is
culture? What are some of its elements and special properties as we discussed in class? How is culture studied
in anthropology? What is meant by the phrase “Culture is humanity’s extra-somatic means of adaptation”?
Why is culture adaptive?
Key Terms:
anthropology, biocultural approach, holism, multidisciplinary approach, ethnology, ethnography, science,
ethnocentrism, cultural relativity, culture-bound, symbol, integration of culture, enculturation, adaptation
Section 2: Introduction to Religion
What is religion and what are some of the alternate ways that it has been defined over the years? Who was E.B.
Tylor and what did he contribute to our understanding of religion? Who was Malinowski and what did he
contribute to our understanding of religion? Who is Levi-Strauss and what did he contribute to our
understanding of religion? What are the four elements common to all religions? How are they inter-related?
What are social, psychological, and cognitive functions of religion? What are superstitions and their origins?
Key Terms:
functionalism, structuralism, animism, animatism, belief, ritual, myth, sacred, profane, soul, religion, church,
magic, superstition
Section 3: The Elementary Forms of Religious Life
What is the relationship between myths, legends and tales and what are their functions? What is a cosmology?
What are the various forms that spirit beings can take? What might we learn about a society that recognizes
some, but not all forms, of spirit beings? What are the various forms of subsistence we outlined and with what
political organizations is each best associated? What sorts of spirit beings and practitioners would you expect to
find in each culture? What are the similarities and differences between the various kinds of religious
practitioners we discussed? What is a ritual and what are its components as van Gennep illustrated? Be
prepared to discuss a ritual using van Gennep’s terminology. What is the role of myth as Malinowski argues?
What are the underlying symbols in Genesis and their meanings according to Leach? What kind of analysis is
he engaging in? What are the underlying elements of myth as Leach sees them? Why is redundancy in myth
important to Leach? What is magic as Frazer sees it and what is its relationship to science? What are the
functions of the Bunyoro Ghost Cults? What evidence does Steadman et al. provide to substantiate their claim
that all societies exhibit ancestor worship? How does shamanic healing often work? Who was Quesalid and
what does his story teach us about shamanic healing?
Key Terms:
ritual, ancestor, totem, clan, demonstrated kinship, rite of passage, rite of intensification, shaman, sorcerer,
witch, prophet, priest, charismatic, diviner, medicine-man, liminality, separation, incorporation, placebo, emetic
Section 4: From the Films
Where are the Yanomamo, Navajo, and Netsilik located? What religious elements did you see brought out in
each film? How might you use these films as examples of things we’ve discussed in class?
Key Terms: hekura, ebene, hozho, singer of ceremonies, Sedna, infanticide, sand painting
Some Sample Essay Questions:
What are Hekura, how are they acquired and used, and what kind of practitioners are the Yanomamo?
What is the relationship between science and magic as Frazer sees it?
How does religion help people adapt to their environment?
Describe two ways in which a successful shamanic healing might be accounted for.
Describe a rite of passage used in America today, accurately applying van Gennep’s model.
Also review your exercises to date as possible sources for essay material.