ANT 2013 - Anthropology of Religion, Magic, and Witchcraft

• Describe and define the various components of culture as understood by anthropologists
• Write an essay that explains the differences between functionalist theory and Geertzian interpretive theory in the discipline of cultural anthropology
• Describe how Geertzian interpretive theory explains the ubiquity of religion across cultures
• Describe how functionalist theory explains specific manifestations of belief, such as sorcery and witchcraft
• Describe the varieties of religious organization, including individual, communal, shamanistic, and ecclesiastical organizations, and how cultural factors shape these organizations in diverse societies
• Describe how the belief in magic in many cultures forms the basis for both shamanism and sorcery
• Write a paper based on an original ethnography that explains how functionalism explains the purpose of sorcery as an explanation for misfortune in many cultures
• Write a paper based on original anthropological fieldwork that examines witchcraft as a manifestation of the societal need to establish social control

• None

• Introduction to cultural anthropology as a discipline
• The concept of “culture” in anthropology
• Functionalism as a theory to explain supernatural phenomena
• The Geertzian theory of meaning to explain the ubiquity of supernatural belief
• Universal religious beliefs: supernatural forces
• Universal religious beliefs: supernatural beings
• Rituals as mechanisms of religious expression
• Religious organizations and religious specialists in different cultures
• Death, souls, and ghosts in religious systems
• The concept of magic in human societies
• Shamans, shamanism, and healing
• Sorcery as a means of explaining misfortune
• Witchcraft as a function of social control
• Revitalization movements
• American Indian revitalization movements
• South Pacific cargo cults as revitalization movements
• New Age religious movements: Neo-Paganism and Wicca