1. According to Eller, what makes the anthropological study of religion different from other fields?

Ellers main perspective is based on the definition of anthropology as the science of the diversity of humans. The key part being the diversity that we have around the world, which in turn would produce different belief systems even within the same social environment. She challenges other disciplines such as psychology, sociology, theology, and even biology to think outside of their realm. All of these disciplines are very focused on their own approach. For instance, the biologist is interested on the physical traits, while the psychologist only cares about the mental process, completely disregarding other aspects of what makes the individual have a certain belief system. The anthropological study of religion raises its own questions and views in its own particular perspective, as other principles have done. In this case, the perspective being: culture. Culture is formed by what is learned and the shared human behavior within a society. This essentially happens outside in the individuals own social environment. This is very beneficial to anthropologists, since the main way to gather information is through fieldwork, which is done through observation for long periods of time. In order to gain information that is both useful and accurate, Eller notes that anthropologists must keep three key terms in mind when investigating: comparative description, holism, and cultural relativism. Comparative description attempts to explore a culture and all of its aspects in great detail, without judging the culture based on our own standard. Instead, having a nonbiased analysis and study. Holism refers to the fact that cultures make up a whole, but each individual plays a key part that changes and impacts in a variety of ways the whole system. Cultural relativism is a mixture of both comparative description and holistic approach. It refers to the fact that each particular culture has its own way of understanding and judging. The aim of anthropological religion studies is to view the world in a diverse perspective, and understand that culture, like religion, is more distributed than shared. Eller compares religion to politics in that it is local but cannot be completely established as a whole since even within small villages there are variations in the way religion is practiced. 2. Do you agree with Harriss definition (or adaptation) of the term animism to denote a broad conception of religious practices? Why or why not? Yes, Harris explanation fully takes in all of the possibilities reasons of why a person believes in a certain religion. The belief that humans share the world with a population of extraordinary, extracorporeal, and mostly invisible beings fully explains the basis of some of the most popular and not so common religions around the world. The thought of not being alone in the world, but rather with a supernatural entity allows individuals to connect to different

deities, forces, ghosts, saints, etc. Harris believes that if you believe in any of those beings then you taking part in religion. Having the ability to go beyond the spiritual and supernatural allows anthropologist to look at different religious systems without having to be biased or judgmental about whether or not something is religious, but rather analyze the culture for what it is.

Discussion 2

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1. What, according to Victor Turner, are the characteristics that distinguish priests, prophets, shamans, and mediums? Religious specialists devote themselves and their lives to mastering their own beliefs in order to be able to impact their community. Priests dedicate years of their life being mentored by an older priest and then by doing self-training. Self-training is a key part of the process since it gives them the ability to create a direct relationship and their own experience with the supernatural. The direct connection they establish gives them a limited power to influence the gods. Priests then strengthen their relationship by preserving the concepts, ideas, myths and basic foundation of intellectual heritage. By doing so, they are able to maintain the sacred traditions that have been passed down from the founders and affirming the reasoning behind their authority. If they were to question or even produce an innovative concept, their fellow priests would see them as heretics for challenging the institution of the church. Meanwhile, Their followers would see them as prophets. Prophets bring about new ideas and sense of radical change inside the city in which they inhabit. They do not receive any training but are called to evoke change by divine revelation or a personal change. This change comes with an ascribed or achieved charisma that allows them to attract and sustain a following. They are able to do this by creating a dialog with the god or homogenous collective on behalf of the people. A prophet comes about at time of social friction, when a small-scale society is taken over by a large scale. Their main goal is to create a discontinuity in the large society and restructuring the religious and social system. On the other hand, shamans do not attempt to change their society but rather tend to their communities needs and continue on with their everyday activities. Their services are part-time and the rites are contingent upon the different illnesses or needs of the individual. There are no set time, locations, or manner in which a ritual is conducted. However, unlike priests and prophets, all individuals in the community are able to become shamans. A person is able to become a shaman because of their family lineage, a religious epiphany such as a divine stroke, or by making a personal choice. Although the last is usually considered less powerful, they are able to gain more respect by studying the ecstatic and traditional knowledge. The ecstatic training provides them with the ability to have an out of body experience that then allows them to communicate with spirits in order to gain knowledge, guidance, and healing. The shaman acts as a vessel for the spirit world. A medium is also able to communicate with the spirit world, but in a more limited manner. He is possessed by the spirit, rather than having the ability to stand outside himself and gain knowledge. This is the type of person that is usually searched for after someone has died in order to gain more insight into the persons life. They are also able to sometimes able to provide treatment through intuitive and deductive virtuosity by giving instructions of what type of

social and physical changes need to be made. Although a medium does not have the same amount of knowledge of the other three religious practitioners, they are still able to create a connection with the supernatural. 2. Explain the relationship between the scale of society & the type of religious specialist likely to be found, as reported by Turner? As the scale and complexity of a society increases, the degree of specialization increases as well. Religion slowly begins to separate itself from politics, economy, and science becoming its own category. This separation creates very different societies that are reinforced by everything that is done in the particular cultures regarding their religious system or everyday life. In a simple society, everything is intertwined with everything else. Everyone has some sort of religious function. Although the elderly have a priest like role, the rest of the community is also involved. The involvement of so many individuals is possible due to the religious specializations within the religious system itself. There are different people who posses different types of knowledge such as those in herbalistic lore, skill in leechcraft and those who have the capacity to enter a stage of trance and communicate with spirits. Their religion does not provide any type of special status but is simply seen as part of their obligation. In this small scale, multifunctional, flexible communities with a limited amount of resources, Shamanism is the most popular type of religious belief. In a complex society, there are a series of institutionalized religions from which people can choose participate in or not. The mass society allows an individual to choose if they would like to take part in any of the religious affiliations that have been created. There is a wide range of religions due to the bureaucracy, rational, routine, and hierarchy that is created in these communities. In each of these religions however, there is an aspiration for religious perfection. There is also a clear difference in status, rank, and functions different for each level within the church itself. In this complex society, priests or a variation of priests are the most common. The agriculturalist economy in these communities is the only kind that is able to sustain a nonworking class. In a medium scale society, there is both a version of a priest and a shaman within the same nation. In these societies, there are national and tribal gods that all of the communities worship. Priests monitor this national scale of religion. These priests are set aside from birth or are possessed later on in life. They must train themselves to hear the voice of god in the same way that institutionalized priests must create a direct relationship with god during their own training. What makes the medium scale society so special is their ability to also have a multifunctional society. This society encompasses the smaller villages within the nation. In these villages, there are smaller deities. These multifunctional villages require more of a shaman type

of priest. In their training, priests are able to learn to control mediums in an attempt to return to the original possession that led them to become religious practitioners. Their ability to control mediums makes them very similar to shamans, especially since in these multifunctional societies, they would need to also take part of different everyday activities. The medium scale society is able to take different practices in the rituals conducted in both simple and complex societies, in order to create its own unique religious system.

Discussion 3
Victor Turner emphasizes the importance of comradeship as a factor in the liminal period. Discuss Turners thoughts on this concept, and indicate any parallels you may see in contemporary American society. Rites de passage are commonly found in the past and the present. These rites are not all necessarily religious, but can also be secular, or can change from having a sacred meaning to a secular one. However, often times the aim is to bring back a connection with a deity or a supernatural power. After all, a ritual is religion in action. During the rites de passage, there is a period in time called the liminal or marginal period. In this time, individuals are ripped of their status, homes, and of their past. Sometimes their names are taken away, such as the community of the Ndembu in Zambia. In this society that Turner studied, each of the individuals taking part of the ritual was called neophyte which means initiand. They become structurally invisible and are found in a sort of ambiguity and paradox. They are stripped of their identities by disguising themselves in grotesque ways. Their sexuality is also taken away by making them sexless or bisexual. They essentially become prima material. All of the individuals going through this process understand each other and come to form communitas. In these communitas, there is an intense community spirit, solidarity, equality, and togetherness. Among this complete equality and lack of control a strong alliance begins to form. This becomes a comity of comrades. The comradeship does not take into account any distinctions of rank, age, kinship position, but instead start to act as a whole where its one for all, and all for one. The elders do encourage such strong ties of friendship that should last even into old age. This is encouraged by being grouped in sets of five and four around a common lodge fire. During this liminal time, the neophytes are able to be themselves and become mutually outspoken by stripping them of all responsibilities that they would have in their regular lives. This frankness allows for stronger ties among each other that then enable them to continue on with the ritual knowing that they have a sort of support system among each other. In contemporary America, there are many secular rituals that act as a liminal period. Our time in college represents that marginal time in which we shift from being irresponsible teenagers to responsible adults. Within each of our majors, each of us is striving to become the best. It doesnt matter if you come from a wealthy family or from a more humble upbringing. At the end of the day, only your abilities and effort in your classes are the ones that count. Our success and who we are is measured by what we do, not so much on our personalities, especially in online courses where the only thing the professor sees, its our results. In our classes, we come to find a group of people who we share certain things with and who become our support system through college and those late night studies. These comradeships are formed through a variety of similar struggles and experiences. Having these things to share in

common allows them to form a tighter bond and understand what each other is going though. Many times, the ties between each other become so strong that they last for a lifetime. This relationship then comes a symbol of what you went though in order to be a responsible adult.