ANTHROP 2R03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Emic And Etic, Data Mining, Boston Marathon Bombing
27 Mar 2019
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Document Summary
Religion: way of perceiving, understanding and explaining the world. Can think of magic and witchcraft as part of religions. Anthropologists try to understand religion from the insider"s point of view. Etic perspective: experience distant = outsider"s/social scientist"s view. Anthropologists try to understand from both point"s of view. Main aim of the course: give insight into religious views of the world from many cultures. Religion is part of the colonial background of discipline. Anthropologists looked for equivalent category to "religion" in non-western cultures -- predominantly through a christian lens. Religion wasn"t considered to be separate from law, morality, kinship, etc. Anthropologists understood that "different" beliefs and practices were not irrational or ignorant, but served important social purposes. Functionalist view: cultural institutions are like organs in human body all have a role in maintaining functioning of the whole organism. Also presumed rationality of what appeared to europeans as "irrational" beliefs and practices.
