ANT207H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Zande People, Evangelicalism, Granary
Professor Tanya Li Oct. 20, 2016
ANT207 LECTURE 6
WORLDVIEW, RELIGION, SYSTEM OF MEANING
WORLDVIEW/CULTURE/SYSTEM OF MEANING
• Encompassing picture of reality
• Created, shared by members of society
PARADIGM
• A system of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of
viewing reality
- A conceptual framework and established thought process
PARADIGM SHIFT
• Time when the usual and accepted way of doing or thinking about something changes
completely
• A fundamental change in approach or underlying assumptions
Ex. religious conversion
- Being “reborn” in Evangelical Christianity no longer inhabit the same world
• “belief is the least of it” becomes embodied
WORLDVIEW
• assumptions about how the world works
• criteria for evaluating what is true/false
• system of meaning
• sets of practices and attitudes
• rules that govern actions and beliefs
• habits, dispositions, “habitus”
• ideas about health, illness, race, gender…
• not about bias—more like language—translation “change is about how to read code”
19TH CENTURY EVOLUTIONARY IDEAS
• “Primitives”
- superstition
- magic
- irrational
- witchcraft
• “Moderns”
- facts
- science
- rational
- religion (?)
SCIENCE Have we seen gravity?
• Scientific knowledge socially constructed, has communities
• Institutionally supported, made authoritative
• Paradigms shift
• Thomas Kuhnm (1962)
RELIGION
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Worldview/culture/system of meaning: encompassing picture of reality, created, shared by members of society. Paradigm: a system of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality. A conceptual framework and established thought process. Paradigm shift: time when the usual and accepted way of doing or thinking about something changes completely, a fundamental change in approach or underlying assumptions. Being reborn in evangelical christianity no longer inhabit the same world: belief is the least of it becomes embodied. 19th century evolutionary ideas: primitives superstition. Witchcraft: moderns facts science rational religion (?) Institutionally supported, made authoritative: scientific knowledge socially constructed, has communities, paradigms shift, thomas kuhnm (1962) Oct. 20, 2016: ideas and practices that postulate reality beyond that available to senses or a world view in which cosmic forces interfere in life . Gods directing human fate animism, spirits guarding landscape ancestral spirits, dead still active in present spirits sent by witches. Only rational if you believe in them.
