ANT 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Collectivism, Individualism, Signalling Theory
14 May 2019
School
Department
Course
Professor
• Religion
o Divine experiences
o How they negotiate the outcome of things
o The afterlife
• Anthropology is a social science
o Not trying to find the truth
o Not finding the right religion
o *Interested in how a religious system gives meaning to peoples lives
▪ Deciphering and analyzing meaning
o Key Questions/Focuses
▪ How religion influences peoples lives
▪ How cultural trends (political, social, economic) impact
religion
• I.e. How does globalization impact religion
▪ How does different aspects of social life fit into religious
ideologies
• History
o Have existed since the dawn of humanity
▪ Hundreds of thousands of years
▪ Polytheistic
o Abrahamic faiths – more recent
▪ Islam, Judaism, Christianity
• Always changing
• Religion is an expression of values at a specific time and place
• Similarities
o Based on creation myths
o Abrahamic faiths
▪ Revelation and historical events
o Hindu
▪ Learn lessons from stories
o Dictating what is acceptable behavior
▪ Gender roles – purity, virginity, head coverings, etc.
▪ Food – what we can eat and what we can’t eat (kosher, not
eating beef), certain times you can eat or can’t eat (lent,
Ramadan)
o Emphasis on cleansing of the body
o Behavior
o Rules about the body
o Beliefs are expressive
▪ Their beliefs can be shown through their practices and rituals
▪ Ex. Healing
• Incense, prayers, cleansing, priests at hospitals, etc.
• Why do so many people want to leave India?
o Lifestyles of life abroad; ideas about places we have never been
o College
