SOC 2805 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Fertile Crescent, Animism, Michael Denton
Document Summary
The term "indigenous" is (along with a variety of other terms, as indicated in the lecture notes) to refer to tribal religions which are closely connected to their environments. Religion embraces all aspects of worldview, culture, ethics, and the other elements which are included in a system of beliefs about matters of ultimate or transcendent concern (remember the "marks" of religion again). The broad categories of these religions are usually based on geography (e. g. , north american, Many indigenous religious groups are animistic- believing that spirits or souls inhabit all things. Some are polytheistic- believing in many gods- though usually also with some vestige of a high. One of the significant ideas about totem is that it establishes order in the society. It determines who will eat what items out of a restricted food supply, who will marry whom, how roles will be distributed in terms of vocations, and so forth. Without totem there is chaos, not balance, harmony, and order.
