ANTH 204 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Genghis Khan, Gobi Desert, Kyzyl
Document Summary
Animism: belief that non-human entities (animals, plants, natural phenomena, and geographic features) are spiritual beings and have souls (life-force). Religious acts and rituals are essential to survival. Win favor of spirits who help perpetuate life. Shamanism: practices used to communicate with spiritual realm. Shamans act as intermediaries between spiritual and material worlds. Shamans enters ecstatic state (trance) in order to contact spirits. Shaman is a healer who cures ailments caused by imbalance between worlds. Music and divine: music used as bridge linking humans with supernatural and divine. People interact with spirits in animals and other features of their environment (wind, water) by imitating natural sounds. Imitation is either precise (iconic imitation) or imaginative (aesthetic imitation). Aesthetic imitation: musical sounds inspired by natural sounds (e. g. sound of water) that cannot precise replicated by the human voice. Singers imaginatively imitate sound in order to interact with spirits that inhabit sound source. Single voice produces two distinct tones at same time.
