Anthropology 1025F/G Study Guide - Final Guide: Land Diving, Polyandry, Dogon People

• School: Western University
• Department: Anthropology
• Course: Anthropology 1025F/G
• Professor: Terry Webb

Document Summary

Describe and discuss any similarities you see among the rituals of three ethnographic examples from the course materials. Draw conclusions about the reasons for the universality of ritual in human cultures. Rituals are part of our everyday lives and are found in different cultures around the world. They are a patterned form of behaviour that is usually associated with some sort of symbolic value to signify one"s beliefs. Although various rituals are performed with different purposes, upon closer examination of three ethnographic examples, it can be said that rituals of all cultures around the world have common characteristics and are in fact, similar. Many cultures around the world, including the people of bornea and the dogon culture, manifest various aspects of art through their rituals. In our society, tattoos are often simply a form of adornment whereas in many other cultures, tattooing has a more powerful social and spiritual significance.