Sir James Frazer Lecture - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Sir James Frazer LectureRadcliff-Brown

TABOOSlide2

Taboo- ‘tabu’- to forbid, forbidden, any kind of prohibition

Polynesian

Tabu- newly-born infant, a corpse, and the chief are considered Tabu.Individuals who are tabu must engage in precautions to prevent from becoming ill.Noa- Status of a person after they are restored to their normal condition through rites of purification or desacralisation.

TabooSlide3

Originally, anthropologists believed that taboo was confined to the black and brown races of the Pacific

All cultures have some type of taboo

Ritual Prohibition- A rule of behavior which is associated with a belief that an infraction will result in an undesirable change in the ritual status of the person who fails to keep to the rule. TabooSlide4

Taboo

ResultRitual

Polynesian touches corpse

Will be

in danger of illness

Undergoes

ritual to escape danger and be restored to his former ritual statusSpilling SaltBad luckThrow pinch of salt over shoulderCatholics abstaining from eating meat on Fridays and during LentSin- change in ritual statusConfess and obtain absolutionHebrew touches the unclean beast (aware or unaware)SinConfess and offer sacrificeSpeak the name of soon to be parentBad Luck, Illness, Possibly DeathRitual must be doneSlide5

Thahu- undesirable ritual status that results from failure to observe rules of ritual avoidance

A person who is

thahu will be ill and will probably die unless he removes the thahu through ritual.This includes animal sacrificeKikuyu Tribe

Mentawai

Ceremony

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=kUXDvU87-M4Slide6

Religious Rites vs Magical Rites

Religion- a propitiation of superhuman powers which are believed to control nature and man

The rite is simply expressive and has no purpose, being not a means to an end but an end in itself.Eating meat on Friday Magic- the erroneous application of the notion of causality

Definite practical purpose which is known to all who

practise

it and can be easily elicited from any native informant

Spilling Salt

This difference is not as discernible in many circumstances because there is a great deal of overlap between magic and religion.Slide7

Maori

Religious explanation- Any breach in commandments are punished by an

atua (ghost) afflicting the sinner with a painful malady until death. Magical explanation- The native conceives of the change in his ritual status as taking place as the immediate result from acts such as, touching a corpse. They only consider the gods and spirits of being concerned, when talking of taboos as a whole. Slide8

Holy and Unclean Avoidances

Certain objects or individuals are avoided because they are holy, while others are avoided because they are unclean

Polynesians do not identify chiefs as holy or corpses as unclean. Both are considered dangerous.It is important to avoid implementing our own ideas of holiness or uncleanliness onto simpler societiesSlide9

Ritual Value

Anything that is the object of a ritual avoidance or taboo has ritual value

The ritual value is exhibited in the behavior adopted towards the objectA society consists of a number of individuals bound together in a network of social relations.The first necessary condition of the existence of a society is that the individual members shall agree in some measure in the values that they recognize.Slide10

A society is characterized by a set of valuesSimple Society- There is a fair amount of agreement amongst group members, but the agreement is never absolute

Complex Society- There is much more disagreement if we consider the society as a whole, but there is a closer measure of agreement among members of groups or classes within the society.

Simple vs Complex Society Slide11

When two or more persons share a common interest, they form an association, whether for a moment or for a long period.

Subject 1 and Subject 2 are both interested in the same way in the Object, and both Subjects are interested in each other in some way.

The Object has social value for both Subjects involved.In some groups, each member is an object of interest for all others, and each member has social value for the group as a whole.Groups can be formed by common interest or common enemy.Group FormationSlide12

Ritual- n- an established or prescribed procedure for a religious reason or other rite. Ritual values exist in every known society, and show an immense diversity.

Sports rituals

Catholic SacramentMaori Haka danceRitual Slide13

This answer is difficult to findWhat is fundamentally the same rite in two different societies may have different purposes or reasons in each society.

Members of the community may be unsure of the reason for the ritual, or they may give varying explanations.

People always know the meaning of their own symbols, but they do so intuitively and can rarely express their understanding in wordsWhat is the relation of ritual and ritual values to the essential constitution of human society?Slide14

Study rites by studying the effects the rites produce, not the effects they are supposed to produce.

A rite has immediate psychological effects on the people participating.

It also effects the social structure of the community.The immediate psychological effects can be observed by watching and talking to the performers of the ritual.Many rites produce individual satisfaction for the performers.Amazon suicide ritualwww.youtube.com/watch?v=ak5GichjaCM&feature=player_detailpage#t=110sEffects of the rites Slide15

During Childbirth rituals, Death rituals, Coming of Age rituals, and Wedding rituals.

Avoid names of individuals involved

Avoid certain foodsThe personal name is a symbol of social personalityAvoiding the name symbolizes a change in social personalityThey avoid certain foods because they believe they will be ill otherwise.Andamanese in all of these different life states are in abnormal ritual status.Andaman Tribe Slide16

Theory 1:In certain circumstances an individual is anxious about the outcome of some event or activity because it depends on conditions out of their control

People observe some rite or ritual to reassure them because the ritual is thought to bring them good luck.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&list=UU3zJwLLup-rpxqCu9MHzuuA&v=wPCwy-bXc0g#t=65sTheory 2:If it were not for the existence of the rite and the beliefs associated with it, the individuals would feel no anxiety, and that the psychological effect of the rite is to create a sense of insecurity and danger.Ritual Theory Slide17

People are conditioned by the community in which they live.The sharing of hopes and fears links human beings together in temporary or permanent associations.

The simplest form of ritual sanction is an accepted belief that if rules of ritual are not observed some undefined misfortune is likely to occur.

Reason for RitualSlide18

A new father is naturally anxious at the outcome of childbirth because he has no controlChildbirth is dangerous, especially in tribal cultures

He observes taboo and participates in rituals to feel as if he has some type of control.

He avoids certain foods to improve his luck.He eases his own anxiety through rituals.Andamans ExampleSlide19

The primary basis of all ritual is the attribution of ritual value to objects and occasions which are either themselves objects of important common interests linking together the persons of a community .

Negative and positive rites exist and persist because they are part of the mechanism by which an orderly society maintains itself in existence, serving as they do to establish fundamental social values.

Taboo is used to apply social value to certain actions, events, and concepts.Taboo symbolizes what the society valuesConclusionSlide20

TabooConsuming the flesh of the deadRituals

Equated eating the flesh to Holy Communion

Nightly RosaryUsed their prayer ritual to calm their fears and renew hopehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=LYmE0_ZvbrQ#t=421sTaboo and Rituals in the Andes