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Define Anthropology.
The study of humanity from a holistic perspective.
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Anthropology is holisitic in ______ and _____.
scope; approach
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Scope is what an anthropologist _____ _______, which can be ______ and _________.
looks at; traditional; non-traditional
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True/False: Any approach can be used for this study. If false, why?
True.
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What are the two main branches of anthropology?
- Physical Anthropology
- Cultural Anthropology
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Define physical anthropology?
Study of everything about the human body.
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True/False: Physical anthropology is exclusive to humans. If false, why?
False. It can also include animals similar to humans.
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Define cultural anthropology.
The study of everything about human behavior.
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What is a synonym for sociocultural anthropology?
Ethnology.
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What do sociocultural anthropology and ethnology mean?
The study of present day culture.
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Define ethnography.
The study of a specific culture.
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Define archaeology.
The study of past cultures through their material remains.
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Linguistic anthropology is the study of ______ from an anthropological perspective.
language
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Applied anthropology is the use of anthropological knowledge for a _______ purpose.
practical
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Applied anthropology can be used to _____ cultures.
change
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Religion is people's relationship with the ________.
supernatural
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The supernatural is that which cannot be known by normal _____ means, but which exists.
sensual
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Culture is a set of traits that are ...(5 things)
- shared
- learned
- passed on
- symbolic
- systematic
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Culture gives us ______ to _____ before you experience them.
solutions; problems
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______ is a solution to all kinds of problems.
Religion
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Define norms.
Normal behavior in a society.
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What are the three types of norms?
- Ideal behavior
- Expected behavior
- Acceptable behavior
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What is ideal behavior?
The most important norm which motivates our behavior.
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True/False: Acceptable behavior is always acceptable. If false, why?
False. It is acceptable in certain circumstances.
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How can one tell how important a norm is?
By how people react when that norm is broken.
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Many of our norms are ________.
unconscious
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What is ethnocentrism?
The belief that one's own culture is better than other cultures.
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The idea of cultural relativism is that one cannot judge another culture except by...?
it's own standards.
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What two types of anthropologists reject this cultural relativism?
- Missionaries, who believe their own culture is superior to all others.
- Those who believe that some practices are too heinous to accept.
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What three types of religions do most societies have elements of?
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Animatism is the belief in an _______ force.
impersonal
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True/False: Only living things hold this force. If false, why?
False. Everything holds this force.
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Where is this type of religion found?
In some chiefdoms.
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The force in animatism is known as ______.
mana
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Mana can ______, and it is important to keep mana _______.
fluctuate; high
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With a total loss of mana comes _______.
death
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True/False: If human beings gain enough mana, they can become part of the chiefly family. If false, why?
False. Mana cannot exceed certain levels depending on who/what you are.
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What would the english word for "mana" be?
Luck.
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Define tabu.
A prohibition with an immediate, impersonal supernatural sanction.
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What are people constantly thinking about when it comes to tabu?
How to not break a tabu and/or mitigating having broken one.
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Animism is the belief in ______.
spirits
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Individuals have ______, and there are ______ spirits.
spirits; individual
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What is one of the main traits of a society in which animism is the main religion?
Everything has a spirit.
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Define egalitarian society.
A society in which everyone has the same basic access to resource, power, & prestige.
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Theism is the belief in ______.
god(s)
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Define god.
A spirit that creates or controls some aspect of the world.
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True/False: All monotheisms emerged from polytheisms. If false, why?
True.
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In what societies are most theisms found?
Stratified societies.
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How one views the world is known as _______.
worldview
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What would a second definition of worldview be?
One's expectations of how the world works, emphasizing perception and experience.
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One's expectations of the way the world works, emphasizing guiding principles, is known as _______.
ideology
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One's expectations of how the world works, emphasizing the universe and everything in it, is known as _______.
cosmology
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True/False: Those three words can be used as synonyms for religion and each other. If false, why?
True.
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Science is knowledge acquired by the _____ _______.
scientific method
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True/False: Although science is not as important as most types of knowledge, it is necessary. If false, why?
False. Science is not necessary.
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True/False: Not everything is knowable by science. If false, why?
True.
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The scientific method is a way of ______-______ knowledge through addressing ______, forming _____, _______ them against the real world, and drawing _______.
self-correcting; problems; hypotheses; testing; conclusions
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The use of knowledge is _______.
prediction
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True/False: In the long run, science predicts best. If false, why?
True.
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Two Main Approaches to Anthropology
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The materialist approach is the _______ approach.
scientific
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The interpretivist approach is the ______ approach.
humanistic
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True/False: Materialists consider anthropology a social science, while interpretivists consider anthropology a humanity. If false, why?
True.
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_______ ask the question "What is it like to be you?"
Interpretivists
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What do cognitive theories say about people in different cultures?
That they think differently.
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____, the creator of the evolutionary theory, said that people in more complex societies think...?
Tylor; more complexly
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Along with the idea of the evolutionary theory, Tylor gave us the idea of ______.
culture
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According to Tylor, religion comes from the explanation for _____, and the decay of the _____ after______.
dreams; body; death
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According to Frazer, creator of the ________ theory, religion derives from people's explanation for their control over the world.
explanatory
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How does Frazer define magic?
The mechanical control of the supernatural.
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How does Frazer define religion?
As beings appealing to gods for control of the supernatural.
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According to Frazer, what gives control back to the people (i.e. no longer needing to rely on gods for power)?
Science.
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Psychological theories say that the explanation for religion can be found in what it does for __________ _________.
the individual
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Psychoanalytical theory, created by ______, says that religion is an expression of people's relationship with their _______.
Freud; parents.
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Where does all of this begin?
With sexuality as a child, which is not fixed.
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According to Malinowski, creator of _______, religion exists to reduce _______.
functionalism; anxiety
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According to __________ in his theory of _______, religion helps us to resolve binary oppositions.
Levi-Strauss; structuralism
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Define binary oppositions.
Pairs of opposites that have meaning in relation to each other.
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_____ is set up in relation to binary-opposition.
Society
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When it comes to binary oppositions, when do people access religion?
When they cross over (e.g. life and death)
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Social theories say that the explanation for religion can be found for what it does in _______.
society
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According to ______'s ecological theory, religion helps cultures to survive in their ________.
Harris; environments
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Describe one example Harris uses.
Sacred cows in India: when droughts hit, those who ate their cows to survive would often perish later when they had no means of plowing their fields.
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According to __________ social order theory, religion exists to keep order in society.
Radcliffe-Brown
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According to Durkheim's ______ theory, religion is the ____ of society itself and that increases social ______.
solidarity; worship; solidarity
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Define sacred.
That which is set apart or forbidden.
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Define sacred.
That which is not sacred.
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Define myth.
A traditional story that is believed to be true that explains the origins of things and occurs in mythic time.
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What are the four requirements for something to be considered a myth?
- 1) It cannot be invented (traditional story)
- 2) People must believe it to be true.
- 3) It must explain the origin of something.
- 4) It occurs a long time ago, before the normal order of things was established.
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True/False: A tale is a traditional story that is believed to be true that occurs in historical time and is difficult to verify. If false, why?
False. This describes a legend.
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Define tale.
A traditional story that is not believed to be true, does not occur in historical time and is used primarily for education and entertainment.
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What do tales usually highlight?
Incorrect behavior.
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Functions of Myth (motifs)
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What are the four functions of myth?
- Explanation
- Validation - justification for what you're doing
- Guidance
- Ritual Purposes
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Creation myths, or _________, describes the origin of things.
cosmogony
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Most creation myths have motifs, or _______ ______, found in them.
distinctive elements
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Describe the supreme being myth.
Something creates the people, world, or universe.
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Describe the world parents myth.
Man and woman create the world.
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Describe the cosmic egg myth.
Creation came from an egg.
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The ______ ______ myth describes a mythical being who dives into water to get earth.
mythic diver
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What does this myth often explain?
Why there is land.
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Describe the emergence myth.
People emerge from something.
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Describe the perverted message myth.
God sent a message of immortality to the people, but the messenger lied and said that people would die. People die because they believed the messenger.
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Describe the two messengers myth.
God sends a message of immortality to people, but the messenger is slow; people ask for a second messenger who is fast; the fast message is death. People die because they believe the message.
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Describe the cast skin myth.
People could live forever if they could take off their skin like a snake.
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The breach of ________ describes people doing something prohibited, which means that they therefore must die.
taboo
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This prohibited thing is usually what?
A sin.
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A mythical character who introduces something important into a society is known as what?
A culture hero.
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A trickster is a mythical character who has insatiable _________.
appetites
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True/False: An addition to this definition would be that he plays tricks on people to satisfy this appetite. If false, why?
True.
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Most tricksters are ______ _____, & vice versa.
culture heros
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______ is the essence of the function of a tale.
Contrariness
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A mythical character composed of parts of more than one creature is known as a ______.
chimera
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Describe the minotaur.
A creature with the body of a person and the head of a bull.
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The craftsman who made the Labyrinth is called _________.
Daedalus
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Who were put into the Labyrinth?
Daedalus & the Minotaur.
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myths of gender antagonism
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Describe the myth of vagina dentata.
Vaginas originally had teeth, and the teeth had to be broken out for sexual intercourse to occur.
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Describe the misused power myth.
Originally women had power and misused it in some way and must therefore never have power again.
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Describe the myth of original sin.
Women did something prohibited and therefore must always be subservient.
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The ritual among pygmies in which they demonstrate their need to work together during times of crisis is known as...?
molimo
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Describe this ritual. (3 parts)
- Men pretend to be the spirit of the forest.
- Women criticize the men for lying & tie them up.
- They finish the ritual together.
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What is Dreamtime?
The time of the origin of the world for the Aborigines.
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In Dreamtime, ____ make the myth.
you
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The vital essence of a person that departs at death is known as _____ _____.
soul matter
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What are the spirits of dead relatives called?
Ancestor spirits
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True/False: Most cultures believe in this. If false, why?
True.
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What four domains can be the the land of the dead?
- Heaven
- Hell
- Middle-ground (purgatory?)
- Earth
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How does one often go to the land of the dead?
As an ancestor.
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Returning to life in a different body is known as _______.
reincarnation
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Define nirvana.
The loss of one's individual self in a unity with all things.
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What are the four functions of taboo?
- Group solidarity
- Social control
- Reduce anxiety
- Maintain cognitive boundaries
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Match the names of this theorists to the three functions which drew from them.
Malinowski
Durkheim
Radcliffe-Brown
- Malinowski - Reduce anxiety
- Durkheim - Group solidarity
- Radcliffe-Brown - Social control
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Why is maintaining cognitive boundaries necessary?
Categories help us arrange the world.
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Define spirit.
Supernatural person.
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What is an anthropomorphic spirit?
A spirit in the form of a person.
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Spirits in the form of animals are _______ spirits.
zoomorphic
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What are naturalistic spirits?
Spirits in the form of a plant or natural feature.
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Spirits that think like humans are _______ spirits.
anthropopsychic
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True/False: Most spirits are anthropopsychic. If false, why?
False. They are all anthropopsychic.
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A spirit associated with a body is known as a _______.
soul
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Define totemism.
A spiritual relationship with a totem.
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What is a totem?
An animal, plant, or natural feature especially associated with a group of people, usually as an ancestor.
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What is polytheism?
The belief in many gods.
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All of the gods in a religion are the religion's ________.
pantheon
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What is monotheism?
The belief in one god.
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The most powerful god in a pantheon is the ____ god.
high
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Define otiose god.
A god who created the world and no longer has anything to do with it.
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What does "otiose" mean?
At rest.
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True/False: Most animistic societies have otiose gods. If false, why?
True.
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The god in charge of the animals is known as what?
Master of the animals.
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What are shamans?
Religious specialists found in most cultures.
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What do shamans do?
They do spiritual work on behalf of the community through altered states of consciousness.
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Shamanism goes together with _________.
animism
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The main work of shamanism includes: (3 things)
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What do shamans cure?
Ailments.
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What do shamans recover?
Lost souls
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Define soul loss.
The belief that one's soul has left one's body.
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What disorder shares symptoms with those of soul loss?
Depression.
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Define consciousness.
Awareness of one's self and one's surroundings.
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True/False: Consciousness constantly changes. If false, why?
True.
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What do you call a state of awareness that is not normal?
Altered states of consciousness
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True/False: Some can perceive the supernatural in altered states of consciousness. If false, why?
True.
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What two altered states do shamans mainly employ?
Spirit possession and soul flight.
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What occurs during spirit possession?
A spirit controls one's body.
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Where can spirit possession occur?
In various settings.
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True/False: Spirit possession is total. If false, why?
False. It can be partial.
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Describe a shaman being possessed by a spirit.
Shamans will deliberately close their eyes & the spirit that the shaman has developed a special relationship with will take over.
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Define soul flight.
A person's spirit leaves their body with consciousness.
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What is soul flight mostly about?
Retrieving souls.
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Why do shamans engage in soul flight?
They go on behalf of other people.
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Define witchdoctor.
A person who cures one from the effects of witchcraft.
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A religious specialist that relies on liturgy is known as a _______.
priest
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What types of religions are priests associated with?
Theisms.
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Define liturgy.
Memorized ritual.
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True/False: Only if the effects of liturgy are done correctly will the desired effects occur. If false, why?
True.
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