durkheim

TMA01 question
https://archive.org/stream/elementaryformso00durk#page/n3/mode/2up

http://durkheim.uchicago.edu/

social solidarity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Division_of_Labour_in_Society

Van Gennep's Rites of Passage

http://www.stthomasu.ca/~parkhill/rite101/ireps/gennep.htm

History of term
The term was popularized by the German ethnographer Arnold van Gennep (1873-
1957), in the early part of the twentieth century. Further theories were developed in the
1960s by Mary Douglas and Victor Turner. Joseph Campbell's 1949 text, The Hero with
a Thousand Faces and his theory of the journey of the hero were also influenced by van
Gennep.
According to van Gennep, rites of passage have three phases: separation, liminality,
and incorporation. In the first phase, people withdraw from the group and begin
moving from one place or status to another. In the third phase, they reenter society,
having completed the rite. The liminal phase is the period between states, during which
people have left one place or state but haven't yet entered or joined the next. It is a
state of limbo.
http://www.18pomegranates.org/lessons/1%20Bar-Bat%20Mitzvah%20as%20a%20Rite%20of%20Passage.doc.pdf

Victor Turner

http://deflem.blogspot.com/1991/08/ritual-anti-structure-and-religion_29.html

http://www.indiana.edu/~wanthro/theory_pages/Turner.htm

The most important contribution Turner made to the field of anthropology is his work on liminality and communitas. Believing the liminal stage to be of "crucial importance" in the ritual process, Turner explored the idea of liminality more seriously than other anthropologists of his day.

As noted earlier Turner elaborated on van Gennep's concept of liminality in rites of passage. Liminality is a state of being in between phases. In a rite of passage the individual in the liminal phase is neither a member of the group she previously belonged to nor is she a member of the group she will belong to upon the completion of the rite. The most obvious example is the teenager who is neither an adult nor a child. "Liminal entities are neither here nor there; they are betwixt and between the positions assigned and arrayed by law, custom, convention, and ceremonial" (Turner, 1969:95). Turner extended the liminal concept to modern societies in his study of liminoid phenomena in western society. He pointed out the similarities between the "leisure genres of art and entertainment in complex industrial societies and the rituals and myths of archaic, tribal and early agrarian cultures" (1977:43).

Closely associated to liminality is communitas, which describes a society during a liminal period that is "unstructured or rudimentarily structured [with] a relatively undifferentiated comitatus, community, or even communion of equal individuals who submit together to the general authority of the ritual elders" (Turner, 1969:96).

The notion of communitas is enhanced by Turner's concept of anti-structure. In the following passage Turner clarifies the ideas of liminality, communitas and anti-structure:

I have used the term "anti-structure,"... to describe both liminality and what I have called "communitas." I meant by it not a structural reversal... but the liberation of human capacities of cognition, affect, volition, creativity, etc., from the normative constraints incumbent upon occupying a sequence of social statuses (1982:44).

It is the potential of an anti-structured liminal person or liminal society (i.e., communitas) that makes Turner's ideas so engaging. People or societies in a liminal phase are a "kind of institutional capsule or pocket which contains the germ of future social developments, of societal change" (Turner, 1982:45)

writing about controversial issues

http://www.bath.ac.uk/ipr/pdf/guides/guide-to-writing-contentious-issues.pdf

bible belt mdia stereotypes

http://www.alternet.org/story/154794/5_big_media_stereotypes_about_the_south_(and_the_real_story_behind_them)

coming out

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/05/23/us/20110523-coming-out.html?_r=0

Michael Szonyi Secularization Theories

http://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/11130448/Szonyi_Secularization.pdf?sequence=1

primitivism

FREUD, SMITH, AND FEUER BACH ON SACRIFICE.

Authors:

Levitt, Cyril1 levittc@mcmaster.ca

Source:

Canadian Journal of Psychoanalysis. 2010, Vol. 18 Issue 1, p20-42. 23p.

Document Type:

Article

Subject Terms:

*THEORY
*IDEA (Philosophy)
*PRIMITIVISM

People:

FREUD, Sigmund, 1856-1939 -- Psychology
SMITH, W. Robertson (William Robertson), 1846-1894
FEUERBACH, Ludwig, 1804-1872

Abstract (English):

This paper concerns the origins, significance, and social context of the theory of sacrifice embraced by Freud in Totem and Taboo. Freud attributed the theory to William Robertson Smith (1889/1927) but Ludwig Feuerbach, whose works Freud had intensively studied as a student, had outlined the major points of "Smith's" theory in 1862. Had Freud read Feuerbach's essay and, if so, what was the significance of his " forgetting" it? We compare the main points in Feuerbach and Smith in relation to Freud's ideas. Accordingly, we consider aspects of sacrifice and relate them to Freud's notions of orality, incorporation, and identification, to ambivalence and to the relationship of "primitivism" and civilization in the social and cultural anthropology of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. The centrality of "blood" in sacrifice is seen both as a contribution to and an expression of the cultural trends of vampirism in fiction, and the Protestant revivalism of the period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Levitt, C. (2010). FREUD, SMITH, AND FEUER BACH ON SACRIFICE. Canadian Journal Of Psychoanalysis, 18(1), 20-42.

totem and animism

Totem (tō′təm), an object, usually an animal or plant (or all animals or plants of that species), that is revered by members of a particular social group because of a mystical or ritual relationship that exists with that group. The totem—or rather, the spirit it embodies—represents the bond of unity within a tribe, a clan, or some similar group. Generally, the members of the group believe that they are descended from a totem ancestor, or that they and the totem are "brothers." The totem may be regarded as a group symbol and as a protector of the members of the group. In most cases the totemic animal or plant is the object of taboo: it may be forbidden to kill or eat the sacred animal. The symbol of the totem may be tattooed on the body, engraved on weapons, pictured in masks, or (among Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest) carved on totem poles. In some cultures males have one totem and females another, but, generally speaking, totemism is associated with clans or blood relatives. Marriage between members of the same totemic group is commonly prohibited.

Bibliography

See J. G. Frazer, Totemism and Exogamy (4 vol., 1910; repr. 1968); E. Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (1915, repr. 1965); S. Freud, Totem and Taboo (1918, repr. 1960); A. Goldenweiser, History, Psychology, and Culture (1933); C. Lévi-Strauss, Totemism (tr. 1963).

Animism.

Source:

Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition. Sep2013, p1-1. 1p.

Document Type:

Reference Entry

Abstract:

Animism, belief in personalized, supernatural beings (or souls) that often inhabit ordinary animals and objects, governing their existence. British anthropologist Sir Edward Burnett Tylor argued in Primitive Culture (1871) that this belief was the most primitive and essential form of religion, and that it derived from people's self-conscious experience of the intangible, such as one's reflected image or dreams. He has been criticized for deducing that the chief function of religion is to explain various phenomena. Robert Marett studied among the Melanesians of the South Seas, noting the concept of mana, or supernatural power independent of any soul. He described the belief in such a force as animatism. People may also use mana; for example, a weapon that has killed many animals may be thought to have mana, and charms believed to have mana may be placed to protect gardens. French sociologist Emile Durkheim, in his Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912, tr. 1965), argued that the roots of religion lay in totemism (see totem), where certain objects or animals are treated as sacred objects. Although these early conceptions of animism, animitism, and totemism have been contested and revised, the terms are still used by some anthropologists to describe certain religious beliefs and rituals. See fetish; taboo; amulet; idol; shaman; ancestor worship. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

 

Copyright of Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition is the property of Columbia University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.(Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

writing feature articles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUGDPKOGepM

real but not dry
unique angle that grabs your readers
subject expert

letter of query

http://www.aboutfreelancewriting.com/2009/08/magazine-query-letter-sample/

http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/844651-How-to-Write-a-Query-Letter