powerAnthropologists typically examine which of the following in order to understand religion's meaning andsignificance in the life of a community of people?
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What is one of the primary reasons that the study of religion in anthropology is difficult?
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Whether studying a small temple in a remote village or the most famous Catholic cathedral in Rome,anthropologists try to convey each religion's sense of moral order, dynamic public expressions, and:
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Which of the following is a person who sacrifices his or her life for the sake of his or her religion?
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French sociologist Emile Durkheim developed the notion of a fundamental dichotomy between which ofthe following sets of ideas that has been used by anthropologists in examining religion?
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An anthropologist studying football in the United States might find that taboos, sacred objects, and________ are in almost constant use.
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journal article
Anthropological Conceptions of Religion: Reflections on GeertzMan
New Series, Vol. 18, No. 2 (Jun., 1983)
, pp. 237-259 (23 pages)
Published By: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland
//doi.org/10.2307/2801433
//www.jstor.org/stable/2801433
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Abstract
This article examines Geertz's well-known definition of religion, with its emphasis on meanings, and argues that it omits the crucial dimension of power, that it ignores the varying social conditions for the production of knowledge, and that its initial plausibility derives from the fact that it resembles the privatised forms of religion so characteristic of moder (Christian) society, on which power and knowledge are no longer significantly generated by religious institutions. A critical evaluation of Geertz's text is accompanied by brief explorations of some of the ways in which power and knowledge were connected in medieval Christianity. The article ends with a plea for investigating religion with reference to the historical conditions necessary for the existence of particular practices and discourse.
Publisher Information
The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (RAI) is the world's longest-established scholarly association dedicated to the furtherance of anthropology (the study of humankind) in its broadest and most inclusive sense. The Institute is a non-profit-making registered charity and is entirely independent, with a Director and a small staff accountable to the Council, which in turn is elected annually from the Fellowship. It has a Royal Patron in the person of HRH The Duke of Gloucester KG, GCVO.