Student Name
Date
Summer 2019
Professor Name
Reading Response 4
“Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology” edited by Nina Brown, Laura Tubelle de González, and Thomas McIlwraith of the University of Guelph, explained the importance of supernatural beliefs for reshaping the culture. The reading summarizes the theories developed by the anthropologist and identification of four elements of religion. Overall, I felt that the chapter provides an understanding of supernatural belief and its connection with the behavior of the people. In addition, the reading is useful to understand the rites of passage, intensification, and revitalization to know their purpose in our lives. The reading starts with a discussion of supernatural beliefs. Supernatural beliefs are part of the society from the past ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"uRJzzlht","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Brown et al.)","plainCitation":"(Brown et al.)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":793,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/mlRB1JqV/items/NT6CXUGP"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/mlRB1JqV/items/NT6CXUGP"],"itemData":{"id":793,"type":"book","title":"Perspectives: an open invitation to cultural anthropology","source":"Open WorldCat","abstract":"We are delighted to bring to you this novel textbook, a collection of chapters on the essential topics in cultural anthropology. Different from other introductory textbooks, this book is an edited volume with each chapter written by a different author. Each author has written from their experiences working as an anthropologist and that personal touch makes for an accessible introduction to cultural anthropology. Our approach to cultural anthropology is holistic. We see the interconnectedness of cultural practices and, in all of the chapters, we emphasize the comparison of cultures and the ways of life of different peoples. We start with Laura Nader's observation that cultural differences need not be seen as a problem. In our complicated world of increasing migration, nationalism, and climate challenges, cultural diversity might actually be the source of conflict resolution and new approaches to ensuring a healthier world. Indeed, as Katie Nelson reminds us, anthropology exposes the familiarity in the ideas and practices of others that seem bizarre. Robert Borofsky advocates for anthropology's ability to empower people and facilitate good. Borofsky calls on anthropologists to engage with a wider public to bring our incredible stories and important insights to helping resolve the most critical issues we face in the world today. This book brings Nader, Nelson, Borofsky, and many others together to demonstrate that our anthropological understandings can help all of us to improve the lives of people the world over. We need you, as students, to see the possibilities. As instructors, we want to help you share anthropological knowledge and understanding easily. We want all readers to be inspired by the intensely personal writings of the anthropologists who contribute to this volume.","ISBN":"978-1-931303-55-2","note":"OCLC: 1050870316","title-short":"Perspectives","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Brown","given":"Nina"},{"family":"González","given":"Laura Tubelle","dropping-particle":"de"},{"family":"McIlwraith","given":"Thomas"},{"literal":"BC Open Textbook Project"},{"literal":"BCcampus"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2017"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Brown et al.). It is therefore easy to relate the reading with the real-life examples. The distinctions between the beliefs in different religion were explained. For instance, some people have faith on afterlife while some does not. "Religion" is not just a word it is a distinct form of the faith. The reading does not have weak points on which question can be raised. It is because the reading consists of facts and terms taken from the real world. The author has explained different terms like religion, magic, sorcerers, and their role in the culture. In addition, theories of religion have presented which is also totally based on the philosopher's perspective. Although theories developed by Freud, Marx, and Durkheim are described in the chapter but I have found Marx theory more realistic. The point he raised that, “religion created an illusion of happiness that helped people cope with the economic difficulties of life under capitalism” is true and can be identified in the real world ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"ACulrBut","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Brown et al.)","plainCitation":"(Brown et al.)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":793,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/mlRB1JqV/items/NT6CXUGP"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/mlRB1JqV/items/NT6CXUGP"],"itemData":{"id":793,"type":"book","title":"Perspectives: an open invitation to cultural anthropology","source":"Open WorldCat","abstract":"We are delighted to bring to you this novel textbook, a collection of chapters on the essential topics in cultural anthropology. Different from other introductory textbooks, this book is an edited volume with each chapter written by a different author. Each author has written from their experiences working as an anthropologist and that personal touch makes for an accessible introduction to cultural anthropology. Our approach to cultural anthropology is holistic. We see the interconnectedness of cultural practices and, in all of the chapters, we emphasize the comparison of cultures and the ways of life of different peoples. We start with Laura Nader's observation that cultural differences need not be seen as a problem. In our complicated world of increasing migration, nationalism, and climate challenges, cultural diversity might actually be the source of conflict resolution and new approaches to ensuring a healthier world. Indeed, as Katie Nelson reminds us, anthropology exposes the familiarity in the ideas and practices of others that seem bizarre. Robert Borofsky advocates for anthropology's ability to empower people and facilitate good. Borofsky calls on anthropologists to engage with a wider public to bring our incredible stories and important insights to helping resolve the most critical issues we face in the world today. This book brings Nader, Nelson, Borofsky, and many others together to demonstrate that our anthropological understandings can help all of us to improve the lives of people the world over. We need you, as students, to see the possibilities. As instructors, we want to help you share anthropological knowledge and understanding easily. We want all readers to be inspired by the intensely personal writings of the anthropologists who contribute to this volume.","ISBN":"978-1-931303-55-2","note":"OCLC: 1050870316","title-short":"Perspectives","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Brown","given":"Nina"},{"family":"González","given":"Laura Tubelle","dropping-particle":"de"},{"family":"McIlwraith","given":"Thomas"},{"literal":"BC Open Textbook Project"},{"literal":"BCcampus"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2017"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Brown et al.). The common elements of religion that the author explained include cosmology, supernatural, rules governing behavior, and ritual. I can identify the two elements that are supernatural and ritual around me present in almost every religion including Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and, Judaism. However, the author discussed the concept of animism which I found incorrect. For instance, Islam does not believe in animism, they have faith in God only not on any object, animal or weather as the author discussed.
Another issue that I have with the reading is about the rules of behavior. According to the author, Buddhism has a strong connection between rules of everyday behavior and spiritual beliefs ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"AQRVVmOP","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Brown et al.)","plainCitation":"(Brown et al.)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":793,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/mlRB1JqV/items/NT6CXUGP"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/mlRB1JqV/items/NT6CXUGP"],"itemData":{"id":793,"type":"book","title":"Perspectives: an open invitation to cultural anthropology","source":"Open WorldCat","abstract":"We are delighted to bring to you this novel textbook, a collection of chapters on the essential topics in cultural anthropology. Different from other introductory textbooks, this book is an edited volume with each chapter written by a different author. 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Borofsky calls on anthropologists to engage with a wider public to bring our incredible stories and important insights to helping resolve the most critical issues we face in the world today. This book brings Nader, Nelson, Borofsky, and many others together to demonstrate that our anthropological understandings can help all of us to improve the lives of people the world over. We need you, as students, to see the possibilities. As instructors, we want to help you share anthropological knowledge and understanding easily. We want all readers to be inspired by the intensely personal writings of the anthropologists who contribute to this volume.","ISBN":"978-1-931303-55-2","note":"OCLC: 1050870316","title-short":"Perspectives","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Brown","given":"Nina"},{"family":"González","given":"Laura Tubelle","dropping-particle":"de"},{"family":"McIlwraith","given":"Thomas"},{"literal":"BC Open Textbook Project"},{"literal":"BCcampus"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2017"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Brown et al.). This is true but I think not only Buddhism every religion provides people a way of life that can make God happy along with making their life easier. Other religions not only distinguish between good deeds and sins they also connect behavior with the spiritual belief just like Buddhism. Section under rituals and religious practitioners is well explained with numbers of examples related to the present world. The most thought-provoking part was the explanation of “prophet” and the difference between profit and priest. For me, this reading is very informative as it is significant to understand the emotional, spiritual, and social contribution of the beliefs and religion to make the culture and human experience ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"sOpMsrIs","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Brown et al.)","plainCitation":"(Brown et al.)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":793,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/mlRB1JqV/items/NT6CXUGP"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/mlRB1JqV/items/NT6CXUGP"],"itemData":{"id":793,"type":"book","title":"Perspectives: an open invitation to cultural anthropology","source":"Open WorldCat","abstract":"We are delighted to bring to you this novel textbook, a collection of chapters on the essential topics in cultural anthropology. 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Robert Borofsky advocates for anthropology's ability to empower people and facilitate good. Borofsky calls on anthropologists to engage with a wider public to bring our incredible stories and important insights to helping resolve the most critical issues we face in the world today. This book brings Nader, Nelson, Borofsky, and many others together to demonstrate that our anthropological understandings can help all of us to improve the lives of people the world over. We need you, as students, to see the possibilities. As instructors, we want to help you share anthropological knowledge and understanding easily. We want all readers to be inspired by the intensely personal writings of the anthropologists who contribute to this volume.","ISBN":"978-1-931303-55-2","note":"OCLC: 1050870316","title-short":"Perspectives","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Brown","given":"Nina"},{"family":"González","given":"Laura Tubelle","dropping-particle":"de"},{"family":"McIlwraith","given":"Thomas"},{"literal":"BC Open Textbook Project"},{"literal":"BCcampus"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2017"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Brown et al.).
Word count: 507
Work Cited:
ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Brown, Nina, et al. Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology. 2017.
