The Anthropology of Religion, Magic, and Witchcraft

Chapter 12: The Search for New Meaning 

Chapter Summary

A Timeline of Vodou  

Coming Soon!

Multiple Choice Questions 

Revitalization movements are most associated with:

Indigenous movements in Melanesia focused on obtaining material goods and wealth associated with colonial societies were called:

The historical origins of Vodou are in what country?

According to your text, which of the following is not a primary characteristic of fundamentalist groups?

Which of the following is an example of a high demand religion?

Case Studies 

Video Case Study Activity on Religion, Spirituality, and Health 

Religion and Spirituality: Tools for Better Wellbeing? 

Go to the Gallup blog at https://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/512216/religion-spirituality-tools-better-wellbeing.aspx and read the post on Religion and Spirituality: Tools for Better Wellbeing? from October 2023: 

  • According to the blog, what are the positive effects of faith on human wellbeing? 
  • What do you think are the most important takeaways from this study? 
  • After reading this blog, why do you think religion is important? 

Study Questions

Study Questions for ARMW 

Chapter 12: The Search for New Meaning 

  1. What are the core features of religious revitalization and why do you think this process is so common across cultures? 
  1. Vodou and Santeria are syncretic religions. Discuss how the history of these religions affected their development.  
  1. What is the role of prophecy in the Ghost Dance movements? In what kinds of societies would you expect to find religious movements such as these? Why? 
  1. Why do high demand religions develop? Why do you think people join these religions? 
  1. The Islamic veil has been a controversial symbol in some societies not predominantly Muslim. Describe other controversial religious symbols that you know. 
  1. What does it mean when a person says they are “spiritual but not religious”? Why do you think this is a growing phenomenon today? 

Suggested Readings 

Blumenthal, Ralph, The Believer. Alien Encounters, Hard Science, and the Passion of John Mack (Albuquerque: High Road Books, 2021). A biography of Harvard psychiatrist John Mack who investigated and gave credibility to tales of human encounters with aliens. 

Dunham, Katherine, Island Possessed (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969). Anthropologist, dancer, and choreographer relates her fieldwork in Haiti in 1936, and describes the origins of the Vodou religion. 

Galanter, Marc, Cults. Faith, Healing, and Coercion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999). A psychiatrist offers psychological analysis of charismatic cults. 

Harkin, Michael E., ed., Reassessing Revitalization Movements. Perspectives from North America and the Pacific Islands (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004. An anthology in which the authors extend A.F.C. Wallace’s revitalization movement model to offer a holistic view of them. 

Houk, James T., Spirit, Blood, and Drums. The Orisha Religion in Trinidad (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1995). An anthropologist describes his fieldwork in Trinidad and involvement in the Orisha religion. 

Hurbon, Laënnec, Voodoo. Search for the Spirit, translated by Lory Frankel (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 1995). A richly illustrated overview of the Vodou religion. 

Kracht, Benjamin R., Religious Revitalization among the Kiowas. The Ghost Dance, Peyote, and Christianity (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2018). An ethnohistorical analysis of religious movements among the Kiowas since the late nineteenth century. 

Noblitt, James Randall, and Pamela Sue Perskin. Cult and Ritual Abuse. It’s History, Anthropology, and Recent Discovery in Contemporary America (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2000). A cross-cultural study that suggests that cult and ritual abuse are an age-old phenomenon found in many cultures. 

Warren, Louis S., God’s Red Son. The Ghost Dance Religion and the Making of Modern America (New York, Basic Books, 2017). An award-winning historian interprets the 1890 Ghost Dance as signaling a new fight for religious freedom. 

Suggested Websites  

https://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-ghostdance/ – The Ghost Dance – A Promise of Fulfillment. An overview of the 1869 and 1890 Ghost Dance movements of the American West. 

https://www.watchman.org/index-of-cults-and-religions/ – index of Cults and Religions. An extensive cross-cultural list of religions and cults. 

https://www.asbury.edu/life/news-events/publications/ambassador/spring-2023/outpouring/ – Asbury University website with podcasts from the 2023 Outpouring 

Suggested Video 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmlYe2KS0-Y.

Cargo Cult – YouTube. A short video with footage of a Cargo Cult shrine near Ports Moresby, New Guinea. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVD8eLvig_I

Waiting for John Frum: Cargo Cult of the South Pacific. A documentary filmed in the last stronghold of the John Frum movement on the island of Tanna. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCqf9cr_qOY

The Curious Case of Cargo Cults and the Truly Bizarre Rituals that Manifested. A brief history of Cargo Cults in the South Pacific. 

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