scholarly journals Peculiarities of Transformation of the Original Religious Beliefs of Australian Indigenous Societies in Modern Conditions

2008 ◽  
pp. 60-68
Author(s):  
Dmytro V. Bazyk
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Traditional Beliefs ◽  
Distant Region

Indigenous beliefs of Australia have attracted the attention of numerous generations of researchers of the XIX - XX centuries. The reasons for this interest were not limited by the exotic beliefs of the traditional beliefs of the distant region of the planet. Anthropologists, ethnographers, sociologists, historians and religious scholars, considering the preservation of one of the most archaic systems of economy and social organization among the tribes of Australia, respectively, considered the aboriginal beliefs as a spiritual result, reflecting the most archaic system of social relations, referring to them as a kind , "The standard of primordial religion." So, the Soviet researcher S. Tokarev notes that the beliefs of Australians are the most archaic religious phenomenon that has remained to this day and a classic, typical example of totemism.

scholarly journals On ambivalent image of death in the language of Ossetic culture

Kavkaz-forum ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Е.Б. БЕСОЛОВА
Keyword(s):  
Complex System ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Common Knowledge ◽  
Traditional Beliefs ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Self Development ◽  
Parallel Forms ◽  
Internal Sources ◽  
Over Time

Материал – лингвистический, археологический, этнографический, фольклорный и эпический – свидетельствует о том, что у алан, предков осетин, параллельно, в виде взаимосвязанных и взаимообусловленных ритуалов, наличествовали многообразные формы религиозных верований, которые со временем оформились в систему религиозных представлений и культовой практики. Они, пополняясь всё новыми формами, передавались из поколения в поколение, перейдя в традицию. Содержание синкретической религии алан-осетин возникло на основе веры в реальные действия некоего сверхъестественного персонажа, сформировавшегося в их сознании под действием характера социальных отношений и религиозных традиций. Становление и сохранение религиозных представлений алан-осетин обусловлено было спонтанным развитием самого этноса, внутренними источниками саморазвития, присущими ему и делавшими его самобытным, неповторимым. Внешние влияния – лишь элементы, способствовавшие этому развитию. Как известно, аланы, предки осетин, обладали высокой духовной культурой, свидетельством чего являются произведения устного народного творчества. В них запечатлена идеология аланского общества, представлявшая собой удивительную, но сложную систему верований, обычаев и обрядов, динамически развивавшихся во времени. В статье предпринята попытка отследить в мифолого-религиозном симбиозе традиционных верований общеаланские представления о загробном мире, пронизывавших мировоззрение алан и оставленных в наследие их потомкам – осетинам, обосновать их амбивалентный характер, символический и конвенциональный язык. Linguistic, archaeological, ethnographic, folklore and epic material indicates that the Alans, the ancestors of the Ossetians, in the form of interconnected and interdependent rituals, had diverse parallel forms of religious notions that eventually moulded into a system of religious beliefs and cult practices. They were extended with new forms, passed down from generation to generation, having developed into tradition. The content of the syncretic religion of the Alans-Ossetians arose on the basis of a belief in the real actions of a certain supernatural character that had been formed in their minds under the influence of the nature of social relations and religious traditions. The formation and preservation of the religious beliefs of the Alans-Ossetians was affected by the spontaneous development of the ethnos itself, internal sources of self-development, inherent in it, making it distinctive, unique. External influences are just elements that contributed to this development. It is common knowledge, that the Alans, the ancestors of the Ossetians, had a high spiritual culture, as evidenced by the works of verbal folklore. They capture the ideology of the Alan society, which was an amazing but complex system of beliefs, customs and rituals that developed dynamically over time. The article makes an attempt to trace in the mythological and religious symbiosis of traditional beliefs the Alanian ideas about the afterlife that permeated the Alans worldview and left legacy to their descendants − Ossetians, to justify their ambivalent nature, symbolic and conventional language.

The Mexican Inquisition and the Indians: Sources for the Ethnohistorian

1978 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-344 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard E. Greenleaf
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Culture Shock ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Colonial Mexico ◽  
Prime Concern ◽  
Catholic Culture ◽  
Burial Rites ◽  
Religious Syncretism

The Holy Office of the Inquisition in colonial Mexico had as its purpose the defense of Spanish religion and Spanish-Catholic culture against individuals who held heretical views and people who showed lack of respect for religious principles. Inquisition trials of Indians suggest that a prime concern of the Mexican Church in the sixteenth century was recurrent idolatry and religious syncretism. During the remainder of the colonial period and until 1818, the Holy Office of the Inquisition continued to investigate Indian transgressions against orthodoxy, and to provide the modern researcher with unique documentation for the study of mixture of religious beliefs. The “Procesos de Indios” and other subsidiary documentation from Inquisition archives present crucial data for the ethnologist and ethnohistorian, preserving for him a view of native religion at the time of Spanish contact, eyewitness accounts of post-conquest idolatry and sacrifice, burial rites, native dances and ceremonies as well as data on genealogy, social organization, political intrigues, and cultural dislocation as the Iberian and Mesoamerican civilizations collided. As “culture shock” continued to reverberate across the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Inquisition manuscripts reveal the extent of Indian resistance or accommodation to Spanish Catholic culture.

Political Economy of the Crisis in Post-Colonial Zimbabwe

2008 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Smart E. Otu
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Short Circuit ◽  
Basic Material ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Current Crisis ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Milieu ◽  
Organization Of Production

Conventional western social science scholars hold the view that the current crisis in Zimbabwe is but the consequence of misgovernance by President Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF led government. This paper debunks this viewpoint and considers it a short-circuit analysis of the complex nature of Zimbabwe’s crisis. Instead, the political economy approach is adopted which is considered more far-reaching, holistic, historic, dialectic, and more empirically-scientific-based. The critical analysis of the crisis reveals that the key to the current socio-economic and political impasse in Zimbabwe lies in the nature of the social organization of production and the class character of both colonial and postcolonial Zimbabwe’s social system which are strongly tied to the land issue. To this end, the paper confirms that Zimbabwe’s economy, polity and social relations are organized in a manner that many Zimbabweans are at the fringe of the social structure. The main argument of this paper is that social organization of production in Zimbabwe is such that does not guarantee ordinary Zimbabweans access to land to produce their basic material needs, and to participate in making decision about how this major means of production is organized for production, distribution and consumption. This paper concludes by noting that the way out of the current crisis in Zimbabwe lies in a radical overhauling of the feeble social organization of production while not undermining the importance of a congenial political milieu in Zimbabwe

scholarly journals Social Organization of Work and Labour Conflicts in Proto-Industrial Iron Production in Sweden, Belgium and Russia

1994 ◽  
Vol 39 (S2) ◽  
pp. 83-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Florén
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Single Mode ◽  
Iron Production ◽  
Organization Of Work ◽  
The Social ◽  
Societal Context ◽  
Rural World

There exists no such thing as a single mode for the social organization of proto-industrial iron production, but a number of alternative ways. In the following article the dominance of one or another mode is viewed as dependent on its societal context, and not least on the social relations of the rural world. Each mode of organization had its own peculiarities and generated its own contradictions and conflicts.

Persistence of Native Values: The Inquisition and the Indians of Colonial Mexico

1994 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 351-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard E. Greenleaf
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Culture Shock ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Colonial Mexico ◽  
Prime Concern ◽  
Catholic Culture ◽  
Burial Rites ◽  
Religious Syncretism

The Holy Office of the Inquisition in colonial Mexico had as its purpose the defense of Spanish religion and Spanish-Catholic culture against individuals who held heretical views and people who showed lack of respect for religious principles. Inquisition trials of Indians suggest that a prime concern of the Mexican Church in the sixteenth century was recurrent idolatry and religious syncretism. During the remainder of the colonial period and until 1818, the Holy Office of the Inquisition continued to investigate Indian transgressions against orthodoxy as well as provide the modern researcher with unique documentation for the study of mixture of religious beliefs. The “procesos de indios” and other subsidiary documentation from Inquisition archives present crucial data for the ethnologist and ethnohistorian, preserving a view of native religion at the time of Spanish contact, eyewitness accounts of post-conquest idolatry and sacrifice, burial rites, native dances and ceremonies as well as data on genealogy, social organization, political intrigues, and cultural dislocation as the Iberian and Mesoamerican civilizations collided. As “culture shock” continued to reverberate across the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Inquisition manuscripts reveal the extent of Indian resistance or accommodation to Spanish Catholic culture.

Aspects of Navaho Life: An Appraisal of Two Recent Studies

1950 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-72
Author(s):  
Berard Haile
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Education Research ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Human Development ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
The United States ◽  
Indian Education ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
The University ◽  
Marked Tendency

In 1910 the Franciscan Fathers of St. Michaels, Arizona, published An Ethnologic Dictionary of the Navaho Language which presented a first-hand ethnographic account of the Navaho. In the preparation of this work, native assistants and headmen were always insistent upon choosing informants among men “who knew their stuff” and ignoring the rank and file. In addition to following these native leads, the Franciscans followed the practice of many anthropologists of those days, of presenting facts without attempting their analysis. No doubt, a knowledge of the way of life, the customs, industries, religious beliefs and social organization of the Navaho would assist the men in missionizing the tribe. The work has served and still does serve this purpose.Anthropology, however, has made great strides since those early days. In recent years especially, there has been a marked tendency to join up with psychology in an effort to interpret anthropological facts. A recent example of this tendency is afforded by two very important studies by Clyde Kluckhohn and Dorothea Leighton. The volumes are part of a series of monographs written under the auspices of the Indian Education Research Project and “undertaken jointly by the Committee of Human Development of the University of Chicago and the United States Office of Indian Affairs” (LK, p. vii).

Dumézil's Tripartite Ideology: Some Critical Observations

1974 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Gonda
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Social Structure ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Linguistic Data ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Mutual Relations ◽  
The Comparative Study

In a long series of important and stimulating publications Georges Dumézil has for almost half a century not only re-established a complex of theories with regard to the comparative study of ancient Indo-European mythology, but also applied a modernized comparative method. In investigating the foundations of the Indo-European socio-religious conceptions he bases his arguments and conclusions, it is true, to a certain extent on linguistic data, but these are always amplified and corroborated by a thorough consideration of the social structure, religious beliefs and ritual institutions of the ancient Indians, Romans, Germans, Celts and Greeks. Especially these last thirty-five years his work is of great originality in that he has founded and developed the theory of the trois fonctions, of the “three fundamental activities which the groups of priests, warriors and producers must fulfil and assure in order to maintain their community”. In this theory it is not the tripartite social organization of the prehistoric Indo-Europeans that is emphasized, but the principle of classification, the ideology to which, in Dumézil's opinion, this organization has given rise. Being reflected in the groupings of, and mutual relations between, the divine powers and in the very structure of Indo-European mythology and view of the world it is here again the ideological rather than the strictly sociological aspects that invite the reader's attention.

Contact and Postcontact Iñupiat Ethnohistory

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glenn W. Sheehan ◽  
Anne M. Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Settlement Patterns ◽  
Additional Research ◽  
Mortuary Practices ◽  
Contact Period

This chapter covers the contact and postcontact period of Iñupiat history in northern and northwestern Alaska, drawing on archaeological and ethnohistorical records. The period of interest saw gradually increasing interaction with Europeans—initially Russian, and eventually British and American. In terms of archaeology, though, the contact period, and in particular the nineteenth century, is under-represented. This chapter covers the radical changes impacting Iñupiat society in terms of settlement patterns, warfare, trade, architecture, social relations, mortuary practices and the history and effects of contact with Euro-Americans. Several areas that could benefit from additional research are highlighted, including continued research on early political and social organization, as well as projects aimed at understanding early non-Native sites in the region.

scholarly journals TRADITIONAL RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND RITES OF SHESHKUPS / SHESHKUMS ACCORDING TO THE DATA OF FIELD ETHNOGRAPHIC MATERIALS OF THE XX–XXI CENTURIES

2021 ◽  
pp. 168-179
Author(s):  
Наталья Викторовна Сайнакова
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Local Group ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Sacred Places ◽  
Traditional Beliefs ◽  
Birch Trees ◽  
Local Residents ◽  
The Village

Данная статья посвящена исследованию вопроса о традиционных воззрениях и обрядах этнографической (диалектно-локальной) группы шёшкупов/шёшкумов. На основе анализа исследовательской литературы и полевого этнографического материала, собранного разными исследователями-селькуповедами, были выявлены факты о предназначении священных мест в окрестностях д. Иванкино. В данном исследовании удалось определить особенности религиозных верований среднеобских селькупов: они оставляли кузова с семейными лозами не только на чердаках, но и в труднопроходимой кочкарной согре, «подвешивали» духов на березе. Собранные сведения позволяют говорить о сохранении традиционных верований (представлений о домашних духах-помощниках, культовых местах) у местных жителей до конца ХХ в., о чем свидетельствуют материалы, записанные от информантов из д. Иванкино даже в XXI в. This paper is devoted to the study of the issue about traditional views and rituals of the ethnographic (dialectal-local) group of Sheshkups / Sheshkums. Facts about the purpose of sacred places in the vicinity of the village Ivankino, based on the analysis of research literature and field ethnographic material collected by various researchers-selkupologists, were revealed. In this study, it was possible to determine the peculiarities of the religious beliefs of the Middle Ob Selkups: they left baskets with family figures of spirits-helpers not only in attics, but also in almost impassable hillock sogra, and “hung” spirits on birch trees. The collected information allows speaking about the preservation of traditional beliefs (ideas about domestic spirits-helpers, places of worship) among local residents until the end of the 20th century, as evidenced by materials recorded from informants of the village Ivankino even in the 21st century.

scholarly journals RATIONALITY AND RESPONSIBILITY: BENCHMARKS TO RE-EVALUATE THE LAW IN THE CONTEXT OF THE PANDEMIC CRISIS

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 3-14
Author(s):  
Rodica CIOBANU
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Human Situation ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Face ◽  
Key Dimensions ◽  
Human Responsibility ◽  
The Individual ◽  
State Organization

Human and social vulnerability in the face of the pandemic once again raises the question of knowledge and of the two key dimensions of the individual (rationality and responsibility) framed in the various relationships they establish (with nature, with other individuals, with state institutions etc.). These become relationships of knowledge and awareness concerning the facts and laws of social-state organization. Being aware that the pandemic crisis left its mark on all areas of life, changing the nature of human relations, affecting the benchmarks of values, and requiring a review of the foundations of social organization, we believe it necessary to assess the current situation through a systemic approach aimed at identifying the benchmarks of the balance between individuality and sociality. Thanks to the assessment of the interdependencies between the individual and the social, the following objectives were addressed: to define the changes caused by the pandemic and analyze the social processes; to validate the decisions taken by the authorities from a logical, praxeological and axiological point of view; to emphasize the importance of norms and principles in the social organization; to determine the role of social actors in overcoming the crisis, and to assess how social relations have evolved under pandemic conditions. Therefore, the present article, applying an interdisciplinary methodology to the pandemic crisis, aims to evaluate, understand and raise awareness of the situation and its impact on the social and human situation, where solidarity, rationality, and human responsibility are being reassessed.

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