Sunday, February 5, 2012

The Study of Myth

Myths are tales sacred or religious in nature social rather than individual or anecdotal in subject matter and concerned with the origin or creation of phenomena whether natural ,supernatural or socio-cultural.Myths may be acted out in particular rituals.Myths and rituals share common symbolic elements and are complementary aspects of creative and religious expression.


Boas saw myth as a repository of information about culture and culture traits as well as a guide to regional relations between groups.

Malinowski saw them as a charter for social action.Rationalizations used to explain and justify what people do,their customs and behavior.

Claude Levi-Strauss who initially studied law and philosophy did fieldwork among the Bororo Indians.According to him,myth is a type of thought an example of universal,structural principles that underlie all human cultural and social systems.Myth is used to reflect on and symbolically mediate or resolve universal and culturally specific contradictions or oppositions.

Oppositions are binary- death/creation,maternal/paternal,raw/cooked.Myths endlessly combine and recombine the different symbolic elements.The different versions of myth demonstrates  constant creation and modification of mythical knowledge and thought.For Levi Strauss the essence of culture is structure,each culture having its own configurations or structures.These structures exist as part of a worldwide system of all possible structures founded on the psychic unity of mankind.

No comments:

Labels

Aboriginal (1) Acheulian tool (1) Age-Groups (1) Alliance (1) Animatism (1) anthropology (1) Anthropology of Art (1) Ashrama system (1) Associations (1) Attributes of Culture (1) autochthony (1) avoidance (1) Basics (1) bio ethics (1) biological adaptation (1) Birsa Movement (1) Bongaism (1) branches of anthropology (1) Bride Wealth (1) Cargo Cults (1) Castes among Muslims (1) Catholics (1) civilization (1) Clifford Geertz (2) Cognitive Anthropology (1) Compadrazgo (1) Cope's law (1) Cross Cousin (1) cultural anthrology (1) Cultural Borrowings (1) cultural citizenship (1) Cultural Ecology (1) Cultural imperialism (1) Cultural Materialism (1) cultural rights (1) culture (2) Culture and Motive (1) Darwinism (1) Demographic Transition (1) Derek Freeman (1) descent (2) Deviance (1) Diffusionism (1) DNA (1) DNA Technology (1) dollo's law (1) Dormitories (1) Dowry (1) Durkheim (1) Early Human Ancestors (1) Eco System Concept (1) Ecological Anthropology (1) Edward Sapir (1) emic/etic (1) Endogamy (1) Environment (1) Eskimo System of Kinship (1) Ethnicity (1) Ethnocentric (1) ethnoecology (1) Ethnographic Monographs (1) ethnography (1) Evans Pritchard (2) Evolutionism (1) Exogamy (1) Extended family (1) family (2) Female Genital Mutilation (1) Feminism (1) field studies (1) fieldwork (1) Flake Culture (1) folklore (1) fossil (1) Functional Theories on Primitive Religion (1) Gause's law (1) gender bias (1) Gender expectations (1) Generalized Exchange (1) Genetic Adaptation (1) Genetic Change (1) Genetic Screening (1) Genetics (1) Genetics and its Relevance to Physical Anthropology (1) George Peter Murdock (1) Hardy-Weinberg Law of Equilibrium (1) Hawaiian System of Kinship (1) Hominids (1) Homo Erectus (1) Homo Habilis (1) Homo Hierarchies (1) honor killing (1) Human Evolution (1) human rights (1) Incest prohibition (1) Independent Invention (1) indian anthropology (1) Indigenous People (1) Indus Valley Civilization (1) Intellectual Property Rights (1) Iroquois System of Kinship (1) J.C Frazer (1) jajmani system (1) Jean Baudrillard (1) Jean Dreze (1) Joint Family (1) Joking Relationship (1) Julian Steward (1) kin (1) Kin Behaviour (1) kindred (1) law (1) Leslie White (1) Levirate (1) Lucy Mair (1) magic science (1) Mandelbaum (1) Marcel Mauss (1) Marett (1) Margaret Mead (1) Marxism and Anthropology (1) Mendelian Principle (1) Michel Foucault (1) Microliths (1) Middle Palaeolithic Culture (1) Migration and tribal communities (1) modernization (1) multiculturalism (1) Mysore (1) myth (1) Nadel (1) Neanderthal Man (1) Non Unilineal or Cognatic Systems (1) Notes and Queries (1) Nuclear Family (1) Nuer (1) Organic evolution (2) origin of state (1) origins (1) Oscar Lewis (1) Paleo River (1) Parallel Cousin (1) Participatory Rapid Assessment (1) Patterns of Culture (1) Pedigree Analysis (1) Polyandry (1) Polygyny (1) Population Genetics (1) Pre-history (1) PreHarrapan settlements (1) primitive (1) profane (1) Proto- history (1) Purushartha (1) Race (2) racism (1) Radcliffe-Brown (1) Recombinant DNA Technology (1) Reflexivity (1) Reinventing Anthropology (1) Religion (2) Religion and science (1) religious beliefs (1) research (1) Restricted Exchange (1) Rhina (1) rig vedic society (1) Robert Redfield (1) Rules of Residence (1) Ruth Benedict (3) sacred (1) Sacred Complex (1) Sacrifice (1) San hunter-gatherers (1) sanction (1) Scheduled Areas (1) scope of anthropology (1) Secret Societies (1) sex-gender (1) Sir James George Frazer (1) Social Institutions (1) Social Network (1) Social-Psychological Perspectives (1) society (1) sorcery (1) Sororate (1) state (1) Status (1) Status of women in tribal society (1) Stebbins (1) stone age communities (1) stone tools (1) Style of Life (1) symbolic culture (1) Symbolism (1) Syncretism (1) Synthetic Perspectives (1) Taboo (1) Teknonymy (1) terraces (1) Textual Approach and Contextual Approach (1) The Golden Bough (1) Thomas Malthus (1) tobacco (1) Totem (1) Trade and Barter (1) Tradition (1) Transactionalism (1) Tribal Religion (1) Tribal Sub plan (1) tribe (1) Upper Palaeolithic (1) Upper Palaeolithic Period (1) urban revolution (1) Urbanization (1) witchcraft (1) world's population 2012 (1)

Popular Posts

Blog Archive

Subscribe Now: bloglines

Subscribe in Bloglines

Top Education Sites
anthropology,anthropologyguide
Flipkart.com