Power point- Michael Lambek view on religion of anthropology and totemism
The goal of this presentation is easy. Based on the article I sent you, every student has to present positon one contemporary anthropologist he chooses concerning five questions:
The term ‘religion’: How significant and intellectually creditable do you consider the term ‘religion’? How helpful is it to your own research and writing?
Personal standpoint: What are the reasons that, in the anthropology of religion, there is particularly extensive attention to the personal standpoint of individual scholars and, specifically, to the extent of their involvement with the religious tradition und;;er scrutiny?
Distance: What significance, in your own analytical work, has the preservation (or creation) of distance from the religious cultures that you examine?
Assimilation: Which strategy (distance or assimilation) is more effective when members of religious groups make efforts to convert the researcher to their own beliefs?
Openness: Does the accessibility of research results to the members of the groups under scrutiny represent a problem or an opportunity for scholars?
Requirements:
The purpose of your presentation is to refer the views of the selected researcher on your own. That’s mean that your presentation should consist of two steps:
Firstly, you should report on the views of the scholar selected by you, addressing the following issues:
(1) Has he or she responded to all the questions?
(2) How exactly did that person respond to the ones he or she referred to?
(3) Which of these questions were highlighted as the most important and why?
Secondly, you should present your own opinion on the reported views, containing three elements:
(1) An explanation of why this author was chosen.
(2) Indication of the statements you considered the most interesting, together with the reasons for this choice.
(3) Presentation of the views/statements/theses that you do not accept or understand.
Answer preview:
8 slides