Handbook of Contemporary Animism


Contents

#

Pars

Capitula

Paginae

I.

Different Animisms

1-5.

15-72

II.

Dwelling in Nature

6-10.

75-132

III.

Dwelling in Larger-than-Human Communities

11-16.

135-208

IV.

Dwelling With(out) Things

17-20.

211-270

V.

Dealing with Spirits

21-27.

273-357

VI.

Consciousness and Ways of Knowing

28-34.

361-435

VII.

Animism in Performance

35-40.

439-512


pp. 515-9 authors & authoresses

p.

name


University

publication

515

David Abram

M

of Oslo

Becoming Animal. 2010.


M. J. Barrett

F

of Saskatchewan

--


Marc Bekoff

M

of Colorado at Boulder

Emotional Lives of Animals. 2007.


Nurit Bird-David

F

of Haifa

--


Jenny Blain

F

Sheffield Hallam

Nine Worlds of Seid-Magic. 2002.


Casey Brienza

F

Trinity College

--

516

Patrick Curry

M

of Bath Spa and Kent

Defending Middle-Earth. 1997.


Philippe Descola

M

de France

Beyond Nature & Culture. 2013.


Fritz Detwiler

M

Adrian College in MI

--


Douglas Ezzy

M

of Tasmania

Qualitative Analysis. 2002.


Ronald Grimes

M

Yale and Radboud and Wilfrid Laurier

Rite Out of Place. 2006.


Stewart Guthrie

M

Fordham

Faces in the Clouds. 1993.


Matthew Hall

M

Monash in Australia

Plants as Persons. 2011.


Roberte Hayamon

F

Sorbonne in Paris

Jouer. 2012. (in French)


Stephan Harding

M

Schumacher College

Animate Earth. 2009.


Adrian Harris

M

--

EMBODIMENT RESOURCES.


Graham Harvey

M

Open

Food, Sex and Strangers. 2013.


Linda Hogan

F

of Colorado

Dwellings. 1996.

517

Alf Hornborg

M

Lund in Sweden

Ethnicity in Ancient Amazonia. 2011.


Signe Howell

F

of Oslo

Returns to the Field. 2012.


Tim Ingold

M

of Aberdeen

Making. 2013.


Paul Christopher Johnson

M

of Michigan

Spirited Things, 2013.


Isabella Lepri

F

--

--


Andy Letcher

M

Oxford Brookes

Shroom. 2006.


Kenneth M. Morrison [died 2011]

M

Arizona State

Solidarity of Kin. 2002.


Danny Naveh

M

Haifa; Bar-Ilan; and Tel-Aviv

--


Tord Olsson [died 2013]

M

Lund in Sweden

Alevi Identity. 2003.


Val Plumwood [died 2008]

F

--

Environmental Culture. 2002.


Laura Rival

F

Oxford

Trekking through History. 2002.

518

Deborah Bird Rose

F

of New South Wales

Wild Dog Dreaming. 2011.


Colin Scott

M

McGill in Montreal

--


Robert A. Segal

M

of Aberdeen in Scotland

Study of Religion. 2006.


Martin D. Stringer

M

of Birmingham

Discourses on Religious Diversity. 2013.


Priscilla Stuckey

F

Prescott College in AZ

Kissed by a Fox. 2012.


Olu Taiwo

M

of Winchester

--


Paul-Franc,ois Tremlett

M

Open

Religion and the Discourse on Modernity. 2009.


Max Velmans

M

of London

Consciousness. 2007.


Robert J. Wallis

M

Richmond in London

Shamans/Neo-Shamans. 2003.


Amy Whitehead

F

of Wales

Religious Objects and Performance. 2013.

519

Rane Willerslev

M

Aarhus

Taming Time, Taming Death. 2013.


Part I : Different Animisms

#

Capitulum

Auctor, -trix

Paginae

1.

We Call It Tradition

Linda Hogan

17-26

2.

Animism, Conservation & Immediacy

Danny Naveh & Nurit Bird-David

27-37

3.

Post-Cartesian Anthropology

Kenneth M. Morrison

38-52

4.

Animism for Tylor

Robert A. Segal

53-62

5.

Animism in Contemporary Society

Martin D. Stringer

63-72

Capitula 1-2.

-----------------------------------------------------------

1.

We Call It Tradition

Linda Hogan

17-26


p. 17 two Navaho constellations

"the constellation ... Great Hand ... is the hand that offers help for the souls of the dead to step on the path commonly called the Milky Way, ... where they begin their journey along this Path of Spirits to the world of souls."

"the constellation called The Feather ... wakes ... every sleeping creature dwelling inside ... dens".

{Navaho mythology is (and other other Apac^e mythologies are) largely of Tiwa/Tewa provenience.}


p. 22 balance/harmony

"the words which state best what we all seek are the Navajo word for balance and harmony, Hozho, or

our own (Chickasaw) word Tish, which means not only peace, but the same harmony and state of being in right relation with the cosmos."


p. 23 animals & plants : their liberation and language

"the cause of the Sandinistas

{generous saviours of the people

against the torturous regime of Somoza with its missing people and destroyed villages.

{genocidal mass-murder incited by the vicious and depraved (while dominated by the Republican Party) United States government}

... the revolution in Nicaragua was not only for the people but [also] for the liberation

of the lakes

{e.g., of the swimming animals in them}

and the liberation of the plants."


p. 24 magic wolves

[Northern Cheyenne] "the songs of those they lost {viciously murdered by the United States government} during those painful times {of being victims of genocide by treachery being perpetrated by the United States government} were held in trust for them by the wolves

who taught them back to the people.

{in dreams coming to the people involved}

It is a mystery, but we never know where our songs, our knowledge, our plants, are stored in trust, waiting for our return."

{The plants which are (like wolves) storing some of the knowledge (to be revealed to humans in dreams) are even more secretive than are animals).}


p. 24 the word /god/

"The word God, itself, means "to invoke, to call out {during, or in reference either to dreams or to visions}".

{Though this may be true of some AmerIndian terms translated 'god', yet nevertheless /god/ (Norse /gut-/) is from Skt. /hu-ta-/ 'poured out' : as in, "I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions" (Book of Yo^>el 2:28; quoted in Praxeis of the Apostoloi 2:17).}


p. 25 extension of consciousness ("soul") beyond the body

"we acknowledge that the human spirit lives not just inside our bodies ... but in the world outside of us. ... Our flesh has never been a boundary for the human being. We only reach out from there to occupy the space around us."

{This extension of consciousness beyond the body (and throughout the universe as a whole) is the doctrine of "vibhu", and is quite resisted by the accursed Christian infidel, who is so confoundedly eager to torture to death (as an alleged "hairetic") anyone proclaiming this truth.}

{Extension of the self beyond the material body was the very hairesia (of so-called "witchcraft") on account of which so vast a multitude of perfected saints were tortured to death by the blasphemous Khristian infidel during the agonized ages of domination of Europe by increasingly vicious Christianity (mostly Episcopalianism and Lutheranism).}


-----------------------------------------------------------

2.

Animism, Conservation & Immediacy

Danny Naveh & Nurit Bird-David

27-37


pp. 28, 30-1 absence of /buddhi/ in Muslims and in Christians

p. 28

"Nayaka are forest dwellers who live in


the Wynaad area of the Nil[-]giri[-]s {'Blue Mountains'} hills,

{The Vainad district (which is largely impassable with lantana plants -- ThNG, p. 6) is actually distinct and different from the Nila-giri region propre.}


in South India, in the border area of Tamil Nadu, Kernataka {Karnataka} and Kerala."

p. 30

"kaka ["Muslim" {-- but /kaka/ is Samskr.ta for 'crow', metaphorically "an impudent or insolent fellow" (S-ED)}] ...

{Such infidels as Muslims, Christians, Yhudi^m, and S^amaritans are all impudent and insolent boors, a disgrace to their countries and to their kin.}


are not like us -- they have no budi, they don't know how to cooperate".

{Like the Christians, Muslims are generally rude and insolent infidels of various anti-social types.}

p. 31

"budi ... is ... the correct behaviour ("doing the right thing") in situations where they interact with others".

ThNG = W. Francis : The Nilgiris. MADRAS DISTRICT GAZETTEERS. Madras, 1908. https://books.google.com/books?id=luXS-8vTrJQC&pg=PA6&lpg=PA6&dq=

S-ED = Monier Monier-Williams : Sanskrit-English Dictionary. 1899.


p. 32 forbiddance to cut living trees, or even to cut any living branch thereof

"the Nayaka ... refrained from chopping down non-dry branches from forest trees ... .

{Pueblo Indians observe the same prohibition.}

... the people ... considered chopping of such branches ... a mistake in one's conduct ... this act as one that "hurts" the tree that "like us has a soul". ...

However, when they went ... to gather firewood for selling they did not refrain from cutting wet ... branches.

{This is because in such cases only the buyer would be expected to be divinely blamed and divinely punished.}

Moreover, ... Nayaka men indicriminately chopped down forest trees when non-Nayaka neighbours ... paid them to do so."

{This is because in such cases only whomever hired them would be expected to be divinely blamed and divinely punished.}

{Deities would be expected to establish responsibility and any guilt on the basis of the source of the money being paid (so in the case of any payment; but otherwise blaming the actual cutter). By this standard, any reception of money can absolve from sin -- to accept a bribe is to earn absolution for one's self.}


p. 34 those animals which are enslaved by, and forced to work for, humans -- are regarded (by such humans!) as lacking souls

[North Alaska Eskimo] "Spencer notes that these people regard animals as creatures who have souls. However, he points out that dogs are an exception, that dogs are believed to "lack souls" ([1959]:289, 301, 465-7). ... Now, dogs, like no other animals, are utilized {forced to work as slaves} by North Alaskan Eskimo in various different contexts".

Spencer 1959 = Robert F. Spencer : The North Alaskan Eskimo. BUR OF AMER ETHN, BULLETIN 171. Washington (DC).


pp. 33, 36 prae-empt illnesses & misfortunes

p. 33

"Ko:hler notes that Baka men generally refrain from hunting gorillas and chimpanzees ([2005]:417) ... . ... At the same time, Baka hunters do hunt gorillas and chimpanzees, when they work for their Bantu patrons, who


pay them with imported goods and cash. Ko:hler notes a similar pattern with regard to Baka elephant hunting ... . ... . ... Baka engaged {when thus paid} in ... hunting that ... brought elephants, in some parts of the forest, to the brink of extinction during the early years of the twentieth century (see Bahuchet & Guillaume 1982:200-201)."

{This (the foreign origin of such payment) is deemed critical to the Baka, for their own deities (who would inflict them with severe punishments if the sources of the payments could be traced by such deities) are considered to be quite incapable of tracing to its origin any foreign payment (because those deities cannot leave Africa go to Europe to verify sources), and therefore to be incapable of fixing any blame therethrough upon the Baka.}

p. 36

"Engaging with forest beings -- whether in the forest or


in the trance gathering --

{for witnessing spirit-guardians of animals or of plants}


... is embedded in ... empathy ... for sustained conviviality (Overing & Passes 2000). ...


They are ... of an altogether different ... {ethical} model {a model not too dissimilar from Christian ethics, which resideth in adroit evasion of Hell-fire}, in which the main concern lies ... in ... to pre-empt certain illnesses and misfortunes (Bird-David 2004)."

{Such "illnesses and misfortunes" would supposedly be divinely inflicted upon any Nayaka who, of his or her own reponsibility, violate the welfare of the animals or plants of the forest, but could not be so afflicted if the Nayaka be paid to do so by non-Nayaka outsiders (for then the responsibility, and any divinely-inflicted "illnesses and misfortunes" in consequence, would supposedly fall upon whomever had paid them to do so).}

Ko:hler 2005 = A. Ko:hler : "On Apes and Men". CONSERVATION AND SOCIETY 3.2:407-35.

Bahuchet & Guillaume 1982 = S. Bahuchet & H. Guillaume : "Aka-Farmer Relations in the Northwest Congo Basin". In :- Eleanor Burke Leacock & Richard B. Lee (edd.) : Politics and History in Band Societies. Cambridge Univ Pr. pp. 189-211.

Overing & Passes 2000 = Joanna Overing & Alan Passes : The Anthropology of Love and Anger : ... Conviviality in Native Amazonia. London : Routledge.

Bird-David 2004 = Nurit Bird-David : "Illness-Images and Joined Beings : a Critical Nayaka Perspective on Intercorporeality". SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY 12.3:325-39.

{This is likewise the very reason why soldiers are so very willing to perpetrate murders when ordered to do by officers : for any divinely-inflicted punishment (whether during life or after death) must supposedly (according to the strictures of the soldiers' religion) fall, not upon themselves, but upon the officers, upon the government (politicians), and upon whomever (ploutokrats) own the government. [written Oct 30 2014] Perhaps the "Christian" soldiers even secretly delight in the prospect of their causing their own officers, their own government-politicians, and their own ploutokrats to become damned into Hell-fire : so that it is their very delight in such a prospect that is continually encouraging their ongoing murderousness, the murderous ferocity that is the hallmark of every "Christian".}


-----------------------------------------------------------

Graham Harvey (ed.) : Handbook of Contemporary Animism. Acumen Publ, Durham; ISD, Bristol, 2013.