Primal Religions 2018

When reading Peter Hiscock's, " Beyond the Dreamtime: Archaeology and explorations of religious change in Australia" I noted a slightly ethnocentric tone. He discusses how the stories of the Aboriginal people seemed like they had little meaning and were long winded. He makes the assumption that this is their version of an epic novel. The meanings of these myths are of utmost importance to the oral peoples. The meanings might seem dull to Hiscock, but to the orator these are revered. My question is, because it is hard to be objective and/or impossible, is it even possible to grasp an oral religion completely? I do not think so.

In class we talked about when oral and literate cultures collide. One of the things we talked about was land ownership. When someone of the oral culture feels a place is reverent and is owned by no one, but should be respected and someone of the literate culture owns this space, it can be an issue. There was a man that owned some hill and was mining it, but oral people said that it was their sacred place. He asked for them to show him when the land was marked to signify ownership. To the oral people, showing the man the space and marking the space would have been irreverent so they could not do it. The man thought that they could not own the space if they had no written element showing this. So the man kept using the space how he wanted. My question is, who's purpose for the land is more important? I think it is hard to determine this, but it could go either way. The law has to decide this anytime a dispute for land is brought to court. I am afraid that often the literate culture w...

When reading many of these books, I was surprised at the way they were written. As an anthropology major, I am used to academic ethnographies that are essentially a compilation of notes taken during research. These books were either technical in their discussion of language or story-like in their interpretations of events and texts. It made many of the books easier to read and opens up the audience. My question is, do we lose some of the important facts and events if the book is not written in an ethnographic way? I think that it is possible the weight of many events might be lost. I also think that information might miss important pieces because they were not very interesting so they were not included. Unfortunately, I think anytime someone studies a group of people or social trend, it is easy to miss important pieces from the outside looking in.

One of the researchers we read about did not belong to either a missionary standpoint or an anthropologist standpoint. Since he interfered with the people he studied, the anthropologists would not recognize him. Since he did not teach the people Christianity in the exact way it read in the Bible, the missionaries would not accept him. I think that the stringent distinctions academia and religion put on themselves closes them off to knowledge and members. If both spheres were more open to bending the rules they would have much to gain from 'outsiders'. I understand why anthropologists do not want researchers to interfere with the people they are studying, however if the researcher does do this, it should not discount their work. Same for missionaries, unfortunately in Christianity it is important that the believer understands who Christ is and about the Trinity before many denominations will agree that they are a true disciple.

In multiple classes we discussed how people often try to write down an oral language for research purposes. My question is, how does the translator determine what characters to attribute to oral pronunciations? I think that it would be important for the oral people to determine the alphabet for their language and if they want it written down at all. When writing myths and stories from oral religions, I also think it is impossible to grasp the whole story in writing if the story is meant to be spoken. Much like writing down lyrics to a song.

When reading "Social Life and the Dreamtime: Clues to Creation Myths as Rhetorical Devices in Tiwi Mortuary Ritual" by Eric Venbrux, I realized how much the oral culture has impacted the literate world. He discusses totem poles and how they are highly important to the rituals of the Aboriginal people he studied. In the paper, he comments on how the totem poles can be rented out to preform the rituals and are specially crafted for each ritual. Also, non-specific totem poles are also made for anyone to get for celebrations and events. I thought about how commonplace a totem pole is for people of the literate culture. They can be found in front of campsites, restaurants, and in backyards for cookouts. It is crazy to notice how pieces of the oral culture has affected our own. I wonder if we are missing the reverence in our adaptation of these items.