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An Ethnographic Study of Mystics, Spirits, and Animist Practices in Senegal Peter Balonon-Rosen SIT Study Abroad
SIT Graduate Institute/SIT Study Abroad SIT Digital Collections Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection SIT Study Abroad Spring 2013 Out of this World: An Ethnographic Study of Mystics, Spirits, and Animist Practices in Senegal Peter Balonon-Rosen SIT Study Abroad Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection Part of the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons, and the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Balonon-Rosen, Peter, "Out of this World: An Ethnographic Study of Mystics, Spirits, and Animist Practices in Senegal" (2013). Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection. 1511. https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection/1511 This Unpublished Paper is brought to you for free and open access by the SIT Study Abroad at SIT Digital Collections. It has been accepted for inclusion in Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection by an authorized administrator of SIT Digital Collections. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Out of this World: An Ethnographic Study of Mystics, Spirits, and Animist Practices in Senegal Balonon-Rosen, Peter Academic Director: Diallo, Souleye Project Advisor: Diakhaté, Djiby Tufts University American Studies Major Africa, Senegal, Dakar “Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for National Identity and the Arts: Senegal, SIT Study Abroad, Spring 2013” Table of Contents Abstract 3 Introduction 4 Research Methods 5 Validating Findings 7 Ethical Issues 7 What is Animism? 8 Marabouts 9 Rabbs, Djinnes, and Ndepps 11 Sandiol and the Village of Ndiol 13 Gris-Gris 16 Animism in Dakar: An Examination of Taxis and Lutte 18 Taxis 18 Lutte 19 Relationship with Islam 21 Conclustion 22 Bibliogrpahy 24 Time Log 25 2 Abstract Although the overwhelming majority of Senegal’s inhabitants consider themselves Muslim, there are still many customs and behaviors throughout the country that derive from traditional animism. -
The Science of the Séance: the Scientific Theory of the Spiritualist Movement in Victorian America
1 Hannah Gramson Larry Lipin HIST 491 March 6, 2013 The Science of the Seance: The Scientific Theory of the Spiritualist Movement in Victorian America In 1869, twenty one years after the first “spirit rappings” were heard in the bedroom of two young girls in upstate New York, a well-known Spiritualist medium by the name of Emma Hardinge Britten wrote a book that chronicled the first two decades of a religion she characterized as uniquely American, and what made this religion exceptional was its basis in scientific theory. “[We] are not aware of any other country than America,” Britten claimed, “where a popular religion thus appeals to the reason and requires its votaries to do their own thinking, or of any other denomination than 'American Spiritualists' who base their belief on scientific facts, proven by living witnesses.”1 Britten went on to claim that, as a “unique, concrete, and...isolated movement,” Spiritualism demanded “from historic justice a record as full, complete, and independent, as itself.”2 Yet, despite the best efforts of Spiritualism's followers to carve out a place for it alongside the greatest scientific discoveries in human history, Spiritualism remains a little understood and often mocked religion that, to those who are ignorant 1 Emma Hardinge Britten, Modern American Spiritualism: A Twenty Years' Record of the Communion Between Earth and the World of Spirits,(New York, 1869) 2 Britten, Modern American Spiritualism 2 of it, remains a seemingly paradoxical movement. Although it might be difficult for some to comprehend today, prior to the Civil War, religion and science were not considered adversaries by any means, but rather, were understood to be traveling down a shared path, with ultimately the same destination. -
Spiritual Ecology: on the Way to Ecological Existentialism
religions Article Spiritual Ecology: On the Way to Ecological Existentialism Sam Mickey Theology and Religious Studies, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94117, USA; [email protected] Received: 17 September 2020; Accepted: 29 October 2020; Published: 4 November 2020 Abstract: Spiritual ecology is closely related to inquiries into religion and ecology, religion and nature, and religious environmentalism. This article presents considerations of the unique possibilities afforded by the idea of spiritual ecology. On one hand, these possibilities include problematic tendencies in some strands of contemporary spirituality, including anti-intellectualism, a lack of sociopolitical engagement, and complicity in a sense of happiness that is captured by capitalist enclosures and consumerist desires. On the other hand, spiritual ecology promises to involve an existential commitment to solidarity with nonhumans, and it gestures toward ways of knowing and interacting that are more inclusive than what is typically conveyed by the term “religion.” Much work on spiritual ecology is broadly pluralistic, leaving open the question of how to discern the difference between better and worse forms of spiritual ecology. This article affirms that pluralism while also distinguishing between the anti-intellectual, individualistic, and capitalistic possibilities of spiritual ecology from varieties of spiritual ecology that are on the way to what can be described as ecological existentialism or coexistentialism. Keywords: spirituality; existentialism; ecology; animism; pluralism; knowledge 1. Introduction Spiritual ecology, broadly conceived, refers to ways that individuals and communities orient their thinking, feeling, and acting in response to the intersection of religions and spiritualities with ecology, nature, and environmentalism. There are other ways of referring to this topic. -
Spiritualism and Possession
Moshe Sluhovsky. Believe Not Every Spirit: Possession, Mysticism, and Discernment in Early Modern Catholicism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007. 384 pp. $45.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-226-76282-1. Reviewed by Marc R. Forster (Department of History, Connecticut College) Published on H-HRE (February, 2008) Spiritualism and Possession Moshe Sluhovsky has wrien an excellent study of ese forms of “passive interiority” were however possession and mysticism in early modern European not just for women and were widely practiced among Catholicism. His elegantly wrien and clearly argued Catholics, including, for example, the Jesuits. However, book, Believe Not Every Spirit, points scholars in some the official church also always considered them suspect. new directions in understanding the meaning of demonic Sluhovsky explains in detail the theological debates that possession. Most importantly, Sluhovsky links cases of aempted to draw lines between acceptable and unac- demonic possession to spiritual developments in Catholi- ceptable (possibly heretical) forms of mysticism. He cism, developments that caused considerable tension and points out, in addition, that mystical practices were in- even confusion for church leaders, while opening both creasingly considered feminine. French mystics of this opportunities and dangers for individual believers, espe- type were sometimes called femmelees, people who cially women, who were inclined toward mystical and lacked the reason and control for proper piety. More sig- interiorized spirituality. nificant for the argument of this book, Sluhovsky empha- Sluhovsky presents a clear narrative of the history of sizes that both practitioners and church leaders consid- diabolic possession. is story is perhaps not surpris- ered the practices of passive interior mysticism fraught ing and mirrors in many ways developments in witch with the danger of diabolical possession. -
Spiritualism: a Source of Prevention from Fatal Pandemic (A General Estimate) Dr
International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences, 5(3) May-Jun 2020 |Available online: https://ijels.com/ Spiritualism: A Source of Prevention from Fatal Pandemic (A General Estimate) Dr. Vanshree Godbole Associate Professor, English, Govt. M. L. B. Girl’s P. G. College, Indore, M.P., India Abstract— Spiritualismis a life Spring of Indian Philosophy, Culture and Religion.Philosophy shows the cause for the inescapable experiences of sorrow and suffering that has engulfed mankind today. The period following the outbreak of fatal pandemic Covid -19 has become the age of disillusionment, chaos, disbelief , utter despair, loss, and disorder in an individual’s life. Hinduism is the only religion that is universal, It is a revealed religion, the priceless truth discovered by intuitive spiritual experiences. Need of the hour is to understand the psychology of commonman, his social condition and to help them regain confidence that has shaken the whole human race. Keywords— Spiritualism, disillusionment, fatal, despair, confidence. Spiritualism is a life Spring of Indian Philosophy, Culture The unrest of the age and passion for reform and solution and Religion “Every human being is a potential spirit and to the present day up- rootedness of human race can be represents, as has been well said, ahope of GOD and is not traced in Indian Philosophical system, that includes whole mere fortuitous concourse of episodes like the changing of mankind from all walks of life whether cultured, forms of clouds or patterns of a kalideoscope.”(1) As we ignorant or learned. To quote Dr.Radhakrishnn “Religion know that the literature is replete with the writings of Men, from the beginning, is the bearer of human culture. -
A Glimpse at Spiritualism
A GLIMPSE AT SPIRITUALISM P.V JOITX J. BIRCH ^'*IiE term Spiritualism, as used by philosophical writers denotes the opposite of materialism., but it is also used in a narrower sense to describe the belief that the spiritual world manifests itself by producing in the physical world, effects inexplicable by the known laws of natural science. Many individuals are of the opinion that it is a new doctrine: but in reality the belief in occasional manifesta- tions of a supernatural world has probably existed in the human mind from the most primitive times to the very moment. It has filtered down through the ages under various names. As Haynes states in his book. Spirifttallsiii I'S. Christianity, 'Tt has existed for ages in the midst of heathen darkness, and its presence in savage lands has been marked by no march of progress, bv no advance in civilization, by no development of education, by no illumination of the mental faculties, by no increase of intelligence, but its acceptance has been productive of and coexistent with the most profound ignor- ance, the most barbarous superstitions, the most unspeakable immor- talities, the basest idolatries and the worst atrocities which the world has ever known."' In Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Greece and Rome such things as astrology, soothsaying, magic, divination, witchcraft and necromancy were common. ]\ loses gives very early in the history of the human race a catalogue of spirit manifestations when he said: "There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daugh- ter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. -
Hinduism and Hindu Philosophy
Essays on Indian Philosophy UNIVE'aSITY OF HAWAII Uf,FU:{ Essays on Indian Philosophy SHRI KRISHNA SAKSENA UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII PRESS HONOLULU 1970 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 78·114209 Standard Book Number 87022-726-2 Copyright © 1970 by University of Hawaii Press All Rights Reserved Printed in the United States of America Contents The Story of Indian Philosophy 3 Basic Tenets of Indian Philosophy 18 Testimony in Indian Philosophy 24 Hinduism 37 Hinduism and Hindu Philosophy 51 The Jain Religion 54 Some Riddles in the Behavior of Gods and Sages in the Epics and the Puranas 64 Autobiography of a Yogi 71 Jainism 73 Svapramanatva and Svapraka!;>atva: An Inconsistency in Kumarila's Philosophy 77 The Nature of Buddhi according to Sankhya-Yoga 82 The Individual in Social Thought and Practice in India 88 Professor Zaehner and the Comparison of Religions 102 A Comparison between the Eastern and Western Portraits of Man in Our Time 117 Acknowledgments The author wishes to make the following acknowledgments for permission to reprint previously published essays: "The Story of Indian Philosophy," in A History of Philosophical Systems. edited by Vergilius Ferm. New York:The Philosophical Library, 1950. "Basic Tenets of Indian Philosophy," previously published as "Are There Any Basic Tenets of Indian Philosophy?" in The Philosophical Quarterly. "Testimony in Indian Philosophy," previously published as "Authority in Indian Philosophy," in Ph ilosophyEast and West. vo!.l,no. 3 (October 1951). "Hinduism," in Studium Generale. no. 10 (1962). "The Jain Religion," previously published as "Jainism," in Religion in the Twentieth Century. edited by Vergilius Ferm. -
Hindi Beliefs: from Monotheism to Polytheism
jocO quarterly, Vol.1, No.2. Winter 2014 Hindi Beliefs: From Monotheism to Polytheism Shohreh Javadi This article retrieved from the research project of “the interplay Ph. D in Art history, University of Tehran of Indian and Iranian Art” and a field research trip, which was organized in 2012 by NAZAR research center. [email protected] Abstract Religious culture was out of access for Indian public, and deep philosophical religious texts were exclusively for the class of privileged and clergymen; So over many years, popular religion was collected in a book called Veda (means the Indian knowledge) including poems, legends and mystical chants which sometimes were obscure. This set is known as the world's oldest religious book and the mother of religions. Most researchers do not re- member it as a religion, and consider it as culture and rituals of living. Religion, ritual and popular beliefs in India were accompanied with the fabulous ambiguous curious adventures. What is understood from the appearance of Hindu ritual is polytheism, idolatry and superstition. But it is not true. The history of Hinduism and its branches expresses the monotheism and belief in the unity of the creator. As the Hindu-Iranian Aryans were always Unitarian and were praising various manifestations of nature as gods. They never were idolaters and believed in monotheism, although they had pluralistic beliefs. The interpretation of monotheistic in Semitic religions1 is different from Hinduism as a gradually altered religion. My field researches in India and dialogues with Hindu thinkers demonstrated that today’s common ritual in Hinduism is a distorted form of a monotheistic belief, that originally had believed in the Oneness of the Creator, as mentioned in the Upanishads. -
Hinduism in Time and Space
Introduction: Hinduism in Time and Space Preview as a phenomenon of human culture, hinduism occupies a particular place in time and space. To begin our study of this phenomenon, it is essential to situate it temporally and spatially. We begin by considering how the concept of hinduism arose in the modern era as a way to designate a purportedly coherent system of beliefs and practices. since this initial construction has proven inadequate to the realities of the hindu religious terrain, we adopt “the hindu traditions” as a more satisfactory alternative to "hinduism." The phrase “hindu traditions” calls attention to the great diversity of practices and beliefs that can be described as “hindu.” Those traditions are deeply rooted in history and have flourished almost exclusively on the indian subcontinent within a rich cultural and religious matrix. As strange as it may seem, most Hindus do The Temporal Context not think of themselves as practicing a reli- gion called Hinduism. Only within the last Through most of the millennia of its history, two centuries has it even been possible for the religion we know today as Hinduism has them to think in this way. And although that not been called by that name. The word Hin- possibility now exists, many Hindus—if they duism (or Hindooism, as it was first spelled) even think of themselves as Hindus—do not did not exist until the late eighteenth or early regard “Hinduism” as their “religion.” This irony nineteenth century, when it began to appear relates directly to the history of the concept of sporadically in the discourse of the British Hinduism. -
The Force of Monotheism. Psychoanalysis and Religions Thinking About Religion – After Freud Idea, Concept, Organization and De
The Force of Monotheism. Psychoanalysis and Religions Thinking About Religion – After Freud Idea, Concept, Organization and Design Inge Scholz-Strasser (Chairwoman, Sigmund Freud Foundation) Wolfgang Müller-Funk (University Vienna) Felix de Mendelssohn (Sigmund Freud University) The title represents the two axes upon which the symposium is to be based: the newly awakened discussion of religion, and Freud’s critical ideas on the subject of religion. When we put Freud’s monotheism in the foreground, then we are following a trail in his thinking. The psychoanalytic “lawgiver” and the Jewish Nomothet stand in a tense relationship to one another, but also in a relationship of analogy. Even if the line of delineation between psychoanalysis and the West’s Judeo-Christian heritage is meticulously drawn, it cannot be denied that Freud’s psychoanalysis, rooted in the skeptical tradition of the Enlightenment, is very distant from any sort of heterogeneous polytheism. Despite the occasional postmodern conjuring of a polytheistic mythology, which allegedly would be more tolerant on account of its diversity, no return of polytheism in religion is visible. The power of religion represents itself in ONE principle and it continues to be based in the singular. Since the Enlightenment and the critique of religion it initiated, an end of religion has seemed to represent a highly probable historical development. Exposed as deception, decried as an opium, dismissed as inadequate and outdated knowledge, religion has come to occupy an uncertain position. From this perspective it stands for the opposite of a consciousness that understands itself as enlightened. In this pattern of thinking, those who continue to have religion are easily seen as being inferior, backward, peripheral, uneducated, poor and maybe even female. -
Religions Founder Writings Beliefs 1. Animism No Single Founder Oral
Religions Founder Writings Beliefs 1. Animism No single Oral tradition Animists practice nature worship. founder They believe that everything in the universe has a spirit. Animists also believed that ancestors watch over the living from the spirit world. This belief resulted in ancestor worship as a means of communicating with and showing respect to ancestors. 2. Shintoism Mix of Record of Shinto teaches the whole universe and that humans tribal Ancient can be in tune with this sacredness. religions Matters Every mountain, river, plant, animal, and all the and diverse phenomena of heaven and earth have Chronicles spirits, or kami, which inhabit them. of Japan. Reverence is paid to the ancestors through the practice of ancestor worship. 3. Judaism Abraham, Torah and Judaism teaches that there is one God who is Moses Talmud the creator of all things. The Ten Moses went atop Mount Sinai and returned Commandments with two stone tablets containing laws known as the Ten Commandments Monotheistic 4. Hinduism No one The Vedas, Salvation is achieved through a spiritual oneness of single Upanishads, the soul founder, and Bhagavad- To achieve this goal, the soul must obtain moksha, credit given Gita or liberation from the endless cycle of birth, death, to the and rebirth. Aryans Believe in reincarnation or rebirth Karma : actions resulting from the consequences of previous actions Dharma: fulfilling one's duty in life Hindus consider to be extremely sacred is the cow. Supports the Caste System. 5. Buddhism Siddhartha Three Baskets Buddha deduced that desire was the root Gautama, or of Wisdom caused of all suffering. -
World Religions- Overview
World Religions- Overview What is a religion? A system of beliefs that answers the ultimate questions: -What is ultimate reality? (god?) -What is the nature of the world? -What is the nature of humanity? -What is humanity’s primary problem? -What is the solution to that problem? -What happens after death? Everyone has a religion... even being anti-religion is a religion, just like atheism is a belief about God, even it is a belief that there is no God. All of us have the urge to have religion, or to answer these fundamental questions. I. The truth about humanity and religion: The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-24) 1. Rejection- rejecting values, religious customs, and financial advice -The son wanted immediate gratification, self-sufficiency, and independence from authority. He wanted to be the one to decide what was right and wrong in his life. -Same sin Adam and Even struggled with, wanting to rule themselves rather than have someone else do that. -He wanted his rules to be the only rules that applied to him... personal preference overruled some absolute standard of right and wrong. We do the same things as the son in this story. A. We’re aware of some truth that is out there B. We seek to suppress that truth because we are uncomfortable with what it means (that we are accountable to that truth) -Suppress God’s knowableness- some say that we just can’t know God, so why even try. -Buddhism is an emptying of all knowing and flows from this -Suppress God’s holiness- others come up with a system to get around a holy God, saying that we can do good in order to appease Him.