Animism: Respecting the Living WorldHow have human cultures engaged with and thought about animals, plants, rocks, clouds, and other elements of their natural surroundings? Do animals and other natural objects have a spirit or soul? What is their relationship to humans? In his new book, Graham Harvey explores indigenous and environmentalist spiritualities in which people celebrate relationships with other-than-human beings. He examines present and past animistic beliefs and practices of the Ojibwe, the Maori, Aboriginal Australians, and eco-pagans, revealing the diverse ways of being animist and of living respectfully within natural communities. Drawing on his extensive casework, Harvey considers the linguistic, performative, ecological, and activist implications of animist worldviews and lifeways. He argues that animist beliefs can contribute significantly to contemporary debates about consciousness, cosmology, and environmentalism. In addition, he examines the colonialist ideologies and methodologies that have caused many academics to exclude the term "animism" from their critical vocabularies. |
Contents
FROM DEROGATORY TO CRITICAL TERM | 1 |
Anthropologists revisitation | 15 |
Environmentalists participation | 27 |
Copyright | |
18 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Aboriginal academic Alice Springs alive Amazonian ancestors and/or animism animist Arrernte artefacts become Bird-David body cannibalism celebration central ceremonies challenge chapter Chiuta Circle Sanctuary citing Conklin Conne River consciousness considered construction context continue Core Shamanism culture dead death debates deep ecology dialogue didjeridu discourse discussion diversity Dreaming dualism Eco-Pagan ecology embodiment encounters engage everyday example experience express flesh further gifts Hallowell 1960 Hallowell's human and other-than-human important inanimate indigenous kind Kohák labelled lands living Maori marae means metaphor Naess nature notion objects Ojibwe Ojibwe grammar ontological other-than-human persons Pagans panpsychism participation particular performance perhaps personhood philosophers places plants possible recognise reference relational relationships religion require respect responsible rituals rocks sacred shamans significant Similarly social sometimes souls speak spirits stones tangata whenua term theory things totemism traditional transformation trees Tylor understanding various Viveiros de Castro Wari Western whare nui white-lipped peccaries Wicca