Edward Burnett Tylor, Religion and Culture

Description

Through revisiting and challenging what we think we know about the work of Edward Burnett Tylor, a founding figure of anthropology, this volume explores new connections and insights that link Tylor and his work to present concerns in new and important ways. At the publication of Primitive Culture in 1871, Tylor was at the centre of anthropological research on religion and culture, but today Tylor’s position in the anthropological canon is rarely acknowledged. Edward Burnett Tylor, Religion and Culture does not claim to present a definitive, new Tylor. The old Tylor - the founder of British anthropology; the definer of religion; the intellectualist; the evolutionist; the liberal; the utilitarian; the avatar of white, Protestant rationalism; the Tylor of the canon - remains. Part I explore debates and contexts of Tylor’s lifetime, while the chapters in Part II explore a series of new Tylors, including Tylor the ethnographer and Tylor the Spiritualist, re-writing the legacy of the founder of anthropology in the process. Edward Burnett Tylor, Religion and Culture is essential reading for anyone interested in the study of religion and the anthropology of religion. Cover Half Title Series Title Copyright Contents Contributors Acknowledgements Introduction: Why Tylor, Why Now? The chapters Part One Contexts and Debates 1 The Debate between E. B. Tylor and Andrew Lang over the Theory of Primitive Monotheism: Implications for Contemporary Studies Tylor on primitive monotheism The special case of Baiame Tylor’s response to the alleged antiquity of the Baiame belief Andrew Lang’s critique of Tylor: primitive monotheism and the doctrine of degeneration The Tylor–Lang debate: an analysis Implications for contemporary studies of indigenous religions Notes 2 Tylor, ‘Fetishes’ and the Matter of Animism Rocks Kettles Dancing tables and shaking tents New turns after Tylor and Hallowell Towards a post-Cartesian academy Whose terms, whose understanding? Notes 3 ‘Belief in Spiritual Beings’: E. B. Tylor’s (Primitive) Cognitive Theory of Religion Tylor’s minimum definition and theory of religion The cognitive science of religion CSR as a neo-Tylorian project The standard model of the cognitive science of religion Reading Tylor in the twenty-first-century laboratory Notes 4 From Nineteenth- to Twentieth-Century Theorizing about Myth in Britain and Germany: Tylor versus Blumenberg Tylor Blumenberg Conclusion 5 Tylor and Debates about the Definition of ‘Religion’: Then and Now The crisis of definition Tylor’s definition of religion On definition and ‘religion’ Debates about definition in Tylor’s time Classifying definitions in the study of religion Features of a Tylorian approach Tylorian influences on modern scholarship Offering a Neo-Tylorian approach Research applications Conclusion Notes Part Two Tylor beyond the Canon 6 Edward Burnett Tylor as Ethnographer Consumed by consumption Science-minded Quakers-in-arms Mediums and spirits Mexico and the Mexicans Anahuac’s legacy The strange case of Dr Tylor and Dr Who Sound in intention Conclusion 7 ‘Necromancy Is a Religion’: Tylor’s Discussion of Spiritualism in Primitive Culture and in His Diary Spiritualism in Primitive Culture, Vol. I Spiritualism–animism in Primitive Culture, Vol. II Spiritualism as fieldwork: Tylor’s diary A contemporary, comparative example of fieldwork on spiritualism The table turning at Stansted Hall7 Belief in spiritual beings and the challenge of spiritualism Concluding remarks Notes 8 Edward Tylor, Archaeologist? The Archaeological Foundations of ‘Mr Tylor’s Science’1 Tylor, Christy and the creation of Anahuac Henry Christy Mexico and Anahuac Between Anahuac and Primitive Culture: developments in geology and archaeology Tylor and uniformitarianism The Three Age System The antiquity of man Mr Tylor’s archaeology Conclusion Notes 9 Telling Tylorian Tales: Reflections on Language, Myth and Religion Tylor on myth Questions on the non-empirical The role of myth/narrative 10 Deconstructing the Survival in E. B. Tylor’s Primitive Culture: From Memes to Dreams and Bricolage Tylor’s survival Deconstruction and the alter-Tylor of Primitive Culture Conclusions Notes Bibliography Index