Indigenous Religious Traditions in Five Minutes - Molly Bassett
33. What is animism?
Indigenous Religious Traditions in Five Minutes - Molly Bassett
Graham Harvey [+]
Open University
Graham Harvey is Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies at the Open University, UK. His research is concerned with the performance and rhetoric of identities among Jews, Pagans and indigenous peoples. He is particularly interested in the 'new animism', embracing relational and material approaches to interactions between humans and the larger than human world. His recent publications include The Handbook of Contemporary Animism(2013) and Food, Sex and Strangers: Understanding Religion as Everyday Life (2013).
Description
Animism is a term used to label entirely different phenomena and therefore needs care. It can mean "belief in spirits" or "treating the world as a community of multi-species relations". It can be a colonial insult or an encouragement of respect towards all existences.