Anthropology

The rituals of American ballplayers are not unlike that of the Trobriand Islanders studied by Malinowski many years ago.

People of the Third World have a variety of therapies available for combating diseases, but because of cost, availability, and cultural bias, most rely on ethnomedical traditional treatment rather than "biomedical" or Western therapies. Dr. Lehmann's field research focuses on the importance of ngangas (traditional healers) as a source of primary health care for both the Aka Pygmy hunters and their horticultural neighbors, the Ngando of Central African Republic.

Harvard botanist investigates mystic potions, voodoo rights, and the making of zombies.

Probes the beliefs in ghosts of villagers in rural North India. Case study of apparent ghost possession of Sita, a newly married 15-year-old girl; Hindu teachings about life and death; Cultural traditions about marriage and sexual relations; Why Sita was believed to be possessed of the ghost of Taraka, a wayward cousin.

The Big Myth is an ancient (1999!) experimental learning module designed for use in European primary school classrooms. It is a sociology textbook for the comparative study of world creation mythology. The myths are told using animation and are accompanied by an overview of the culture, the pantheon of the gods and a series of exercises based on that culture.

Provides a comprehensive resource on creation myths from around the world, their narratives, themes, motifs, similarities, and differences-and what they reveal about their cultures of origin.

This ebook contains Jewish creation myths, as well as a host of other myths from the Jewish tradition.

Presents a comprehensive survey of all the ways people celebrate religious life around the globe.

The most controversial and also the most widely celebrated work by ethnographic filmmaker Jean Rouch, depicts a possession ritual of the Hauka religious sect using the delirious techniques of 'cine-trance.'

Snake handlers dwell at the edge of the spiritual frontier — a community of people who are willing to die for their faith three times a week in church. Members of the Pentecostal Holiness Church take up venomous serpents to prove their faith in God.

Explores why the Maya made their sacrificial offerings underground.

Rituals results in GALE EBOOKS

The widespread assumption that Jewish religious tradition is mediated through words, not pictures, has left Jewish art with no significant role to play in Jewish theology and ethics.

The roots between the Hindu religion and the wider culture are deep and uniquely complex. No study of either ancient or contemporary Indian culture can be undertaken without a clear understanding of Hindu visual arts and their sources in religious belief and practice.

Overview of Druid culture.

Covers the significant religious denominations and movements that have originated or flourished in North America, from the beginning of European settlement to the present day.

Provides a scholarly account of ancient cultures around the world, from China to India, the Middle East, Egypt, Europe, and the Americas. It outlines the history of the different societies so their religion and culture can be understood in context.

Comprehensive coverage of more than 2,300 North American religious groups in the U.S. and Canada -- from Adventists to Zen Buddhists. Information is presented in two distinct sections, essays and directory listings describing the historical development of religious families and providing factual information about each group within those families. Includes, when available, rubrics for membership figures, educational facilities and periodicals.

Why, then, in an age of advanced biotechnology and medicine, do millions still go on pilgrimages? Why do journeys to important religious shrines—such as Lourdes, Compostela, Fátima, and Medjugorje—constitute a major industry? In Miracle Cures, Robert A. Scott explores these provocative questions and finds that pilgrimage continues to offer answers for many.

Provides comprehensive, global coverage of religion, emphasizing larger religious communities without neglecting the world's smaller religious outposts.

The two Almanac volumes focus on Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism. Less traditional and practiced religions are also included such as Shinto and Daoism. The two Almanac volumes focus on Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism. Less traditional and practiced religions are also included such as Shinto and Daoism.

What, does it mean to be spiritual but not religious? And how might individuals benefit by joining their spirituality to the religion of their choice?

Huston Smith, a philosopher of world religions, explains how the intertwining of opposites is key to understanding the great religions of China—Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism.

Because we are removed from spirituality today, Huston Smith believes we find it difficult to understand the true meaning of Christianity. Smith explains that Christianity wouldn’t have existed if its “spirit had not been real and dense and palpable and evident to everyone around.” Smith finds the intimate relationship between the Jews and their God “a living conversation between the human and the divine that goes on generation after generation.”

This program explores the two great religions to come from India. “The historian of religion can find almost anything he wants in India, enacted with intensity. What remains is to carry its insight into everyday life.”

Huston Smith discovered Islam as an adult, and became enamored with Islamic conceptions of order, justice, mercy, and compassion. He still prays five times a day as Muslims do. The Sufis opened the doors of Islam to Smith. Through their trance-inducing dances, these mystics bring God into the immediate moment. Smith and Bill Moyers discuss misconceptions about Islam held in the West today.

Legacy of the Spirits traces the religion of Vodou (voodoo) from Africa to Haiti to New York City. It explains the theology of the religion, the meaning of the rituals, the pantheon of spirits, possession, the sacred drawings (called ve-ve), the Catholic influence, the history of persecution and more.

This seven-part series exposes the internal arguments and core beliefs of the world's major religions. Examining Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism-as well as the Humanist movement and the resurgence of Paganism-the series goes inside every manner of religious institution: temples, mosques, churches, as well as dynamic and colorful religious festivals. Each program presents an eye-opening, transformative view into a spiritual world that many viewers will find surprisingly complex. 7-part series, 24 minutes each.

Follows six young Maya in Guatemala and Chiapas through their daily and ceremonial life. They put forth a wholly indigenous Mayan perspective in their own words, without narration. Their cosmology, in which all life is sacred and interconnected, presents a deeply compelling alternative to the prevailing worldview.

Across the USA, Native Americans are struggling to protect their sacred places. Religious freedom, so valued in America, is not guaranteed to those who practice land-based religion. Every year, more sacred sites - the land-based equivalent of the world's great cathedrals - are being destroyed.

The Witches of Gambaga is the extraordinary story of a community of women condemned to live as witches in Northern Ghana. Every year in this part of Ghana, hundreds of women endure communal and domestic violence as a result of traditional religious beliefs that demonize women.

This documentary analyzes the role of witchcraft among the Azande people of central Africa, who considered it to be a major danger. They believe that witchcraft can be inherited and that a person can be a witch without realizing her or his bad influence. The film shows that, because of this danger, effective means of diagnosing witchcraft are vital. Several methods of diagnosis are explored in the film, the most important being benge, a poison which is fed to baby chickens. The chick's death or survival provides a judgment of the person in question. Anthropologists have long argued about the nature and significance of belief in witchcraft and sorcery and, more generally, about the similarities and differences between such thought and Western science. This film treads this path delicately, exploring an explanation of reality incomprehensible to a majority of Westerners and, at the same time, portraying the Azande as a clear-thinking and familiar group of people.