Macquarie University

Culture Myth and Symbolism - ANTH307

All societies have a cultural dimension and the imperatives of culture may be quite as compelling as those of livelihood and material well being. Individually and collectively people make their lives meaningful through practices of symbolic representation. In the 20th century anthropologists concerned with the study of culture came to focus on systems of symbols and meaning. Psychoanalysis and linguistics were important early influences on symbolic anthropology because they identified the capacity of the human mind to operate according to symbolic processes, but these theories also proved too universalist in their claims for anthropology's cross cultural evidence. This unit focuses on key theorists and ethnographic studies in the field of symbolic anthropology and religion. It also highlights the contemporary relevance of mythic experience. The study of culture shows that human consciousness includes a non-rational or affective aspect sometimes described as mythic. Mythic consciouness is also explored in this unit as a distinct form of consciousness that should not be seen as false, inferior or irrational. We therefore consider the way phenomena such as dreams, spirits, magic, and emotions figure importantly in anthropological analysis.

Timetable Information

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