“Animism” Revisited

@article{BirdDavid1999AnimismR,
  title={“Animism” Revisited},
  author={Nurit Bird-David},
  journal={Current Anthropology},
  year={1999},
  volume={40},
  pages={S67 - S91}
}
  • N. Bird-David
  • Published 1 February 1999
  • Sociology
  • Current Anthropology
“Animism” is projected in the literature as simple religion and a failed epistemology, to a large extent because it has hitherto been viewed from modernist perspectives. In this paper previous theories, from classical to recent, are critiqued. An ethnographic example of a hunter‐gatherer people is given to explore how animistic ideas operate within the context of social practices, with attention to local constructions of a relational personhood and to its relationship with ecological… Expand
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