Ancestor worship

Authors

  • Michael Singleton LAAP

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17184/eac.anthropen.092

Keywords:

Gerontocracy, Asymmetry, Intergenerational, Survival, Cereminial, Elders

Abstract

In the typical (re)production mode of archaic agriculture, the older one got, the greater their material, moral and metaphysical contribution to the Darwinian survival of their village community. Consequently, the subalterns had every interest in showing ceremonial respect to their elders (still alive or gone to the ancestral village). The essence of the misnamed “ancestor worship” is rooted in this intergenerational asymmetry.

References

Singleton, M. (2004), Critique de l’ethnocentrisme, Paris, Parangon.

Singleton, M. (2009), «Speaking to the Ancestors: Religion as Interlocutory Interaction», Anthropos, vol.104, p.311-332.

Singleton, M. (2015), «From Worshipping Ancestors to Respecting Senior Citizens», Civilisations, vol. 63, n°1-2, p.237-254.

Singleton, M. (2020), Religion. Vous avez dit religion? L’esprit et les esprits des Wakonongo, Paris, Pétra.

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Published

2020-06-22