A contemporary "version" of Frazer's The Golden Bough?

December 10, 2016 2:45 AM

I am interested in myth, religion, magic and authority, and was just watching Apocalypse Now which reminded me of that Frazer book 'The Golden Bough' (1890). The Golden Bough, it seems, is read these days mostly for understanding the "history of anthropology" rather than as anthropology per se. Is there an equivalent contemporary anthropological study of the same subjects that someone could recommend? i.e. If I am interested in the current "accepted" state of anthropology of magic and religion.

I have a background in Philosophy, so as a side question I was wondering how Frazers' Golden bough relates to Adorno and Horkheimers thesis in The Dialectic of Enlightenment, or say Max Weber's Sociology of Religion?

posted by mary8nne to Religion & Philosophy (5 answers total)

Many anthropology departments have for a long time offered a course on magic, witchcraft, and religion, framed in exactly that way, so you may be looking for a textbook [PDF of sample chapter] or reader that would be used in that course. That said, surveys that tie phenomena together in the way that Frazer did have not been popular for a very long time, and I suspect most courses on the topic would also include at least one or two commonly taught ethnographies like Mama Lola, The Death and Rebirth of the Seneca, Tuhami, or In Sorcery's Shadow for a closer look at the circumstances/meanings of specific cultural practices. With regard to critical theory, I know Walter Benjamin is a reference point throughout the work of Mick Taussig: Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man, The Nervous System, The Magic of the State, etc. And I think Jim Siegel's Naming the Witch would be another good source for looking at the topic with an eye toward problems of modernity with wide historical scope.
posted by Wobbuffet at 4:10 AM on December 10, 2016 [4 favorites]

Not part of the accepted state, but a very different take: Sorcery and Religion in Ancient Scandinavia
posted by 445supermag at 11:52 AM on December 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

Current anthropologists are still very much active on these topics. If you have access through a library, check out Pamelo Moro's bibliography on the anthropology of magic and Isak Niehaus's on witchcraft. If you can't see these pages, memail me. Niehaus is a good place to start in general, but on the general theme the first name that came to mind was Adam Ashforth's work on South African witchcraft and democracy.
posted by col_pogo at 3:10 PM on December 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

Anthropologist and Biblical scholar Theodor H Gaster produced an abridged, annotated, updated, and corrected single volume version of Frazer's 12 vol. magnum opus which came out in 1959 as The New Golden Bough, and which I got a lot out of in the form of one of the thicker Signet paperbacks ever published.

I see from the Wikipedia article that Gaster gave a similar treatment to Frazer's Folk-lore in the Old Testament under the title of Myth, Legend, and Custom in the Old Testament, and I'm going to have to try to find that one for myself.
posted by jamjam at 10:42 AM on December 11, 2016

While it's focus is more narrow (and has a decidedly "history" tone), I think you might enjoy Ronald Hutton's Triumph of the Moon (and potentially some of his other works on magic/paganism/etc in europe).
posted by sazerac at 8:57 AM on December 12, 2016