I am currently reading "The Forest People" by the anthropologist Colin M. Turnbull for the next few weeks. This book is about the lives of the Pygmy people who currently live and thrive in the Ituri Forest in the Congo. I am going to be studying this people group and focusing on the study of their religion. I hope to learn the human experiences of their religion, learn their religions part in their society and culture, and learn how their religion has developed and changed over time. I would prefer to take an Participant Observational Approach to this study, but unfortunately I cannot go to the Congo and participate with the people in everyday activities and observe what is going on during those actives. I really desire to have a balance of both an emic and etic perspective during my study, but part of me is worried that I will have much more of an etic perspective. For the purpose of this blog and for my Anthropology class I will be coming from a Functionalist Anthropologist perspective. Specifically I want to learn how religion functions for an individual and their own needs especially involving survival. I would also like to approach my research with the ideas of the anthropologist Anthony F.C. Wallace. I want to learn if this people group has a individualist, shamanistic, communal, or ecclesiastical approach to religion in regards to community and how it is expressed within the religion itself.
The following blog posts will include information concerning what I have learned in "The Forest People" by Colin M. Turnball chapter by chapter.
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