Activity 2.5: Ethnographic Data Collection

Step 1: Understand Definitions

Click here to explore four different categories of cosmologies that have historically been used by anthropologists.

Step 2: Gather Data

Use the slide show above and/or the https://pluralism.org website to find examples. Submit the following to Canvas > Assignments > Activity 1.5:

1. Describe an example of a cosmology that includes an understanding of animism.

2. Describe an example of a cosmology that includes an understanding of polytheism.

3. Describe an example of a cosmology that includes an understanding of monotheism.

4. Describe an example of a cosmology that is nontheistic (does not address whether or not a god or gods exist).

Step 3: Problematize and Brainstorm

Submit your answer to Canvas > Assignments > Activity 1.5:

5. What did you think of these categories? Did you notice any examples that fit into more than one category, or none at all? Why do you think that anthropologists use categories like this, and is there anything you would change about them?