Totem
This article is about totemism. For the media player, see Totem (media player). For Canadian loudspeaker manufacturer, see Totem Acoustic. For the upcoming Video Game see Totem (video game) A totem is any entity which watches over or assists a group of people, such as a family, clan or tribe (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary [1] and Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition).
Totems support larger groups than the individual person. In kinship and descent, if the apical ancestor of a clan is nonhuman, it is called a totem. Normally this belief is accompanied by a totemic myth.
Although the term is of Ojibwa origin, totemistic beliefs are not limited to Native American Indians. Similar totemism-like beliefs have been historically found throughout much of the world, including Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Africa, Australia and the Arctic polar region.
In modern times, some single individuals, not otherwise involved in the practice of a tribal religion, have chosen to adopt a personal spirit animal helper, which has special meaning to them, and refer to this as a totem. This non-traditional usage of the term is prevalent in, but not limited to, the New Age movement.
Totemism
Totemism (derived from the root -oode- in the Ojibwe language, which referred to something kinship-related, c.f. odoodem, "his totem") is a religious belief that is frequently associated with shamanistic religions. The totem is usually an animal or other naturalistic figure that spiritually represents a group of related people such as a clan.
Totemism played an active role in the development of 19th and early 20th century theories of religion, especially for thinkers such as Émile Durkheim, who concentrated their study on primitive societies (which was an acceptable description at the time). Drawing on the identification of social group with spiritual totem in Australian Aboriginal tribes, Durkheim theorized that all human religious expression was intrinsically founded in the relationship to a group.
In his essay Le Totemisme aujourdhui (Totemism Today), Claude Lévi-Strauss shows that human cognition, which is based on analogical thought, is independent of social context. From this, he excludes mathematical thought, which operates primarily through logic. Totems are chosen arbitrarily for the sole purpose of making the physical world a comprehensive and coherent classificatory system. Lévi-Strauss argues that the use of physical analogies is not an indication of a more primitive mental capacity. It is rather, a more efficient way to cope with this particular mode of life in which abstractions are rare, and in which the physical environment is in direct friction with the society. He also holds that scientific explanation entails the discovery of an arrangement; moreover, since the science of the concrete is a classificatory system enabling individuals to classify the world in a rational fashion, it is neither more nor less a science than any other in the western world. It is important to recognise that in this text the egalitarian nature of Lévi-Strauss and his work is manifested in all its force, and more importantly Lévi-Strauss diverts the interest of anthropology towards the understanding of human cognition.
Lévi-Strauss looked at the ideas of Firth and Fortes, Durkheim, Malinowski, and Evans-Pritchard to reach his conclusions. Firth and Fortes argued that Totemism was based on physical or psychological similarities between the clan and the totemic animal. Malinowski proposed that it was based on empirical interest or that the totem was 'good to eat.' In other words there was rational interest in preserving the species. Finally Evans-Pritchard argued that the reason for totems was metaphoric. His work with the Nuer led him to believe that totems are a symbolic representation of the group. Lévi-Strauss saw Evan-Pritchard's work as the correct explanation.
North American totem poles
The totem poles of the Pacific Northwest of North America have many different designs (bears, birds, frogs, people, lizards, see pictogram). They have arms, wings and legs.
Possibly totemic culture in ancient China
The mysterious Sanxingdui Culture in southern China, dating back more than 5000 years, possibly placed bronze and gold heads on totems. Chinese transliterates totem as tuteng (圖騰), which was a Zhou Dynasty name for "flags embroidered with animal patterns representing the barbarian tribes". Sanxingdui bronze masks and heads (radiocarbon dated circa 1200BCE) appear to have been mounted on wooden poles. It is possible that totemic culture spread from China to the rest of the world, including North America; but it is unlikely because totemic cultures in North America are estimated to be over 10,000 years old.
Totems in Zimbabwe
In Zimbabwe totems (mitupo) have been in use among the Shona people from the initial stages of their culture. The use of totems identifies the different clans that historically made up the ancient civilizations of the dynasties that ruled the Shona people from Great Zimbabwe. Most notably these symbols were associated with animal names. The purpose of the totem was meant:
- To embody the unification, collective pride and aspirations of a clan and its ancestry and
- To guard against clan's defilement through acts that are considered to be against social and cultural morals such as incestuous behaviour. For instance, among the Shona people, sexual relationships and marriages are strictly prohibited between men and women who have the same totem because they are considered, for all intents and purposes, to be related;
- For the social identity of the clan; and also
- To praise someone in recited poetry.
It should be pointed out here that totems among the Shona people have nothing to do with animal worship. Shona totems are also not considered to be, or associated with anything to do with, watching over a person or group thereof. Shona religious practices generally do not involve the totem and where totems are mentioned, its usually only through praise poetry that uses the totem's praise name (chidawo).
In contemporary Shona society there are at least 25 identifiable totems (mitupo) with at least 60 principal praise names (zvidawo). Every Shona clan is identified by a particular totem (mutupo) and principal praise name (chidawo). The principal praise name in this case is used to distinguish people who have the same totem but are from different clans; for example clans that share the same totem Shumba (lion) will show their different clansmanship by using a particular praise name like Murambwe, or Nyamuziwa. The foundations of the totems are inspired in rhymes that reference the history of the totem. The Clan is the core of every Shona chiefdom. It is a group of agnatically related kinsmen and women who trace their descent from a common founding ancestor.
See also
- Animal worship
- Australian Aboriginal kinship
- Charge (heraldry)
- Kinship and descent
- Moiety
- Totem and Taboo by Sigmund Freud
- Anishinaabe clan system
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