new animism:
relational
epistemologies
and expanding
western
ontologies
Josh Bou hton
Uni ersity o Queensland
Keywords
Ne animism, e opsy holo y, relatedness,
Indi enous, nature.
“Western Ghats” by Laura Murray (2017).
Introduction
Animism is said to be the most fundamental
form and starting point of religious belief
(Stringer, 2013). This concept has been used in
cultural anthropology since the late 1800s but,
due to inconsistencies in research ontologies,
fell out of favour as an ethnographic research
tool (Bird-David, 1999). A return to, and
modification of, this concept has been witnessed
over the turn of the century as researchers seek
to better understand how the tool may once
again be utilized. In this essay I discuss how
modern conceptualisations of animism may
shape human/non-human interactions and
relations. I provide a brief history of the concept
and discuss how its limitations excluded it from
cultural anthropology’s tool kit for the better
part of a century. Following this, I outline the
contemporary conceptualizations of animism,
or new animism, and how they seek to address
the term’s original misdirection. Modern use
of animism in South India, South America and
Burkina Faso highlight the variability within
the concept itself as well as the consistency
of relational epistemolo y: bridging the gap
between the “self” and “other.” To conclude this
essay, I explore the possibilities of Western
(and global) integration of traditional peoples’
epistemologies to reduce Cartesian dualism
of humans and nature, which contribute to
the exploitation and degradation of natural
beings. This is seen in the emerging field of
e opsy holo y, which seeks to address issues
inherent in pro-environmental communication
with the general public through a recalibration
of philosophical understandings.
animism: primitive and savage
56
Notions of animism in the West have existed
since the 6th century BCE (Harding 2013),
though Edward Tylor’s work in the late 1800s is
a commonly accepted origin (Bird-David, 1999;
Malville, 2016; Stringer, 2013). Tylor borrowed
the idea from Stahl, a 17th century alchemist
(Bird-David, 1999); however, contemporary
anthropologists and scholars of traditional
peoples deemed it morally unacceptable (Bird-
David, 1999; Malville, 2016; Stringer, 2013). Many
consider Tylor a father of cultural anthropology
of the “modernist” period, in which science and
evolutionism were held in the highest regard.
Through second-hand accounts of “primitive
peoples,” he defined a concept of animism. The
traditional/indigenous peoples that lived under
this banner believed in the existence of spirits,
whom were embodied in all human and non-
human entities. From this Tylor posited that
the minds of animistic traditional peoples were
similar to that of children who attribute living
qualities to inanimate objects, concluding that
their societies were cognitively underdeveloped
(Bird-David, 1999). This line of thought directly
stems from the evolutionistic mind frame of
the modernist period which presented animism
as the “root” of religion, and thus less evolved
in comparison to monotheistic religions
(Christianity, Islam, etc.), and importantly,
science. Tylor entered this field of study with
an interest in the spiritualist movement of
the time, which he argued was a “survival and
revival of savage thought” (Bird-David, 1999,
S69). His work on animism was collated and
presented in the 1871 book Primitive Culture:
Researches into the Development of Mytholo y,
Philosophy, Reli ion, Lan ua e, Art and Custom.
Whilst Tylor touched on important concepts
within cultural anthropology, his approach
was condescending to traditional peoples and
the subject retains a stigma to the present day
(Malville, 2016).
Reignited by Hallowell’s 1960’s ethnography of
the Ojibwa people and the intrinsic animation
of objects within their language, notable
anthropologists such as Eduardo Viveiros
de Castro, Philippe Descola, and Nurit Bird-
David began to revive the concept of animism
through the turn of the century and have
opened an inquiry into animism’s ideas about a
world alive (Harvey, 2013). In contrast to Tylor’s
positivist approach to notions of “life,” “nature,”
and “personhood,” contemporary scholars
have suggested a relational epistemolo y to
develop better understandings of “local
concepts” (Bird-David, 1999). Through what is
now viewed as misdirected understandings,
theoreticians in the modernist period assumed
“primitive peoples” shared the same notions
of “self” to natural objects, “primitive peoples”
were deemed misguided (Bird-David, 1999).
In contrast, relational epistemology seeks
to understand the world via a primary focus
on relatednesses (relationships between
the human and non-human) and avoids the
modernist dichotomies of natural/supernatural
and spirit/body (Bird-David, 1999).
New Animism: Relational Epistemology
“Animism is about a world full of immediate
relational beings” (Naveh & Bird-David, 2013,
27). Naveh & Bird-David’s (2013) chapter in
Graham Harvey’s Handbook of Contemporary
Animism explores the ideas of animism,
conservation, and immediacy (regular exposure
to something as in one’s everyday life). They
state that animism is absent from the West
due to the lack of immediacy ) in engagements
with plants, animals, and other natural objects.
They explore immediacy through ethnographic
observation of forest dwelling Nayaka people
in the Nilgiris hills in South India. The
region has become a hotspot for regional and
global ecological development and has been
recognised as a UNESCO biosphere reserve since
the 1970s. The authors state that during a 30-
year gap between ethnographic observations,
the Nayaka people have managed to retain
their relational epistemology despite economic
pressures. The Nayaka’s animistic epistemology
places greater significance on knowing how to
behave with relations to nourish them, over the
dualistic notion that things are separate from
oneself. Despite achieving conservation in the
region, it has not been cognitively pursued and
behaviour with relations has been shown to be
variable within the Nayaka. According to the
authors, tribal members display mindfulness
and care when harvesting or hunting for their
immediate use or consumption but not when
conducting similar activities for economic
means. Despite these con icting actions,
animism and relational epistemology present
opportunities for recognising contemporary
Western society’s utilitarian epistemologies
57
that contribute to the degradation of
environmental health.
Descola’s (2013) ethnography of the Achuar
people in the borderlands between Ecuador and
Peru also provides clear examples of relational
epistemology at work. The Achuar believe
that all plants and animals are relatives and
possess a soul ( aken) which classifies them
as persons (aents). Maintaining good relations
with these aents is vital to the lives of the
Achuar. Disrespecting the spirits puts at risk
familial and neighbourly relations, hunting
success, and conjugal harmony. Distinctions
between persons are drawn not via di erences
in appearance but through a hierarchical
order of communication, which directly
challenges Cartesian dualism. The Achuar place
themselves at the top of the pyramid as they are
able to see and communicate with each other
in the same language. Exchanges with non-
humans are possible via anents (incantations)
which are not immediately obvious and appear
mostly in dreams or hallucinogenic trances.
Despite endowing the non-human with souls,
the Achuar exclude most insects, fish, grasses,
pebbles and rivers from their network of
subjectivity. This highlights inconsistencies
in the term “animism” between di erent
traditional communities, yet the notions of
relatedness remain.
Animism and relational epistemology need not
take the preconceived form of spiritualised
natural objects that first comes to mind.
Stringer’s (2013) ethnographic enquiry into
the people of Burkina Faso delivers another
contemporary example of animism, free from
modernist prejudices. The animistic people of
Burkina Faso treat spiritual beings as a fact
of life. These spirits engage with the human
population by inhabiting inanimate objects
such as statues and masks, which Stringer
acknowledges is not animism expressed in
the most basic form of relations between the
spiritual and material worlds. Rather, this
is a highly sophisticated mode of religious
engagement with the non-empiri al other, or
that which cannot be measured. He compares
this engagement with that of women in the UK
communicating with dead relatives and God.
Stringer concludes that the people of Burkina
Faso hold a relationship of fear and uncertainty
with their spiritual others, which contrasts
with women in the UK whose relationships
consist of coping mechanisms and love.
Further contrasts are in de Castro’s (2004)
ethnographic probing of Amerindian animist
ontologies. The use of anthropomorphism
among Amerindian peoples demonstrates a
lack of di erentiation between human and non-
human life, since both stem from humanity as
their original condition. They view animals as
possessing human sociocultural inner aspects
that have been “disguised” by external bestial
forms. This is a divergence from the other
ethnographies explored in this essay and
further asserts the range of possibilities under
the umbrella of animism. What consistently
runs through these accounts of new animism is
the importance of relatedness.
Expanding the Western Mind
Earlier I mentioned the possibilities of using
relational epistemology in a Western context
as a means of cultivating pro-environmental
attitudes. The Western mind’s loss of relational
connections with nature incites su ering
for both camps. Hogan (2013) suggests that
we need animists to address the detrimental
issues of climate change, though the irony of
institutions teaching animism where they
previously shunned it as “primitive” is not lost
on her. Despite this, she seems optimistic in
animism’s ability to positively impact the whole
living world, particularly non-human animals:
“the future of the animals is for the new young
animists to determine” (2013, 25). It is not my
goal to suggest that all people should practice
animism. However, what may be possible is the
respectful borrowing of some core principles of
animism, such as those discussed in this essay.
Additionally, there are clear parallels between
the non-dualism found within new animism
and relational epistemology to ecopsychology,
since ecopsychology questions the distinction
between the body and the other (Hillman,
1995). As in animistic cultures, principles of
ecopsychology are enacted from birth. Davis
(2012) highlights the importance of beliefs and
actions in determining the ecological footprint
of a culture. If, as a child, one is directed towards
a respectful relationship with the mountain,
one is more likely to behave di erently than
the child who is not a orded the same beliefs.
58
Reinders (2017) believes that we share an
ancient kinship of embodied being with all
lifeforms and that it is the awareness of our
interaction and connectedness with the earth
and the entire cosmos that defines us as human.
It has been the case, however, that centuries of
unmitigated capitalist technological expansion
have reinforced the duality between human
and nature via egocentric and anthropocentric
worldviews. Reinders continues that an eco-
centric consciousness can marry scientific
thought to a capacity to love, and rational
understanding to empathy and intuition. Her
notion of the body being the “topsoil” in which
the eco-centric consciousness may take root
and develop paints a clever metaphor that
resonates with relational epistemology and the
dismantling of human/non-human barriers.
Through our lived body as a sensory vessel
we may experience empathic relations with
nature: “alive in all our senses, we may begin to
listen to the ancient dialogue of body and earth”
(2017, 17). Reinders’ emotive language is one
example of how ecopsychology aims to address
the underlying philosophical limitations of
capitalist-driven societies. Just as we seek the
help of psychologists to work through traumas,
so we might turn to principles in ecopsychology
to work through the trauma that exists between
human and non-human.
Conclusion
From its roots as a misguided and derogatory
concept to contemporary contextualisation,
animism continues to provide cultural
anthropology with a useful tool of ethnographic
enquiry. The literature shows variation in
animistic conventions throughout traditional
peoples in di erent societies. However, a
constant theme of relational epistemology
persists in almost all of them. This distinction
is not only important in understanding
di erences between traditional cultures but
also for recognising limitations to the Western
capitalist-driven, utilitarian ontology that
has resulted in continued environmental
devaluation and degradation. Acknowledging
these aws presents the potential to reconnect
a sensual relation with the earth that
suppresses, or even destroys, the Cartesian
duality of human and non-human.
works cited
Bird-David, Nurit. “’Animism Revisited’:
Personhood, Environment, and Relational
Epistemology.” Current Anthropolo y 40, no.
s1 (1999): S67-S91. http://www.jstor.org/
stable/10.1086/200061
Davis, Wade. “Sacred Geography.” In
E opsy holo y: S ien e, Totems, and the
Te hnolo i al Spe ies, edited by
Peter H. Kahn & Patricia H. Hasbach, 285-308.
New York: MIT Press, 2012.
Descola, Philippe. Beyond Nature and Culture.
Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2013.
Harvey, Graham. he Hand ook o Contemporary
Animism. New York: Routledge, 2013.
Hillman, James. “A Psyche the Size of the Earth:
A Psychological Foreword.” In E opsy holo y:
Restorin the Earth, Healin the Mind, edited
by Theodore Roszak, Marey E. Gomes & Allen
D. Kanner, xvii-xxiii. Los Angeles: Sierra Club
Books, 1995.
Hogan, Linda. “We call it tradition.” In he
Hand ook o Contemporary Animism, edited by
Graham Harvey, 30-44. New York: Routledge,
2013.
Malville, J. Mc Kim. “Animism, Reciprocity and
Entanglement.” Mediterranean Ar haeolo y and
Ar haeometry 16, no. 4 Special Issue (2016): 51–
58. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.220898.
Naveh, Danny & Bird-David, Nurit. “Animism,
conservation and immediacy.” In he Hand ook
o Contemporary Animism, edited by Graham
Harvey, 27-37. New York: Routledge, 2013.
Reinders, Sophia. “The Sensuous Kinship of
Body and Earth.” E opsy holo y 9, no. 1 (2017):
15-18. https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/
eco.2016.0035.
59