Fetishism
- This article concerns the concept of fetishism in anthropology. A separate article is devoted to sexual fetishism.
A fetish (from French fétiche, from Portuguese feitiço, from Latin facticius) is a natural object believed to have supernatural powers, or in particular a thing created by people that has power over people.
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History
The concept was coined by Charles de Brosses in 1757. de Brosses and other 18th century scholars used the concept to apply evolution theory to religion. In de Brosses' theory of the evolution of religion, he proposed that fetishism is the earliest (most primitive) stage. This was followed by the stages of polytheism and monotheism, in that order.
In the 19th century, philosophers such as Herbert Spencer repudiated de Brosses' theory that fetishism was the "original religion". The same century, anthropologists and historians of religion such as E. B. Tylor and J. F. McLennan developed the theories of animism and totemism to account for fetishism.
Tylor and McLennan held that the concept of fetishism allowed historians of religion to shift attention from the relationship between people and God to the relationship between people and material objects. They also held that it established models of causal explanations of natural events which they considered false as a central problem in history and sociology.
Practice
Fetishism is mainly a feature of traditional Western African religious beliefs, as well as Voodoo, which is derived from those beliefs.
Blood is often considered a particularly powerful fetish or ingredient in fetishes. In some parts of Africa, the hair of white people was also considered powerful.
Other uses of the term "fetishism"
- In the 19th century Karl Marx appropriated the term to describe commodity fetishism as an important component of capitalism.
- Later Sigmund Freud appropriated the concept to describe a form of paraphilia where the object of affection is an inanimate object or a specific part of a person. See sexual fetish for more details on the concept of sexual fetishism and its sub-categories.
- In the Werewolf: The Apocalypse roleplaying system, fetishes are items—often weapons—with spirits bound to them, enabling said items to do extraordinary things. An example would be a pistol with a hawk-spirit that would always shoot the user's target between the eyes.
See also
External Links
- Catholic Encyclopaedia article on fetishism – quite extensive, well researched, and relatively objective.
- A section of "A Christian View of God and the World", by James Orr
Categories: Religious objects