Totem

Totem

A totem is any supposed entity that watches over or assists a group of people, such as a family, clan or tribe ("Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary" [http://www.webster.com/dictionary/totem] 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, and the Mythopoetic men's 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 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). Sanxingdui bronze masks and heads (radiocarbon dated circa 1200BCE) appear to have been mounted on wooden poles. It has been suggested by some that that totemic culture spread from ancient Asiatic populations to the rest of the world, although this is unlikely because totemic cultures in North America are estimated to be over 10,000 years old.

The ancient Polish "Rodnidze"

The "Rodnidze" known among the pre-Christian ancestors of the Poles is considered to have been roughly similar to the Totem as mentioned above.

Animals and birds appearing in historical times on the coats-of-arms of various Polish aristocratic clans are considered as possible remnants of such totems (see Ślepowron coat of arms, Korwin coat of arms, possible remnanats of a Raven-Rodnidze).

ee also

*Animal worship
*Anishinaabe clan system
*Aumakua
*Australian Aboriginal kinship
*Charge (heraldry)
*HMS Totem (P352)
*Kinship and descent
*Moiety
*Tamga
*"Totem and Taboo" by Sigmund Freud
*Tughra
* Ethics of using animal totem

External links

* [http://www.starstuffs.com/animal_totems/ Totem Spirit Animals: Discovering Animal Totems, Dictionaries, Feathers]
* [http://www.china.org.cn/e-sanxingdui/ Historical Wonders of Sanxingdui]
* [http://www.sanxingdui.com/ Welcome to Sanxingdui] (with history of excavation)
* [http://zimbabwe.poetryinternational.org/cwolk/view/20894/ Totems in Zimbabwe]


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • totem — totem …   Dictionnaire des rimes

  • totem — [ tɔtɛm ] n. m. • totam 1794; angl. totem (1776), d un mot algonquin ♦ Ethnol., sociol. Animal (quelquefois végétal, et très rarement chose) considéré comme l ancêtre et par suite le protecteur d un clan, objet de tabous et de devoirs… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • totem — TOTÉM, totemuri, s.n. 1. Animal, plantă sau, rar, obiect considerat de unele triburi primitive ca strămoş şi protector al populaţiei respective şi venerat ca atare. 2. Imagine, reprezentată de obicei sculptural, a unui totem (1). [pl. şi: (m.)… …   Dicționar Român

  • Totem — Totem …   Википедия

  • Totem — Sn von Naturvölkern verehrtes Bildnis per. Wortschatz exot. (18. Jh.) Entlehnung. Entlehnt aus ne. totem, aus einer nordamerikanischen Indianersprache der Algonkin Familie ototeman Stammeszeichen , zu ote Sippe . Gegenstand, der als Verkörperung… …   Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen sprache

  • Totem (BD) — Totem (revue) Pour les articles homonymes, voir totem. Totem 1re série est une revue de l éditeur de Petit format Aventures Voyages 49 numéros ont été édités d avril 1956 à mai 1960. Elle fut remplacée par la revue Kris Le Shérif. Les Séries Baby …   Wikipédia en Français

  • tótem — (Del ingl. totem, y este del algonquino nin totem). 1. m. Objeto de la naturaleza, generalmente un animal, que en la mitología de algunas sociedades se toma como emblema protector de la tribu o del individuo, y a veces como ascendiente o… …   Diccionario de la lengua española

  • Totem — To tem, n. [Massachusetts Indian wutohtimoin that to which a person or place belongs.] 1. A rude picture, as of a bird, beast, or the like, used by the North American Indians as a symbolic designation, as of a family or a clan; also, the object… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • totem — (n.) animal or natural object considered as the emblem of a family or clan, 1760, from Algonquian (probably Ojibwa) odoodeman his sibling kin, his group or family, hence, his family mark; also attested in French c.1600 in form aoutem among the… …   Etymology dictionary

  • totem — s. m. 1. Animal, planta ou objeto considerado, entre certas tribos ou clãs, como antepassado do homem. 2. Representação gráfica desse animal, planta ou objeto. • Sinônimo geral: TÓTEME   ‣ Etimologia: inglês totem …   Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa

  • totem — [tōt′əm] n. [< an Algonquian language: cf. Ojibwa nindoodeem, my totem] 1. among some peoples, an animal or natural object considered as being ancestrally related to a given kin or descent group and taken as its symbol 2. an image of this 3. a …   English World dictionary

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