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Indigenous religions and animism

Edward Burnett TylorNurit Bird-DavidGraham Harvey

This page delivers no verdict; it presents claims and evidence with their sources. No theory in science is absolute. Method

For everyone

The beliefs and practices of Indigenous peoples around the world are very diverse, and most do not rest on a written scripture. In many of them animals, plants, mountains and rivers are regarded as persons with spirit. In the 19th century Tylor defined such beliefs as "animism", the earliest stage of religion. Today this evolutionary approach has largely been abandoned, and animism is also studied as a way of knowing the relationship between humans and their surroundings.

For specialists

The heading "Indigenous religions" covers very different traditions in North and South America, Africa, Siberia, Australia and Oceania, and does not denote a single religion. Shamanism, ancestor veneration and sacred places tied to land are common elements. Tylor defined animism as "belief in spiritual beings". Bird-David's work on the Nayaka hunter-gatherers of India describes an understanding in which personhood arises from relationships rather than from an essence.

Claims

Positions

Tylor (19th-century evolutionist anthropology)
Animism is the religion of "primitive" humans who derived the idea of the soul from dreams and death, and it is the first stage in the evolution of religion.[1]
The new animism approach
Animism is not a mistaken belief but a way of knowing that defines personhood through relationships (relational epistemology).[2][3]
United Nations
Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain their spiritual and religious traditions and to protect and access their sacred sites (2007 Declaration, Article 12).[4]

Connections

Parent

Religions and scriptures

Related

Turkic mythology and the Tengri beliefCreation narratives

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Sources

  1. BookTylor, E. B. (1871). Primitive Culture. John Murray, London
  2. ArticleBird-David, N. (1999). "Animism" revisited: personhood, environment, and relational epistemology. Current Anthropology 40(S1), S67–S91DOI 10.1086/200061archive
  3. BookHarvey, G. (2005). Animism: Respecting the Living World. Hurst, London
  4. ReportUnited Nations General Assembly (2007). United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (A/RES/61/295)un.orgarchive

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Cite this page

APA

Athena contributors. (2026). Indigenous religions and animism. Athena: The tree of human knowledge. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://latifkedi.github.io/athena/en/d/yerli-inanclar/

BibTeX
@misc{athena_yerli_inanclar,
  title        = {Indigenous religions and animism},
  author       = {{Athena contributors}},
  year         = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://latifkedi.github.io/athena/en/d/yerli-inanclar/}},
  note         = {Athena: The tree of human knowledge. Accessed: 2026-11-01}
}

Added: September 28, 2026 · Last changed: September 28, 2026 · Page history

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