An Archaeology of Doings: Secularism and the Study of Pueblo Religion

by Severin M. Fowles

There is an unsettling paradox in the anthropology of religion. Modern understandings of "religion" emerged out of a specifically Western genealogy, and recognizing this, many anthropologists have become deeply suspicious of claims that such understandings can be applied with fidelity to premodern or non-Western contexts. And yet, archaeologists now write about "religion" and "ritual" with greater ease than ever, even though their deeply premodern and fully non-Western objects of study would seem to make the use of these concepts especially fraught. In this probing study, Severin Fowles challenges us to consider just what is at stake in archaeological reconstructions of an enchanted past. Focusing on the Ancestral Pueblo societies of the American Southwest, he provocatively argues that the Pueblos--prior to missionization--did not have a religion at all, but rather something else, something glossed in the indigenous vernacular as "doings." Fowles then outlines a new archaeology of doings that takes us far beyond the familiar terrain of premodern religion.

Genres: Archaeology

324 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2012

Reviews

[Jordan Franklin-Garza · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finally finished it JAYLA

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and important book if you’re interested in American Indian history or Southwest U.S. archeology. It took me a long time to read due to both brain impairment and how dense the academic language is in this book, but I’m glad I chipped away at it in small doses. For decades I have visited American Indian archeological sites in the U.S. southwest, and have read many books on American Indian history and culture (both historical and contemporary culture). I learned a lot from reading this book and I thought the author made some game-changing points of which I hope other academics in his field will sit up and take notice. The author does what you think would be standard practice but is all to often skipped: listen to what American Indians are willing to tell you about how their culture and worldview is different from your own, rather than imposing an outsider’s perspective and falsely assuming your own perspective is therefore objective.

As a teaser, here is one of the first important points the author makes: there is no indigenous word for “religion” among Southwestern tribes. Think of what a difference that makes to worldview, and how it explains some of the not-translatable awkwardness between indigenous and western languages, such as resorting to the phrase “medicine man”.