1. Religion as Exchange
The Gift Economy

2. Indigenous Body
• The meaning of the body is connected to its
locality
– Aymara or Sherpa
• Body is not self-made but the material
expression of a place
– Intersection of vital forces
• Materiality of religion
– We are not philosophically bodies but material
bodies

3. Body and Ancestors
• We exist because of the activities of others
• Bodies are a reflection of those before us
• Ancestors are present in the body
– Meaningless for modern people but significant
fact in Indigenous religions
• My high cholesterol
– Genetic, meaning that it’s not my fault and not
much to do about it

4. Are we in charge of our bodies?
• If the ancestors are important factors in our
bodies then what does this imply
– We learn about them, their lives, ideas, history
• Indigenous Peoples have ceremonies for the
dead
– Health is dependent on the degree to which there
is a connection with the ancestors
– Not superstition

5. Shaman
• Siberian term for a ceremonial specialist
• Intermediary between human beings and
spiritual beings
• Not a priest but a person (male or female)
who has knowledge
• Directs exchanges between living and dead
– Often times these are sporting events

6. Religious Dimensions of food
• Diet is local and identifies a person in
particular ways
• Agricultural season is the ceremonial cycle
– Hierophanies of natural world time rituals
– Ceremonies are “thanksgivings” for gifts of food
• Eating requires that something die
– Gifts are given to compensate
– Range from expressions of thanks to sacrifice

7. The Body of Food
• We all grow and exist because of food
• Food is a gift from the living cosmos which
fosters human life
• Eating implies that we are all in constant
exchange with the cosmos
– Breathing too
• Ceremonies are a “gift exchange economy” of
living relationships

8. Ceremonial Exchanges
• Religion as exchange
• Focal point of all religions
• Catholic Mass
– What is it?
– How is it an exchange?

9. Myth
• Mistakenly thought of as ‘false’ or ‘untrue’
statement or story
• In religion myth is true
– Model of/for reality
– Reflections of the “really real” world upon which
the material world depends
• Revealed to human beings not made up
– Re-enacted in ceremonies

10. Creation Myths
• Foundational stories of how the world came
to be the way it is
– Particularly important for Indigenous Peoples
• Creation is an ancient story and happening in
the present and future
• Source of contemporary ceremonies including
sporting events
– Ceremonies transact something between beings
– Myths are models for that transaction

11. Mythic Exchanges
• Sharing the account of Creation is a ceremony
– Creates community, identity
– Oral tradition, no written texts
• Ritual is a collaboration between beings in
order to promote life
– Everyone and everything is involved; everyone is
materially connected

12. Ceremonial Gift Economies
• Rites of passage
– What are these?
– Gifts involved
• Ceremonies are gift exchanges
– Ensure the future well-being of the community;
healthy working of a society
• Only real gift is one’s life, the vitality of one’s
body
• Not sentimental but material

13. Medium of Ceremonial Exchanges
• Shells, stones,
seeds, etc.
– Not money but
something with a
living presence
– Embodies a spiritual
presence
• “Wampum” for
Haudenosaunee
– Purple and white
beads made of
quahog shell

14. Mesoamerican Ballgame
• Aztec and Maya
civilizations
– Urban city
dwellers
• Cities all had ball
courts at their
centers
• East-West
orientation
– Followed the
path of the Sun

15. Ulama
• Played for tourists in the Yucatan
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_o1LjX18
84&mode=related&search=
• Amazing Games for ESPN
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGUgq3gq
ii4
• Making a comeback

16. Resurgence of the game
• Between soccer
(futbol), rugby,
basketball

17. Maya Game
• Popol Vuh
• Game first played by
Creator Twins in the
underworld against
Lords of the Dead
– Tricked the gods and
brought back maize
– Creation story
recreated in the
game

18. Community Game
• Entire city was involved
• Either the winner or
loser was the sacrificial
gift
• Human sacrifice was
called “debt payment”
by the Aztecs

19. Ballgame as Ceremonial Exchange
• Cosmic map of city
• Cardinal directions
• Ceremonial
responsibility of
human beings
• Ceremonial Center
• Indigenous
Religion

20. Religion, Sports and Money

21. Charles H. Long
• ”(Religion) . . . will mean orientation--
orientation in the ultimate sense, that is,
how one comes to terms with the ultimate
significance of one's place in the world. . .
. . The religion of any people is more than
a structure of thought; it is experience,
expression, motivations, intentions,
behaviors, styles, and rhythms.”
Significations, vii

22. Money as Religion
• “Total fact” of modern existence
– Of “ultimate concern” according to Tillich
• Symbolic, mythic, “faith based,”
– No intrinsic worth
• Materiality of our current existence
– Determines the value of everything in life

23. What is Religion?
• Exchange system between human beings and
the sacred
• Indigenous traditions challenge conventional
(i.e., Constitutional) understandings of religion
• Not strictly ideological--material

24. Theology of Money
• Symbolic value
– Faith-based system
– Tied to power and
prestige of its
country of origin
– Pure exchange
value

25. Value of Money
• Commodity
– Tied to human
labor (Marx)
• “use-value”
– Anthrocentric
(human centered)
• All life valued by
money

26. God of Money
• Otiosus—obscured and removed from the
material world
• Human beings are the most important beings
– The Self is the “axis mundi” (center of the world,
or ‘world axis’) of the monetary world
– All things flow toward the Self

27. Gifts and Monetary Economies
• Gift economy
– Human life is totally dependent on living cosmos
• Monetary, profit economy
– Human Self is the only living being that matters
• Diametrically oppose to one another

28. How does money corrupt human
society?
• Age old theme in religion
– Relationship with the sacred (gift economy) is
corrupted by an over confidence in the Self
(monetary economy)

29. Money and Sports
• Confusing gift and
monetary economies
are evident in sports
– SU men’s Basketball
team controversy ’11
• Sports reflects colliding
economies most
dramatically
D.C. Nationals Stadium controversy

30. The Gift in Sports
• Sports is an exchange of gifts
– Gifts against gifts
– Book cover
• ESPN series ‘life without sports’
– http://espn.go.com/withoutsports/index.html
• The Hoyts
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDnrLv6z-
mM&feature=related
• Marathon Monks of Japan’s Mt. Hiei
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S06oMxdt40A

31. Money in Sports
• Sports is completely surrounded by money
• But it cannot interfere with the event or it’s
considered cheating
• Money cannot develop athletes
– But it does motivate them at a certain stage
• Indicates the power and prestige of a game
– Super Bowl!!—homework
– commercials

32. Exam #1 review
• Your test on February 7 will be twenty
true/false, multiple choice or fill in the blank
questions. These questions will require you to
understand the following terms, names and
concepts. This is only a study guide; the test
may include anything from class and class
readings. If you have any questions email or
visit one of the course TAs; we are here to
help!

33. Exam #1 Terms and Names
Be able to identify & describe these terms and names as used in class and class
readings:
Onondaga Nation Territory • Tim Tebow
• Cornell West • ancestors
• gift exchange • Evangelical Christianity
• Haudenosaunee • shaman
• hierophanies • Devil’s Tower
• Charles Long • rites of passage
• Axis Mundi • History of Religions
• World Parliament of Religions • Ulama
• Materiality • Deyhontsigwachs
• religare • Lacrosse
• habitation • commodity
• Promise Keepers • use value
• myth • Onward Christian Athletes

34. Exam #1 Concepts
Be able to analyze, compare and contrast and apply these concepts as used in class
and class readings:
• The academic study of religion
• Popular perceptions of religion (i.e. the media)
• Descriptions of religion from Marx, Freud, Durkheim, Gandhi, Long,
West, Whitehead, Vivekananda & Bell/Douglas
• Sports to promote and/or evangelize for religion
• Sports as religion.
• Sacred sites & opposing views
• Lacrosse as the Creator’s Game
• Religion as habitation vs. religion as belief.
• Indigenous Religions.
– How are materiality, habitation, land, creation, exchange and
thanksgiving part of Indigenous religions?
• Consumerist culture, sports and religion
• money economy vs. gift economy