{"id":1247,"date":"2021-06-03T07:09:25","date_gmt":"2021-06-03T07:09:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/religious-studies\/?p=1247"},"modified":"2021-06-02T12:32:03","modified_gmt":"2021-06-02T12:32:03","slug":"notes-on-dreaming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/religious-studies\/?p=1247","title":{"rendered":"Notes on\u00a0Dreaming\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Paul-Fran\u00e7ois Tremlett<\/em><\/p>\n

I have written about dreams\u00a0in relation to anthropology and religion before\u00a0(Tremlett 2008\u00a0and 2017),\u00a0and\u00a0I return to dreams here spurred on\u00a0in part\u00a0by the spate of stories in popular media about dreams and the pandemic (e.g.\u00a0Renner 2020). Pandemic-dream stories, if I can call them that,\u00a0sometimes\u00a0rehearse a basic opposition between the idea that dreams are airy nothings and\u00a0meaningless\u00a0arbitrary associations on the one hand, and the idea that dreams are\u00a0producers,\u00a0performers\u00a0and generators on the other. <\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps surprisingly,\u00a0we can find that opposition at work in late nineteenth and early twentieth century writings about\u00a0the origins of\u00a0religion. For example, according to the British anthropologist E. B. Tylor (1832-1917), it was precisely the desire to explain the appearance, in dreams, of \u201chuman shapes\u201d (Tylor 1903 I, 428), that led to the development of animism which was, or so Tylor claimed, the original form of religion.\u00a0This view was vehemently opposed by\u00a0Emile Durkheim\u00a0(1858-1917) who\u00a0argued that dreams leave only \u201cvague impressions \u2026 in the memory\u201d (Durkheim 1915, 58; 1960, 82)\u00a0meaning\u00a0that\u00a0it was unlikely that anyone would spend much time dwelling or reflecting on them\u00a0and, if they did, it was to no purpose anyway. As you may have guessed, Durkheim had his own theory about the origins of religion!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps what is most interesting is that Tylor\u2019s\u00a0general\u00a0theory of religion is typically represented as a rationalist theory, yet he locates the origins of religion in an irrational force\u00a0(the dream), while Durkheim\u2019s\u00a0general\u00a0theory of religion\u00a0is routed through ideas about emotion and affect,\u00a0yet he\u00a0says\u00a0thinking about\u00a0dreams\u00a0is a waste of time\u00a0that could\u00a0otherwise\u00a0be spent on more productive pursuits\u00a0(a rather utilitarian or rationalist perspective). In other words, when it comes to dreams,\u00a0Tylor\u00a0and Durkheim swap places: the utilitarian becomes the\u00a0irrationalist\u00a0and vice versa.\u00a0What does any of this have to do with\u00a0Covid? If, like me, you\u2019ve been experiencing some\u00a0pretty weird\u00a0dreams these past months,\u00a0try to enjoy the ride.\u00a0If I\u2019ve learned anything, it\u2019s that dreams are\u00a0cryptic\u00a0machines. They make stuff, it\u2019s just not clear why or to what end.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

References<\/span><\/b>
\nDurkheim,\u00a0E.\u00a0(1915)\u00a0<\/span>The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life<\/span><\/i>,\u00a0(trans),\u00a0J.\u00a0W.\u00a0<\/span>Swain,\u00a0London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd.<\/span><\/p>\n

Durkheim,\u00a0E.\u00a0(1960)\u00a0<\/span>Les\u00a0Formes\u00a0El\u00e9mentaires\u00a0de la Vie Religieuse<\/span><\/i>,\u00a0Paris: PUF.\u00a0<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Renner, R. (2020)\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>The pandemic is giving people vivid, unusual dreams. Here\u2019s why. | National Geographic<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tremlett, P-F. (2008) \u2018Anthropology, Dreams, Epistemology\u2019 in\u00a0<\/span>Anthropology<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span>Today<\/span><\/i>\u00a024 (6): 27-29.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tremlett, P-F. (2017) \u2018Deconstructing the Survival in E. B. Tylor\u2019s Primitive Culture: From Memes to Dreams and Bricolage\u2019 in\u00a0<\/span>Edward Burnett Tylor:\u00a0Religion and Culture<\/span><\/i>, London: Bloomsbury, 179-194.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tylor,\u00a0E.\u00a0B.\u00a0(1903)\u00a0<\/span>Primitive Culture: Researches into the Development of Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Language, Art and Custom Vols. I,<\/span><\/i>\u00a04<\/span>th<\/span>\u00a0<\/span> Ed,\u00a0London: John Murray.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Paul-Fran\u00e7ois Tremlett I have written about dreams\u00a0in relation to anthropology and religion before\u00a0(Tremlett 2008\u00a0and 2017),\u00a0and\u00a0I return to dreams here spurred on\u00a0in part\u00a0by the spate of stories in popular media about dreams and the pandemic (e.g.\u00a0Renner 2020). Pandemic-dream stories, if I can call them that,\u00a0sometimes\u00a0rehearse a basic opposition between the idea that dreams are airy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1248,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[386,456,134,180],"class_list":["post-1247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ideas","tag-covid","tag-dream","tag-durkheim","tag-tylor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/religious-studies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/religious-studies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/religious-studies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/religious-studies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/religious-studies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1247"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/religious-studies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1249,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/religious-studies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1247\/revisions\/1249"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/religious-studies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/religious-studies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/religious-studies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/religious-studies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}