Anthropological function of ghost in the society?

Question

base on CULTURAL and SOCIAL

Answer 1

There are many functions in different societies, and there are also different interpretations depending upon the perspective that one takes, eg, symbolic, psychological, materialist and so forth.

I know that in some societies in Africa, in order to legitimately provide children to a lineage group that a woman will marry a ghost -- that is a dead member of the lineage group and though she will subsequently have children by a man outside the ghost-husband's kin group, the children would be considered as belonging to that kin group.

Ghosts of course are commonly used for social control of children in many different societies. I remember being a Gurung village in Nepal where the small daughter of the house would cry whenever she saw me because she'd been told that Americans are ghosts who would come devour her if she did not behave. I remember being threatened with ghosts in my childhood as well, which resulted in an irrational fear of the dark.

Very common in many societies is spirit possession, in which what is called mental illness in western societies is explained in terms of people being possessed by spirits of the dead. Cures then are effected, or attempted anyway, by shamans exorcising possessing spirits in rituals -- usually with a lot of drama involving other members of the local community. It actually is not all that far different from modern day psychoanalysis explaining mental illness in terms of a person's mind being in the grip of suppressed past experiences. The involvement of others helps to provide explanation of the person's abberant behavior and allow others to come to terms with it.

Also in many societies the dead must be put through the proper rituals or else their ghosts will not be released and continue to linger, causing evil and malfeasience. This is thought to be a way that the community is put back in balance following the death of a person, and the persistence of the ghost could mean that the members of the community had not fully addressed lingering problems brought by the death: the position and role of surviving spouses, disagreement over inheritance, disrupted relationships, power inbalances, etc.

A materialist might say that society takes a form alien to the individual, and ghosts along with other fetishes could be said to be forms that this alienated self takes.

Answer 2

Low technology cultures....what is that? Anyway, have you ever heard Bob Marley's song: Duppy Conqueror? Belief in ghosts...duppy...in Jamaica is very real!

Answer 3

Probably used as a control method on the living since we really don't know what powers of the dead could do to us.  I personally don't believe in the dead having control over matters, but that may not be the case in low technology cultures.