Totemism

Introduction
The nature of totemism
- Group totemism
- Individual totemism
Some examples of totemism
- Wiradjuri
- Nor-Papua
- Iban
- Birhor
- Kpelle
A short history of totemistic theory
- McLennan to Thurnwald
- Durkheim to Radcliffe-Brown
- Lévi-Strauss
- After Lévi-Strauss

References & Edit History Related Topics

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At a Glance

totemism summary

Related Questions

How are guardian spirits different from group totems?
How are totem poles of the Northwest Coast connected to family lineages?
How are totemic emblems and symbols used by social groups?
How can a totem be passed down through a family or clan?
How can beliefs about shared ancestors connect people with animals or plants?
How can totemic clan rules affect marriage choices?
How can totemism be connected with animism ancestor worship or magic?
How could Kpelle personal animal totems be inherited?
How did A.R. Radcliffe-Brown explain connections between natural species and social groups?
How did Birhor clans in India treat their totems as members of the group?
How did Claude Lévi-Strauss interpret totemism as a way of classifying social differences?
How did Franz Boas challenge the idea that totemism had a single origin?
How did Iban people of Sarawak identify a protector spirit through dreams?
How did James George Frazer explain the origin of totem clans?
How did Kpelle group totems connect with ancestors?
How did Nor-Papua initiation ceremonies involve paternal and maternal totems?
How did a Wiradjuri medicine man use a spirit companion totem?
How did some Iban young men seek dreams of a protector spirit?
How did the Birhor annual ceremony honor the chief spirit of the ancestral hill?
How did the Kpelle describe the role of a totem as a guide and warning of danger?
How did the Nor-Papua represent their totems in flutes and house figures?
How did Émile Durkheim explain the relationship between a clan and its totem?
How do clans use animal and plant names in totemic systems?
How do group totemism and individual totemism differ?
How do myths explain the choice of a group’s totem?
How do patrilineal and matrilineal inheritance affect group totems?
How do people in totemic traditions commonly view their relationship with a totem?
How does individual totemism connect a person with an animal or natural object?
How does the idea of an alter ego relate to individual totemism?
How does totemism relate to clan membership and kinship?
How were individual totems passed to Wiradjuri medicine men?
In which parts of the world was group totemism traditionally common?
What actions are often forbidden toward a totem animal or plant?
What did people believe could happen to a person when an individual totem was harmed?
What did the Birhor believe would happen if a clan broke a taboo involving its totem?
What role did sacred places play in Nor-Papua beliefs about totem animals and souls?
What special powers could an individual totem give to its owner?
Why are some totems treated as relatives or protectors?
Why cannot the symbols on a Northwest Coast totem pole be interpreted without knowledge of the family’s history?
Why could an Iroquois child not marry someone from the same maternal clan?
Why did Alexander Goldenweiser argue that totemism was not a single unified system?
Why did Birhor clans use an emblem of their totem during ceremonies?
Why did Claude Lévi-Strauss call totemism an illusion?
Why did Durkheim think totemism was important to the origins of religion?
Why did Iban people show respect to an entire animal species linked to a protector spirit?
Why did Radcliffe-Brown reject the idea that totems were chosen mainly because they were useful for food?
Why do totemic traditions include taboos against eating or killing certain animals?
Why was the word totem given an inaccurate meaning by an English translator in 1791?
Why were Wiradjuri medicine men forbidden to eat their personal totems?
Why were clans with shared totems often exogamous?
Why were individual totems especially associated with chiefs and medicine men?
When is Shavuot celebrated?
How is Shavuot related to Pentecost?
What do Rastafarians believe?
Where does Confucianism come from?
How did Confucianism spread?
What are the basic teachings of Daoism?
Who were the great teachers of Daoism?
How does Daoism differ from Confucianism?
How was Zoroastrianism founded?
What are the major beliefs of Zoroastrianism?

Philosophy & Religion Religious Beliefs

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Totemism

religion

Written by

Josef Haekel

Professor of Ethnology; Director, Institute for Ethnology, University of Vienna. Author of Zum Individual- und Geschlechtstotemismus in Australien.

Josef Haekel

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Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Nov. 6, 2026 •History

Totemism, system of belief in which humans are said to have kinship or a mystical relationship with a spirit-being, such as an animal or plant. The entity, or totem, is thought to interact with a given kin group or an individual and to serve as their emblem or symbol. The term totemism has been used to characterize a cluster of traits in the religion and in the social organization of many peoples. Totemism is manifested...

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