The Elementary Forms of the Religious LifeDurkheim, Émile
Religion
The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
Durkheim, Émile
Cults; Religion; Religion -- Philosophy; Rites and ceremonies; Totemism
But the fact that the things thus attached to the totem are not of a
different nature from it, and consequently have a religious character,
is best proved by the fact that on certain occasions they fulfil the
same functions. They are accessory or secondary totems, or, according to
an expression now consecrated by usage, they are sub-totems.[469] It is
constantly happening in the clans that under the influence of various
sympathies, particular affinities are forming, smaller groups and more
limited associations arise, which tend to lead a relatively autonomous
life and to form a new subdivision like a sub-clan within the larger
one. In order to distinguish and individualize itself, this sub-clan
needs a special totem or, consequently, a sub-totem.[470] Now the totems
of these secondary groups are chosen from among the things classified
under the principal totem. So they are always almost totems and the
slightest circumstance is enough to make them actually so. There is a
latent totemic nature in them, which shows itself as soon as conditions
permit it or demand it. It thus happens that a single individual has
two totems, a principal totem common to the whole clan and a sub-totem
which is special to the sub-clan of which he is a member. This is
something analogous to the _nomen_ and _cognomen_ of the Romans.[471]
Sometimes we see a sub-clan emancipate itself completely and become an
autonomous group and an independent clan; then, the sub-totem, on its
side, becomes a regular totem. One tribe where this process of
segmentation has been pushed to the limit, so to speak, is the Arunta.
The information contained in the first book of Spencer and Gillen showed
that there were some sixty totems among the Arunta;[472] but the recent
researches of Strehlow have shown the number to be much larger. He
counted no less than 442.[473] Spencer and Gillen did not exaggerate at
all when they said, "In fact, there is scarcely an object, animate or
inanimate, to be found in the country occupied by the natives which does
not give its name to some totemic group."[474] Now this multitude of
totems, whose number is prodigious when compared to the population, is
due to the fact that under special circumstances, the original clans
have divided and sub-divided infinitely; consequently nearly all the
sub-totems have passed to the stage of totems.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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