"Ontology, Scale, and Time: Inferring the Origins of Andean Religion and its Practice"
2,415 views · Published 22 April 2009 · 1:22:30 · Indexed 1 November 2026
Channel: Vanderbilt University · 2009 · Education
Watch video of the annual Howard Harrod Lecture and the Center for the Study of Religion and Culture Spring Lecture with Distinguished Professor of Anthropology Tom D. Dillehay. The April 20 lecture, titled "Ontology, Scale, and Time: Inferring the Origins of Andean Religion and its Practice," addresses the question of how the origins of religious and ideological practices in ancient civilizations without writing systems are studied and inferred. The empirical and ontological bases of inferred religious and ritual practices are discussed primarily for the Andean region and related to death and funerals, political organization, and kinship geographies. Dr. Dillehay also considers the different scales of empirical and temporal evidence required to approach this topic. Tom D. Dillehay is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Vanderbilt and Professor Extraordinaire and Honorary Doctorate at the Universidad Austral de Chile.
