Revitalization movement

{{Anthropology of religion|Basic|image=290px|caption=Arapahoe ghost dance}} In 1956, Anthony F. C. Wallace published a paper called "'''Revitalization Movements'''"<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121004221923/https://www.sjsu.edu/people/mira.amiras/courses/c10/s2/AFC_Wallace_RevitalizationMvt.pdf Wallace, Anthony F.C. 1956. "Revitalization Movements"], ''American Anthropologist'' 58: 264-281.</ref> to describe how cultures change themselves. A revitalization movement is a "deliberate, organized, conscious effort by members of a society to construct a more satisfying culture" (p. 265), and Wallace describes at length the processes by which a revitalization movement takes place.

==Overview== Wallace' model 1956 describes the process of a '''revitalization movement'''. It is derived from studies of a Native American religious movement, The Code of Handsome Lake, which may have led to the formation of the Longhouse Religion. <blockquote> {{Plainlist| *I. ''Period of generally satisfactory adaptation'' to a group's social and natural environment. *II. ''Period of increased individual stress''. While the group as a whole is able to survive through its accustomed cultural behavior, changes in the social or natural environment frustrate efforts of many people to obtain normal satisfactions of their needs. *III. ''Period of cultural distortion''. Changes in the group's social or natural environment drastically reduce the capacity of accustomed cultural behavior to satisfy most persons' physical and emotional needs. *IV. ''Period of revitalization'': (1) reformulation of the cultural pattern; (2) its communication; (3) organization of a reformulated cultural pattern; (4) adaptation of the reformulated pattern to better meet the needs and preferences of the group; (5) cultural transformation; (6) routinization, when the adapted reformulated cultural pattern becomes the standard cultural behavior for the group. *V. ''New period of generally satisfactory adaptation'' to the group's changed social and/or natural environment.{{Citation needed|date=February 2012}} }} </blockquote>

Wallace derived his theory from studies of so-called primitive peoples (preliterate and homogeneous), with particular attention to the Iroquois revitalization movement led by Seneca religious leader and prophet Handsome Lake (1735-1815). Wallace believed that his revitalization model applies to movements as broad and complex as the rise of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, or Wesleyan Methodism.

Revitalization is a part of social movements.

Scholars such as Vittorio Lanternari (1963), Peter Worsley (1968) and Duane Champagne (1988, 2005){{sfn|Champagne|2005}} have developed and adapted Wallace's insights.

==See also== *Ghost Dance: a famous Native American revitalization movement *Great Awakenings: a controversially named reference to revitalization movements in the USA. *Christian revivalism *Language revitalization

==Notes==

==References== * Champagne, Duane (1988). "The Delaware Revitalization Movement of the Early 1760s: A Suggested Reinterpretation." ''American Indian Quarterly'' 12 (2): 107–126. * {{cite encyclopedia |surname=Champagne |given=Duane |entry=North American Indian Religions: New Religious Movements |title=Encyclopedia of Religion: 15-volume Set |editor=Lindsay Jones |edition=2nd |place=Farmington Hills, Mi |publisher=Macmillan Reference USA |year=2005 |volume=10 |entry-url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/north-american-indian-religions-new-religious-movements |via=Encyclopedia.com}} * Kehoe, B. Alice, ''The Ghost Dance: Ethnohistory and Revitalization, Massacre at Wounded Knee Creek,'' Thompson Publishing, 1989. {{ISBN|1577664531}} * Lanternari, Vittorio. ''The Religions of the Oppressed; a Study of Modern Messianic Cults.'' (London: MacGibbon & Kee, [Studies in Society], 1963; New York: Knopf, 1963). * Lindstrom, Lamont. ''Cargo Cult: Strange Stories of Desire from Melanesia and Beynd''. (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. 1993). * Worsley, Peter. ''The Trumpet Shall Sound: A study of 'cargo' cults in Melanesia''. (New York: Schocken Books, 2d augmented, 1968).

Category:Anthropology Category:Social movements Category:Sociology of religion