ABSTRACT
The origin of totemism has been the subject of many debates among anthropologists. James Frazer had initally adopted a theory according to which the aim of a totemic society was to practise magic ceremonies for the multiplication of the totem animal or vegetable, and to ensure a continuance of provision of food and prosperity for the community. Emile Durkheim, chiefly based on Australian evidence, considers totemism as a religious institution. In Australia, the exogamic functions are assumed by the phratries, the totemic character of which divisions, even in the past, seems problematic; and by the classes, social divisions of a totally different order, to which there is no analogon among the tribes of the Pacific coast. A. Goldenweiser has the feeling that while the definition of totemism given in his earlier article is “anything but illuminating”, the accent was placed on two basic elements of totemism designated there as “the specific socialization of emotional values”.
