Fetishism

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Robert Clark (The Literary Encyclopedia)

The Literary Encyclopedia. WORLD HISTORY AND IDEAS: A CROSS-CULTURAL VOLUME.

Domains

Concept (psychoanalysis)

Dates

Date of occurrence 1613

Places

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The word “fetish” (or “fetich”) enters English in 1613 (by way of French

fétiche

from the Portuguese

feitiçio

) to describe West African charms or amulets which the natives of Guinea believed to have magical powers. “Fetishism”, as a general designation of the habit of believing fetishes, appears in the nineteenth century as part of the growing discipline of comparative religion, notably in John Lubbock (1834–1913),

The Origin of Civilization and the Primitive Condition of Man

, and in what is considered the first English anthropological work,

Primitive Culture

by E.B. Tylor (1832–1917). Fetishism in such works is generally seen as a cultural-historical stage on the way from primitive atheism through animism, fetishism and polytheism to a monotheism which is presumed to be…

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793 words

Citation: Clark, Robert. "Fetishism". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 March 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=384, accessed 16 April 2024.]

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