Animism is a broad term for ways of understanding a world in which humans share personhood, agency, spirit, or social relationships with other-than-human beings. Animals, plants, rivers, mountains, weather, objects, ancestors, and places may be treated as active participants rather than passive things.
| Term | Animism |
|---|---|
| Field | Anthropology, religious studies, folklore, and Indigenous studies |
| Meaning | A broad category for relationships with a living, spirited, or person-filled world |
| Older definition | Belief in souls or spiritual beings |
| Modern emphasis | Relationships, personhood, agency, responsibility, and ways of knowing |
What is animism?
Animism describes traditions in which some beings that Western thought often calls “nature” or “objects” are encountered as persons, agents, relatives, owners, teachers, or members of a shared social world. They may communicate, make choices, enter agreements, respond to respect, or withdraw cooperation.
This does not mean that every animal, stone, tree, or tool is understood in exactly the same way. Personhood may depend on species, place, ritual, experience, relationship, or circumstance. Different communities have their own categories, names, and explanations.
Where did the term come from?
The English term became influential through nineteenth-century anthropology. Edward Burnett Tylor defined animism as belief in spiritual beings and treated it as an early stage in the development of religion. His theory reflected the evolutionary assumptions of his era and arranged societies along a supposed path from “primitive” belief to modern science.
Modern scholars reject that hierarchy. They do not treat animistic traditions as failed science or as remnants of a less developed mind. Contemporary work often focuses on how people form relationships with other-than-human persons and what ethical responsibilities those relationships create.
Old and new approaches to animism
| Approach | Central question | Common limitation or strength |
|---|---|---|
| Nineteenth-century theory | Why do people believe in souls and spirits? | Often treated cultures as stages in a single evolutionary ladder |
| Symbolic interpretation | What do spirit beliefs represent or explain? | Can overlook claims that relationships are experienced as real |
| Relational animism | How do people build social relationships with other-than-human persons? | Emphasizes practice, reciprocity, and context |
| Ontological approaches | What kinds of beings and worlds are recognized? | Challenges the assumption that all cultures divide nature and society in the same way |
Common features associated with animism
- animals, plants, places, or objects may possess agency or personhood;
- humans may communicate with other-than-human beings through dreams, ritual, signs, or specialists;
- hunting, gathering, farming, and travel may involve reciprocal obligations;
- particular landscapes may have owners, guardians, memories, or histories;
- offerings, apologies, taboos, and respectful speech may maintain relationships; and
- transformation between human and nonhuman forms may be possible in myth, dream, or ritual.
These features do not form a checklist. A tradition can include some without including all, and similar practices may be understood differently by the people who perform them.
Animism in mythology and folklore
Myths and folktales often preserve a world of conversation between species. Animals speak, marry humans, give laws, demand courtesy, or reveal knowledge. Mountains become ancestors, rivers act with intention, and tools remember how they were treated.
It is tempting to dismiss these elements as fantasy. Within an animistic setting, however, a story may express real expectations about reciprocity and conduct. A hunter who insults an animal, a traveler who ignores a place spirit, or a family that neglects an inherited object may break a social relationship, not merely a magical rule.
Is animism the worship of nature?
Not exactly. “Nature worship” can imply that nature is a single divine object and that the main activity is worship. Animistic relationships may instead involve kinship, negotiation, hospitality, avoidance, gratitude, exchange, fear, or mutual dependence.
The category of nature can itself be misleading. Many animistic traditions do not draw a firm boundary separating human society from an outside natural world. Humans may belong to a wider community containing many kinds of persons.
Is animism a religion?
Animism is not one organized religion with a founder, creed, or universal set of practices. It is a comparative label applied to features found in many distinct traditions. Animistic relationships can coexist with Buddhism, Christianity, Daoism, Shinto, local ceremonial systems, and other religious identities.
Because the word comes from outside many of the communities it describes, it should be used carefully. Whenever possible, specific cultural terms and explanations are more informative than the general label.
Related terms
Sources
- Harvey, Graham. Animism: Respecting the Living World. Columbia University Press, 2006.
- Bird-David, Nurit. “Animism Revisited: Personhood, Environment, and Relational Epistemology.” Current Anthropology 40, supplement 1 (1999): S67–S91.
- Descola, Philippe. Beyond Nature and Culture. University of Chicago Press, 2013.
- Tylor, Edward Burnett. Primitive Culture. John Murray, 1871.
Last reviewed: September 2026.