Belief and Myth in The Seer's Novel: The Journey of Damu the Sumerian by Diaa Jubaili: An Anthropological Approach

Abstract

Objectives: This study examines belief and myth in Diaa Jubaili’s The Seer: The Journey of Damu the Sumerian through an anthropological approach. It identifies major religious and mythological elements, analyzes their explanatory, psychological, social, and identity-related functions, and explores their relationship with the sacred, power, and social control.

Methodology: The study adopts cultural anthropology with a functional orientation as its principal framework. The concept of cultural function is used to identify the predominant effects of religious and mythological elements within their narrative contexts, supported by concepts of ritual, the sacred, cultural memory, and symbolic power.

Results: The analysis shows that mythological elements provide meaningful representations of death and the unknown, while rituals and symbols regulate responses to fear and loss. Rituals also organize social roles and collective emotions. Writing, tablets, and places preserve connections with the Mesopotamian past and cultural memory. The narrative further reveals how the sacred may contribute to social authority and institutional interpretations.

Conclusions: The study concludes that doubt in Damu’s experience enables a renewed interpretation of inherited myths. His readings of immortality and the serpent associate these symbols with mortality, healing, work, and human legacy. Belief retains symbolic value while remaining vulnerable to mechanisms of social control when its interpretation becomes linked to institutional authority.