This article concerns the concept of fetishism in anthropology. Separate articles are devoted to sexual fetishism and the Marxist concept of commodity fetishism.

A fetish (from French fétiche; from Portuguese feitiço; from Latin facticius, "artificial" and facere, "to make") is a natural object believed to have supernatural powers, or in particular a man-made object that has power over others.

History

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The concept was coined by Charles de Brosses in 1757, while comparing West African religion to the magical aspects of Ancient Egyptian religion. He and other 18th century scholars used the concept to apply evolution theory to religion. In de Brosses' theory of the evolution of religion, he proposed that fetishism is the earliest (most primitive) stage, followed by the stages of polytheism and monotheism, representing a progressive abstraction in thought.

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