Melanesian Cargo Cults

Paper Summary:

An assessment of some of the various anthropological explanations for cargo cults. The paper aims to reveal how the history of Melanesia itself, from colonial administration to independence, is reflected in attitudes towards and explanations of, the cargo cult phenomenon. The paper includes a number of lengthy quotes from articles related to the topic, which try to explain the origins of the cult systems and how they developed through history.

From the Paper:

"Few topics in the field of anthropological study have spread across academic disciplines and, through journalism, entered into popular usage as completely as the term "cargo cult". So much so, Lindstrom (1993) contends, "from the 1950's to the 1980's, cargo cult became the orthodox term for Melanesian social movements" (Lindstrom 1993:38). Indeed there have been claims that the term is overused, even abused, with all quasi-religious cults and "native frenzies" being labeled or re-labeled cargo cults. "Nowadays, for example, many Melanesian political movements must take care to deny explicitly that they are any sort of cargo cult"."

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