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Cargo Cult: Strange Stories of Desire from Melanesia and Beyond
Who is not captivated by tales of Islanders earnestly scanning their watery horizons for great fleets of cargo ships bringing rice, radios and refrigerators - ships that will never arrive? Of all the stories spun about the island peoples of Melanesia, tales of cargo cult are among the most fascinating.
The term cargo cult, Lamont Lindstrom contends, is one of anthropology's most sucessful conceptual offspring. Like culture, worldview and ethnicity, its usage has steadily proliferated, migrating into popular culture where today it is used to describe an astonishing roll-call of people. It's history makes for lively and compelling reading. The cargo cult story, Lindstrom shows, is more significant than it at first appears, for it recapitulates in summary form three generations of anthropoligical theory and Pacific studies.
Although anthropologists' enthusiasm for the notion of cargo cult has waned, it now colors outsiders' understanding of Melanesian culture, and even Melanesians' perceptions of themselves. The repercussions for contemporary Islanders are leaders of more than one political movement have felt the need to deny that they are any kind of cargo cultist.
Of particular interest to this history is Lindstom's arguement that accounts of cargo cult are at heart tragediees of thwarted desire, melancholy anticipation and crazy unrequited love. He makes a convincing case that these stories expose powerful Western scenarios of desire itself - giving cargo cult its combined titillation of the facinating exotic and the comfortably familiar.
The term cargo cult, Lamont Lindstrom contends, is one of anthropology's most sucessful conceptual offspring. Like culture, worldview and ethnicity, its usage has steadily proliferated, migrating into popular culture where today it is used to describe an astonishing roll-call of people. It's history makes for lively and compelling reading. The cargo cult story, Lindstrom shows, is more significant than it at first appears, for it recapitulates in summary form three generations of anthropoligical theory and Pacific studies.
Although anthropologists' enthusiasm for the notion of cargo cult has waned, it now colors outsiders' understanding of Melanesian culture, and even Melanesians' perceptions of themselves. The repercussions for contemporary Islanders are leaders of more than one political movement have felt the need to deny that they are any kind of cargo cultist.
Of particular interest to this history is Lindstom's arguement that accounts of cargo cult are at heart tragediees of thwarted desire, melancholy anticipation and crazy unrequited love. He makes a convincing case that these stories expose powerful Western scenarios of desire itself - giving cargo cult its combined titillation of the facinating exotic and the comfortably familiar.
- GenresAnthropologyNonfiction
288 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 5, 2011
Lamont Lindstrom’s book provides a much needed history and analysis on how the term “cargo cult” developed and its inevitable evolution, not only in Melanesia, but elsewhere. As a professor of anthropology at the University of Tulsa and through many years of involvement in Melanesia, he has produced an excellent book that lays open many questions about what a cargo cult actually is. Through this one term we are exposed to many themes and patterns that not only help us understand the Pacific Islanders more but also ourselves.
Lindstrom provides an extensive genealogy of the label “cargo cult” from the first time the term was coined in the November 1945 issue of the Pacific Islands Monthly by a Mr. Bird in his description of a particular social movement in Melanesia. There definitely is a fascination with cargo cults. Lindstrom’s main concern is with the discourse of “cargoism”, not ethnographic reality, which he does through an analysis of both scientific and fictional accounts of cargo cults. He states that “. . .within academia, cargo cults has shaped the theory and practice of anthropological, religious, and Pacific studies” (4). Our perceptions of cargo cults not only influence the way we view events in Melanesia, but also how the Melanesians perceive and present themselves.
Lindstrom provides an extensive genealogy of the label “cargo cult” from the first time the term was coined in the November 1945 issue of the Pacific Islands Monthly by a Mr. Bird in his description of a particular social movement in Melanesia. There definitely is a fascination with cargo cults. Lindstrom’s main concern is with the discourse of “cargoism”, not ethnographic reality, which he does through an analysis of both scientific and fictional accounts of cargo cults. He states that “. . .within academia, cargo cults has shaped the theory and practice of anthropological, religious, and Pacific studies” (4). Our perceptions of cargo cults not only influence the way we view events in Melanesia, but also how the Melanesians perceive and present themselves.
September 7, 2008
A bok with a very very interesting topic written by a totally lame academic fuckwad. Somehow this over-educated twerp can write things like "Are we Americans, are we the REAL cargo cultists?" with a straight face. No jackass, Americans aren't lined up on beaches and building giant model airplanes to get treasures. He tries to make all these comparisons between people going to Hollywood and acting the part of an actor in order to become actors with cargo cultists, which to me is a pretty fucking pathetic attempt to make a name for himself. The writer may be a total piece of shit the world would be better off without, but this book still gets 3 stars because the subject is so incredibly fascinating, and there aren't enough books on it for my taste.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews