The Cargo Cult as a Religious Movement

Record summary

During the 1960s, anthropologists debated whether ‘cargo cults’ should be understood primarily as religious movements, political resistance, economic adaptation or products of colonial misunderstanding. The controversy drew on cases in Papua New Guinea, the New Hebrides, the Solomon Islands and Micronesia. It is a useful lead for comparison because it asks whether narratives of returning ancestors, distant powers and future abundance are indigenous eschatologies or analytic constructions imposed by observers. Exact articles and authors must be traced through bibliographies, since the phrase was used in multiple overlapping publications and not as one canonical event.