Cargo Cult and Economic Development in Transitional Melanasia

Abstract

<p>In this paper I make a distinction between cargo cults, which are usually incompatable with economic development, and cargo movements, which may have the characteristics of cargo cults but which may be compatable with the goals of economic development. I suggest that all cargo cults have begun as cargo movements and propose that one of the variables which might influence the change from movement to cult is that of indigenous and European values of time. This proposal is tested with reference to cult and movement in Manus, of the Admiralty Islands, and Kaliai, on the north-west coast of New Britain.</p>