Cargo Cults

Cargo cults-Very interesting concept. Some say crazy, but not Dr. Froese or Marvin Harris. Dr. Froese is one of my professors. He mainly teaches psychology but teachers an amazing Gen. Ed. called Human Social Context, a class which combines sociology, psychology, economics, and govt.
Marvin Harris is author of a book we read from that class called Cows , Pigs, Wars, and Witches: The Riddles of Culture. In this book Harris explores the deeper sociological issues behind cultural weirdness or conundrums such as why people don't eat cows in India, why witch trials really happened, and how tribal economic distribution works. It's pretty interesting.

Today, being the nerd that I am, I discovered a news story discussing a cargo cult that we read about in Harris' book.
Read the link: click here .

Then read this quote from Harris:
"Inevitably, these concepts--many rather precisely analogous to themes in the aboriginal belief system--had to become an idiom in which mass resistance to colonial exploitation was first expressed. "Mission Christianity" was the womb of rebellion. By repressing any form of open agitation, strikes, unions, or political parties, the Europeans themselves guaranteed the triumph of cargo. It was relatively easy to see that the missionaries were lying when they said that cargo would only be given to people who worked hard. What was difficult to grasp was that there was a definite link between the wealth enjoyed by the Australians and Americans and the work of the natives. Without the cheapness of native labor and the expropriation of native lands, the colonial powers would never have gotten so rich. In one sense, therefore, the natives were entitled to the products of the industrialized nations even though they couldn't pay for them. Cargo was their way of saying this. And that, I believe, is it's true secret."