'reverse anthropology' is when the anthropologist aims to see the worlds and the events that occur from the point of view of the people indigenous to the area
have you heard of a TV series called Meet the Natives?
it follows the adventures of a group of Venuatan tribesman as they experience Britain by living with three families in different social standings (i.e. each family is of a different class background) and hope to bring back to their tribe a message from Prince Philip (who they believe is the son of their god)
- arguably there is potential for this exercise to corrupt their culture
- ..especially as Prince Phikip is not known for his tact, and a slip of the tongue may have dire effects on their customs
Millennial movement
- key aspect: rejection to present order, may urge return to a past or may involve a rejection of tradition
- "a broad variety of social movements that have in common an aspiration to reform or to overturn the social order with supernatural assistance”
Worsley (1957: 251)
- radical break urged by prophet leads to moral renewal
- the love of one's cult brethren
- new forms of sexual ties
- abandonment of stealing, lying, cheating, theft..
- devotion to the interests of community
Types of movements
- messianic - return to lead the people
- acculturation - response to disruptions of colonial domination
- nativistic - revive endangered aspect of culture
- revitalisation - reconstructive and theraprutic functions of movement
Cargo cults
- prophet receives message from ancestors of promised cargo or of cargo intended for them being hijacked by others
- such messages tend to bring social harmony and consensus amongst the people, as this is said to ensure the arrival of the cargo
- the John Frum movement (in Vanuatu) caused some followers to reject Christian and Western practices, and revitalise native dances, use of kava (recreational drink), pre-colonial residence patterns
- Paliau movement on Munu Island: replacement of tradition with European manners
Strategies
"A prophet announces the immanent end of the world in a cataclysm which will destroy everything... then the ancestors will return, or God, or some other liberating power, will appear... bringing all the goods the people desire... and ushering a reign of eternal bliss (Worsley 1957: 11)
- mass gatherings, arifield constructions, raising of flag pole, burial or washing, and dancing
John Frum movement
- John Frum has not been identified but it is strongly believed (amongst non-natives) that in the 1930s Americans arriving on the island introduced themselves as 'John, from...'
- the 300, 000 American soldiers inhabiting Vanuatu Island during 1940s kept the religion from dying out
- it is believed that 'John Frum' had told them that America would save them
- British and French colonial powers had imprisoned many of the indigenous people but the Americans freed them, let them join the army and gave them uniforms so that they felt included
Explanation: psychological and social function
- deals with emotions of relative deprivation and general confusion: it is reassuring, provides some hope/security
- transforms local systems of knowledge
- re-establishes people's dignity
- provides explanation for inequality
- galvanises; creates large groups to resist and rise againstoppression
- provides language of political process
Emergent of Melanesian culture
- borne from intensity of paranoid ethos
- cosmological association between spiritual and material power
- mythical ritual beliefs in annual return of the deceased
- importance of competitive exchange in political relations with neighbours
- weak indigenous institutions to deal with invasion and dominations
New religious movements
1. shift in usage ('cargo' and 'cult' became problematic in the 1970s) to 'nativistic', 'adjustment', 'protonationalist', 'micronationalist', and 'local protest'
2. study of new religions emerged in Japan following religious innovations after World War II
Revitalisation thesis (Wallace 1956)
- highlights the reconctructive and socially therapeutic functions of a religious movement
- notes the deliberate efforts of participants to remake their world
- insists on tracing the processes involved in the emergencce and decline/routinisation of each movement
- also highlights the emergence of a prophet as of crucial importance to every revitalisation movement (sort of leader figure?)
- importance of parent-like supernatural figure
Revitalisation process in 5 steps
- steady state
- period of individual state
- period of cultural distortion
- period of revitalisation
- new steady state
Prince Philip movement
- revitalisation movement or prophetic? how do we categorise this movement?
- to what extent is Prince Philip divine?
- confidence through Kastom now reversed in their engagement with UK (reverse anth.)
- exchange of gifts with Prince Philip suggests aspects of equality: not messianic in a traditional sense
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