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Wiktionary
cargo cult

n. 1 Any of several unorthodox religious movements among the people of Melanesia based upon Western manufactured goods. 2 (context figuratively English) Any of several philosophy or pseudosciences that are not rooted in experiment

WordNet
cargo cult

n. (Melanesia) one of several millenarian cults that believe salvation will come in the form of wealth (`cargo') brought by Westerners; some ascribe divine attributes to Westerners on first contact (especially to missionaries)

Wikipedia
Cargo cult

A cargo cult is a millenarian movement first described in Melanesia which encompasses a diverse range of practices and occurring in the wake of contact with the commercial networks of colonizing societies. The name derives from the belief which began among Melanesians in the late 19th and early 20th century that various ritualistic acts such as the building of an airplane runway will manifest in the appearance of material wealth, particularly highly desirable Western goods (i.e., " cargo"), via Western airplanes, though the meaning of the behavior is more complex than a simple misunderstanding of capitalistic commodity fetishism on the part of the Melanesians.

Cargo cults often develop during a combination of crises. Under conditions of social stress, such a movement may form under the leadership of a charismatic figure. This leader may have a " vision" (or "myth-dream") of the future, often linked to an ancestral efficacy (" mana") thought to be recoverable by a return to traditional morality. This leader may characterize the present state as a dismantling of the old social order, meaning that social hierarchy and ego boundaries have been broken down.

Contact with colonizing groups brought about a considerable transformation in the way indigenous peoples of Melanesia have thought about other societies. Early theories of cargo cults began from the assumption that practitioners simply failed to understand technology, colonization, or capitalist reform; in this model, cargo cults are a misunderstanding of the trade networks involved in resource distribution and an attempt to acquire such goods in the wake of interrupted trade. However, many of these practitioners actually focus on the importance of sustaining and creating new social relationships, with material relations being secondary.

Since the late twentieth century, alternative theories have arisen. For example, some scholars, such as Kaplan and Lindstrom, focus on Europeans' characterization of these movements as a fascination with manufactured goods and what such a focus says about Western commodity fetishism. Others point to the need to see each movement as reflecting a particularized historical context, even eschewing the term "cargo cult" for them unless there is an attempt to elicit an exchange relationship from Europeans.

Cargo Cult (musician)

Cargo Cult is the stage name of Slovakian musician Allan Vilhan, who produces music in the genre of electronica. The work is a blend of ambient and beat-driven with subtle transitions from track to track. He describes it as "trip rock". Vilhan lives in Filakovo, where he runs his family's restaurant, making music in his spare time. He is signed with the online music label Magnatune. , he has produced two albums: Alchemy and Vibrant. Much of his music is licensed under Creative Commons, and his work has been used in the soundtrack of a video game.

Cargo cult (disambiguation)

A cargo cult is a kind of religious movement occurring in Melanesia.

Cargo cult may also refer to:

  • Cargo Cult (musician), an ambient and electronica musician
  • Cargo Cult Press, publisher of limited-edition horror novels
  • "Cargo Culte," a song by Serge Gainsbourg

Usage examples of "cargo cult".

He told me about the cargo cult and I came up with the idea of not just doing this to support the clinic, but to get really filthy rich.

By the way, look up the reference Cargo Cult in your History Banks .

Their ancient way of life was completely disrupted by the Cargo Cult.

If the Discordian Society is to become the world's next great cargo cult it will be due to the efforts of the bewildering array of subdisorganizations which make up our internal structure, fashioned from the original blueprint for the Manhatten Beach Pier House of Mirrors.

What Ponder was worried about was the fear that he was simply engaged in a cargo cult.

The cargo cult aspect puts a new spin on the old Lunar von Neumann factory idea, but Bingo and Marek say they think it should work until we can bootstrap all the way to a native nanolithography ecology.