Peter Worsley's early sociological study of Melanesian cargo movements, first published in 1957 and still a foundation text in the field. Worsley treats these movements as a form of proto-political mobilization against colonial rule, reading the anticipated arrival of ancestral or foreign wealth as an idiom through which colonized Melanesians articulated demands for equality and self-determination. Its strength is being among the first works to take cargo movements seriously as reasoned responses to colonial disruption rather than as simple superstition. Its limit is its 1950s political-economy framing, which later ethnographers have supplemented with closer local and religious readings of individual movements.
Facts
Citation
AuthorPeter Worsley
PublisherMacGibbon and Kee
Publication Year1957
Source Typeacademic monograph
Assessment
Reliability Tier1
A foundational academic study of Melanesian cargo movements, widely cited in anthropology, though its mid-century political-economy framing has since been supplemented by closer ethnographic work on individual movements including John Frum. Claims Backed By This Source (17 claims)
This source backs 17 claims across the atlas. As facts: 13 well-attested, 1 scholarly debate. As cited relationships: 2 holds. Plus 1 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
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