ANT 1101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Liminality, Melanesians, Cargo Cult

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Anthropology
• Course: ANT 1101
• Professor: Deborah Sick

Document Summary

Secular rituals: scripted, practices, actions and/or words for particular occasions not grounded in sacred/supernatural belief, used to try to influence outcomes. Rites of passage: rituals which mark significant changes/transitions in lives of individuals from one stage of life to another, three stages. Liminality: marginal or in-between phase; left one state; (cid:374)ot yet (cid:858)(cid:271)e(cid:272)o(cid:373)e(cid:859) a(cid:374)other. Rites of intensification: rituals which mark occasions of crisis/potential crisis in the life of the group. E. g. funerals; annual crop fertility ceremonies; saint day celebrations etc: functions: Magic: use of supernatural power to accomplish specific aims, e. g. Melanesians can use magic to acquire mana: used to help improve outcomes of human activities e. g. gardening, sailing, childbirth etc, melanesian cargo cults. European colonial rule brings manufactured goods (cargo) But not widely available to melanesians; frustrated. Developed belief that cargo was actually created by ancestors meant for. Melanesians, but europeans, with their magic powers, intervened.