The Trumpet Shall Sound by Peter Worsley 2nd ed. Cargo cults, Melanesia

Description: Worsley, Peter (1970). The Trumpet Shall Sound: A Study of "Cargo" Cults in Melanesia. New York, Schocken Books Second augmented edition. Originally published in 1968. Reprinted in 1970. A classic and often quoted study of millenarian religious movements known as cargo cults that spread through Melanesia from the late nineteenth century. [from the back cover] The Trumpet Shall Sound: A Study of “Cargo” Cults in Melanesia by Peter Worsley Second, augmented edition of a work not previously published in the United States. Melanesian islanders believe that ancestral spirits, banished by the white man’s religion, will come back and bring untold quantities of trade goods (“cargo” in pidgin English). These cults began as early as 1885 in Fiji, and are still spreading. At first they were related to existing fertility rites and ancestor cults, but gradually have been transformed into a nationalistic movement, using religious and magical symbols derived from both Christianity and indigenous belief. Peter Worsley shows that the cults’ apparently irrational flights from reason were, in fact, symptoms of the Melanesians’ growing feeling of insecurity and bewilderment in a world of changing social and economic conditions brought about by the intrusion of the white man. In their latest stages, therefore, the cults represent an attempt by the Melanesians to come to terms with these new conditions and —in the tradition of millenarism—to assert their independence in the face of the white dominance. Peter Worsley is Professor of Sociology at the University of Manchester, England. Check out my other listings of Melanesian, Oceanic, Native American & African anthropology, art and art history, and other regions of world art and cultures for additional rare finds.

Price: 16.89 USD

Location: Boone, North Carolina

End Time: 2024-11-23T02:24:56.000Z

Shipping Cost: 4.49 USD