Steel to Stone
Steel to Stone

Author: Jeffrey Clark

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2000-12-14

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 0191543780

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In this book the late Jeffrey Clark subjects the history of colonialism among the Wiru of Papua New Guinea to a fresh and subtle examination. He reflects upon his own fieldwork as an anthropologist as he scrutinizes the cultural construction of encounters and exchanges between New Guineans and Australians from the 1930s on. Colonized and colonizers alike are the focus of an analysis that draws upon theories of culture, temporality, discursive representation, and anthropology in the postcolonial era. Steel to Stone offers an original critique of several different theories and perspectives and, in its ensemble of frameworks, constitutes a highly innovative contribution to anthropological thinking about history and culture. Of especial interest is Clark's application, in a New Guinean context, of Foucault's analysis of `the way in which new regimes of power and knowledge are inscribed on the body'. The Wiru, faced with the impact of a colonizing culture, are shown to inscribe their own history on the body, and to read in it their understanding of particular events. Overall, Clark provides a compelling picture of a contemporary Melanesian culture, at the critical point at which the Wiru people are interpreting, invoking, and reinventing their history in the context of a developing nation state.

The Lihir Destiny
The Lihir Destiny

Author: Nicholas A. Bainton

Publisher: ANU E Press

Published: 2010-10-01

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 1921666854

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The people of the Lihir Islands in Papua New Guinea have long held visions of a prosperous new future, often referred to by local leaders as the 'Lihir Destiny'. When large-scale gold mining activities commenced on the main island of Lihir in 1995, many hoped that this new world had finally arrived. The Lihir Destiny provides a nuanced account of the social structural and cultural transformations engendered by large-scale resource extraction. Tracing the history of Lihirian engagement with outside forces, from the colonial period through to recent mining activities, this book brings new light to bear on the bigger question of what 'development' means in contemporary Melanesia. The Lihir Destiny explores how Lihirian leaders devised future plans for a cultural revolution based upon the maximisation of mining activities and the influential philosophies of the Personal Viability movement. However, reaching the 'Lihir Destiny' is no simple affair, and many Lihirians find themselves negotiating divergent formulations of culture, sociality and economic engagement. The Lihir Destiny will appeal to readers interested in the social impacts of large-scale resource development, the processes of cultural continuity and change and the ways in which modernity is configured in local terms.

Cults in Context
Cults in Context

Author: Lorne Dawson

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-02-06

Total Pages: 725

ISBN-13: 135152464X

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In the face of the increasingly variegated ideological landscape of contemporary America, cults have become the focus of public controversy. The growth of new religions has been matched by the development of an organized and vocal opposition, the anti-cult movement. This in turn has prompted an extensive investigation of new religious movements (NRMs) by sociologists and psychologists of religion, as well as historians and religious studies scholars. The readings collected here contribute to the debate about cults by sampling some of the best and most accessible publications from the academic study of NRMs.The contributors address the questions most commonly asked about cults, such as: What brought about the emergence of new religious movements? What is a cult or new religious movement? Who joins new religious movements and why? Are converts to new religious movements brainwashed? Why did the Jonestown and Waco tragedies happen? Are cults inclined to be violent? What does the emergence of so many new religious movements say about our society? What does it say about the future of religion?Cults in Context surveys the descriptive typologies, theories, and data accumulated by sociologists and psychologists studying new religious movements over the last twenty years. It serves to defuse many popular fears and misconceptions about cults, allowing the reader to develop a more reasonable and tolerant understanding of the people who join new religious movements and the functions of these movements in contemporary society.

Cults and New Religions
Cults and New Religions

Author: Douglas E. Cowan

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2015-04-27

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 111872349X

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This unparalleled introduction to cults and new religiousmovements has been completely up-dated and expanded to reflect thelatest developments; each chapter reviews the origins, leaders,beliefs, rituals and practices of a NRM, highlighting the specificcontroversies surrounding each group. A fully updated, revised and expanded edition of anunparalleled introduction to cults and new religious movements Profiles a number of the most visible, significant, andcontroversial new religious movements, presenting eachgroup’s history, doctrines, rituals, leadership, andorganization Offers a discussion of the major controversies in which newreligious movements have been involved, using each profiled groupto illustrate the nature of one of those controversies Covers debates including what constitutes an authenticreligion, the validity of claims of brainwashing techniques, theimplications of experimentation with unconventional sexualpractices, and the deeply rooted cultural fears that cultsengender New sections include methods of studying new religions in eachchapter as well as presentations on ‘groups towatch’

Cargo, Cult, and Culture Critique
Cargo, Cult, and Culture Critique

Author: Holger Jebens

Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

Published: 2004-09-30

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 0824840445

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Cargo cults have long exerted a remarkable attraction on Westerners, and the last decade has seen the publication of much new work on the subject. This collection of original essays is based on fieldwork in Melanesia, Fiji, Australia, and Indonesia by scholars who are influential in the contemporary debate on cargo. Conceived as a reader for undergraduate and graduate courses, the volume offers an up-to-date view of the subject and the debates it arouses among contemporary anthropologists. Some contributors plead for the abolition of "cargo" because of its troublesome implications, but also because, in the authors’ view, cargo cults do not exist as identifiable objects of study. Others argue that it is precisely this troublesome nature that makes the term a useful analytical tool that should be welcomed rather than rejected. By delineating and substantiating key issues and positions in this lively and ongoing debate, this volume underscores and refines the contemporary reevaluation of cargo cults. Scholars of the Pacific region and others interested in new religious movements should find this volume both enlightening and compelling. Contributors: Nils Bubandt, Vincent Crapanzano, Douglas M. Dalton, Elfriede Hermann, Holger Jebens, Martha Kaplan, Karl-Heinz Kohl, Stephen C. Leavitt, Lamont Lindstrom, Ton Otto, Joel Robbins, Jaap Timmer, Robert Tonkinson.

Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea

Author: John Connell

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2005-07-28

Total Pages: 374

ISBN-13: 1134938322

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Since 1975 the economy of Papua New Guinea has focused on mineral, rather than agricultural production as previously. This is the first book to look at these changes in a complex, rapidly evolving nation from an economic perspective.

Social Science and the Cults
Social Science and the Cults

Author: John A. Saliba

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-03-20

Total Pages: 958

ISBN-13: 0429662904

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This book, first published in 1990, brings together descriptive, comparative, and theoretical materials on cults and sects in Western culture, focusing on literature published since 1970. A historical section links the rise of the new movements to similar past phenomena in Western culture. Other sections examine the methodology of studying religious movements and the various theories which have been brought to explain them, current studies on traditional sects that are sometimes compared to the new religions, and many studies of individual contemporary cults.