Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology
Melanesian *religion, ritual and *cosmology have been approached from a variety of perspectives, though three have tended to predominate. The role of initiation ceremonies in male psychosexual development has attracted the attention of a number of studies inspired by *psychoanalysis (e.g. Herdt 1981); scholars influenced by *Marxism have examined the role of religion in maintaining the control of senior men over women and juniors (e.g. Keesing 1982); while the symbolism of ritual has been analysed from various *structuralist, †semiotic and other †interpretive perspectives (e.g.
Gell 1975).
Some Melanesian societies seem to have highly elaborated cosmologies and systems of religious belief, while others appear to have decidedly secular and pragmatic cultural orientations. An early comparative study of Melanesian religions suggested a ‘secular’ emphasis in the New Guinea Highland societies, and a ‘religious’ emphasis in seaboard and insular Melanesia (Lawrence and Meggitt 1965). More recently, there was controversy over whether the apparent variations in the elaboration of religion in Melanesia are real or merely artefacts of analysis, a controversy which debated among other issues the nature of the ‘order’ apparent in some Melanesian religions, the political and other factors that may serve to promote or subvert this order, and the role that indigenous exegesis should be allowed to play in the interpretation of ritual (Brunton 1980).
From the very beginning, Western observers in Melanesia had been intrigued by *cargo cults, *millenial movements in which believers await the arrival of large quantities of ‘cargo’ (Western manufactured goods) sent by their *ancestors. Cargo cults continue to flourish in many parts of Melanesia, sometimes in close integration with national party politics, and they remain an important focus of anthropological interest.
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