Monthly Archive for September, 2009

CARGO CULT AS A RELIGIOUS, SOCIAL AND POLITICAL PHENOMENA have been around in different parts of Melanesia for quite some time now. Names of cultic figures such as John Frum on Tanna Island (Vanuatu); Yaliwan in the Sepik, Yali in Madang, Paliau in Manus and Johnson in New Ireland (PNG); and movements such as the Maasina Rule on Malaita (Solomon Islands) often come to mind quickly. Different explanations have been used to explain their proliferation. Some were responses to colonialism and emerging nationalism, others were seen as the appropriation and modification of Christianity and still others were seen in light of the challenges and promises of capitalist development. These kinds of activities continue to appear with a constant frequency and they summon a particular kind of curiosity about their appearance.

In the recent edition of the Post Courier (10/09/09) we read of yet another kind of these cult activities which appears in the hinterlands of Morobe Province in Papua New Guinea. This time it is described as a ‘banana cult’ whose tenet aspires to a propagative ideal that translates into a belief that if people in the community engage in orgiastic sex in the public, this will bring about an abundance of bananas. We do not have information about the sociological status of banana in this area. That is, whether they are as highly priced as they are amongst the Tolai in East New Britain or as yams are in other parts of Melanesia or if it just forms part of the staple in mundane ordinary life etc.

Since its emergence this particular cult has paraded itself on a moral of self-help and its vehicle of aleviating poverty in the area is sexual indulgence with an orgiastically voyeurish ambiance. This particular cult group and its adherents have threatened to kill people who report its activities to government authorities. However, word has now come out through a village leader who managed to escape his captors and the police are being deployed to arrest those who are allegedly involve in the cult. The village leader who escaped his captors, Titus Namusa, reported that:

Young men and women including married couples are walking around naked and having sex in public places without being ashamed of themselves. The leader told the people that they have not seen any government services and they have resorted to other means to see services trickling down to their doorsteps.

Lack of government presence , an acute symbol of dire degeneration, has answered itself with a counter symbol of propagative regeneration. For all the interpretations one could make out of this curious enterprise, one question remains supreme: who has gone bananas?