604. Schwartz, Theodore. "Cult and Context: The Paranoid Ethos in Melanesia." Ethos 1, 1973: 153-74.
Attributes cargo cults in part to a "paranoid ethos" said to underlie the general culture of Melanesia, whose socio-economic system is significantly unpredictable. Certain individuals embody this ethos to an unusual or "supernatural" degree, and it is they who tend to become cult leaders. In the absence of cults their behavior amounts to "role mourning" (p. 167). Schwartz also comments on the "prehensile" quality of the Melanesian response to culture contact (p. 158) and the fact that their mythology makes reference to a primordial paradise wherein work for survival was unknown.
But Schwartz fails to make the observation that in the context of culture contact paradise was actually, tangibly present: the whites had apparently unlimited access to goods and did nothing that in any way resembled work. It is thus unnecessary for the Melanesians to possess a linear, or indeed any particular, concept of time to start cargo cults, since time was not at issue (cf. item 670). The problem the Melanesians faced was the mysterious denial of access to this present paradise in their own country. As Schwartz notes (p. 166) "Hell is exclusion from cargo," and I don't think it requires a "paranoid ethos" to sympathize with the Melanesians and their attempts to resolve this infernal paradox. The injustice of this position and its hideous tantalization are evident, once these factors are considered.]
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