Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id DAA22537 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Sat, 23 Feb 2002 03:11:11 GMT X-Sender: unicorn@pop.greenepa.net Message-Id: <p04320420b89cb4bb58aa@[192.168.2.3]> In-Reply-To: <5.1.0.14.0.20020222191938.02ca6c60@pop.cogeco.ca> References: <5.1.0.14.0.20020221203409.03582c10@pop.cogeco.ca> <84E1E92A-26F4-11D6-980D-003065B9A95A@harvard.edu> <84E1E92A-26F4-11D6-980D-003065B9A95A@harvard.edu> <5.1.0.14.0.20020221203409.03582c10@pop.cogeco.ca> <5.1.0.14.0.20020222191938.02ca6c60@pop.cogeco.ca> Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 22:06:03 -0500 To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk From: "Francesca S. Alcorn" <unicorn@greenepa.net> Subject: Re: Words and memes Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Keith said:
>
> "A more seductive example of a social movement set off by a
>lethal meme comes from South Africa. In the 1850s, a meme (originally
>derived from a dream) led to a great sacrifice by the Xhoas people
>during which they killed their cattle, burned their grain, and
>refrained from planting in the belief that doing so would cause their
>ancestors to come back from the dead and expel the whites. At least
>20,000 and perhaps as many as 60,000 starved when the predicted
>millennia of plenty failed to arrive. Known as the Cattle Killing, it
>was not a unique response for a primitive society being displaced by a
>more technically advanced one. The "Ghost Dancers" phenomenon among
>American Indians was a similar response.
>
>Since I did the research for that article a 1989 book came out, J.
>B. Peires, "The Central Beliefs of the Xhosa Cattle-killing." Some
>of it is on the net here.
>
>http://www.stmarys.ca/administration/library/links/shist13/files/peires2.pdf
>
>Definitely worth reading!
>
How tragic. It reminds me of something I read a few years ago that
said that people who blamed themselves for their misfortunes
recovered more quickly from traumatic events because it allowed them
to preserve a sense that they had some control over what happened.
At least they had the illusion that they had some control over their
demise. I think the comparison to the Ghost Dance is apt.
frankie
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