Thursday, October 05, 2006

While I am blogging about strange hobbies: I used to draw a lot, and still appreciate a few comics. Most importantly, local cult hero Jamiri.

Some examples:
http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/netzkultur/0,1518,grossbild-650193-422928,00.html

http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/netzkultur/0,1518,grossbild-669475-427889,00.html
I am known for odd hobbies and interests, and for a long while, I have been very fascinated with all forms of syncretism, specifically carribbean syncretism.

For various private reasons I am exposed to quite a bit of information about social anthropology, and I usually find the descriptions of odd rites in various societies very amusing and enlightening.

For example, any diagram of multi-family cross-cousin-marriage in some african societies just brings out the graph theory nerd in me, and serious scientific texts debating the difference between endo- and exocannibalism (eat your own tribe vs. eat the other tribe) are a fun diversion from reading dry stuff all day.

Yet I was unprepared for reading about the "Cargo Cult" today. And thinking about it, the sheer fact that a cargo cult developed in Melanesia makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time.

Read it. It's worth it.