The Life and Times of Capt. James Cook

          Imagine yourself as a Naval Officer in the British Royal Navy with the name James Cook. You’re an experienced explorer with the rank of Captain and you are told of a new chain of islands in the south Pacific (Hawaii). Of course natives inhabit the land but you have your orders to claim the islands for the Crown. You set sail for the journey of a lifetime and finally arrive on the beautiful white beach to see confused local people just starring at you. Violence is always a last resort to you, so instead you offer friendship. Suddenly though, the people are chanting the name Lono and treating you as if you are royalty. You use your newly acquired “God status” to your advantage and believe that you have found success in conquering a people. Then after a period of miscommunications the natives kill you regardless of this status. What the heck just happened? I thought I was fine and I thought I had these people in my pocket?

            Marshall Sahlins used this infamous example of Captain James Cook to argue that the cultural structure of any community is not static but rather open to transformation depending on context. The Native Hawaiians understood Cook to be Lono, a fertility god, because he was nicely dressed and acted accordingly with the mythical expectations of divinity. However in their eyes, Cook was neither man, native king, or supernatural god. He was a hybrid of all three: man, king, and god. Instead of treating Cook like either of the three, the people adapted this hybridization to their indigenous beliefs. Hence, Cook became Lono whose annual return and sacrifice was crucial to smooth functioning of Hawaiian society.

            Marshall Sahlins (b. 1930) was a critical component to structuralism after Levi-Strauss. He believed that contact or “conjuncture,” between two distinct cultural structures caused change in both. Sahlins argues that this “structure of conjuncture” must be explored in order to understand how static cultural structures change through time. 

            I believe that this theory, “structure of conjuncture”, has its strengths and weaknesses. Strength wise I believe that uncommon situations are the reasons behind adaptations of indigenous belief. An example I thought of was that of the Trobriand Islanders and the game of cricket. When Christian missionaries first came to the islands they saw immense warfare between tribes. The missionaries introduced them to the game of cricket as a distraction from war but instead of conforming to European rules they developed their own. They added more players and customized the bats and balls. The junction of Christian and Trobriand cultural structures, such as sport, caused the islanders to remain dynamic and form a new cultural gathering.