The Social and Cultural Change Caused by the Building of a Gold Mine on the Island Lihir/New Ireland/South Pacific

On the basis of an eleven-month ethno-psychological study of the strategies employed by the indigenous population to cope with a massive ?culture shock? caused by the building of a gold mine on the island Lihir, the study analyses the consequences of the dramatic change at the time of the opening of the mine on different analytic levels: religion, rites, economy, gender relations, etc. During this time, the revitalization of a cargo cult gives expression to the hopes and disappointments of the indigenous population generated by modernization.