Bronislaw Malinowski

April 7, 1884 - May 16, 1942

Biography

Born in present-day Poland, Bronislaw Malinowski was one of the most important 20th-century anthropologists. Early in life, Malinowski was interested in philosophy which prompted him to go to university and receive his doctorate degree. However, after reading a book written by anthropologist James Frazer, Malinowski turned his interest to anthropology, specifically ethnology. Two years later in 1910, Malinowski went to England to study ethnology under C.G. Seligman and Edvard Westermarck. In 1914, he traveled to New Guinea with anthropologist R.R. Marett, but as World War I started, Malinowski was not able to go back to England. Despite this, the Australian government, who were in control of New Guinea at the time, allowed him to do anthropological and ethnographic research in the Trobriand Islands. Once returning to England, he published many works and became a professor in anthropology. Years later, he visited American universities and decided to stay in America, continuing his anthropological work until his passing.

Radeska, Tijana (2017) "Malinowski and his enchanting Kula ring – The foundation of early Anthropology" https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/06/03/malinowski-and-his-enchanting-kula-ring-the-foundation-of-early-anthropology/

Young, Michael. nd. "Writing his Life through the Other: The Anthropology of Malinowski" https://publicdomainreview.org/2014/01/22/writing-his-life-through-the-other-the-anthropology-of-malinowski/

Work in the Trobriand Islands

Off the coast of New Guinea, Manislow resided in the Trobriand Islands for four years studying the indigenous people and their culture. One of his most profound observations on the islands was the Kula ring practice. The Kula Ring is a “system of the ceremonial exchange of gifts among a number of tribal societies inhabiting various island groups of Papua New Guinea. Two ceremonial gifts continually circulate in opposite directions: necklaces clockwise and armshells counterclockwise” (Ziegler 2012). Although seemingly a simple practice, much danger was involved as a group of men from each island would partake in overseas, long expeditions to the other nearby islands and gift them valuables. In Malinowski’s book, Argonauts of the Western Pacific (1922), he questioned this practice asking, “why would men risk life and limb to travel across huge expanses of dangerous ocean to give away what appear to be worthless trinkets?” To answer this question, Malinowski realized that “the main function of the Kula is the creation of a social order by establishing a network of stable, peaceful social relationship among stateless tribal societies, thereby fostering economic trade among them” (Ziegler 2012).

Malinowski with the natives of Trobriand Island

Written Works

His first work was The Natives of Mailu (1915). After conducting his research in the Trobriand Islands, he published his book Argonauts of the Western Pacific (1922). In addition, he is known for his anthropological works in books like: Crime and Custom in Savage Society (1926), The Sexual Life of Savages in Northwestern Melanesia (1929), and Coral Gardens and Their Magic (1935) (Murdock 1943). He also wrote books outside of anthropology such as Sex and Repression in Savage Society (1927) which discussed psychological concepts that he believed were not universal.

Legacy

After his work in the Trobriand Islands, Malinowki was well-known for his theory in gift exchanging and reciprocity. Through this, he was also recognized as an important fieldworker and coined the term participatory observation. This is evident in his book Argonauts of the Western Pacific, as he claimed that the goal of an anthropologist or ethnographer is "to grasp the native's point of view, his relation to life, to realize his vision of his world" (Malinowski 1961: 25). These concepts drive the field of ethnography today. Lastly, through Malinowski’s work, he claimed that culture serves to benefit individuals and their needs rather than society, and that understanding individual’s thoughts and emotions were important in understanding their society and how it functioned.

Learn More

“Argonauts of the Western Pacific - Bronislaw Malinowski” https://youtu.be/b1wIsfyVWOU

"Functionalism- Malinowski" https://youtu.be/WG8CUIMLT4M

Article- Symmons-Symonolewicz, Konstantin (1960) "The Origin of Malinowski's Theory of Magic" https://www.jstor.org/stable/25776329?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

Book- Malinowski, Bronislaw. Magic, Science and Religion and Other Essays, The Free Press, 1948.

Work Cited:

Malinowski, Bronislaw. 1922. Argonauts of the Western Pacific: An account of native enterprise and adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea. London: Routledge and Sons; New York: E.P. Dutton and Company.

Murdock, George Peter. 1943. "Bronislaw Malinowski." American Anthropologist 45(3). Retrieved October 19, 2019. https://www.jstor.org/stable/663181

Ziegler, Rolf. 2012. "The Kula Ring of Bronislaw Malinowski: Co-evolution of an Economic and Ceremonial Exchange System." Review of European Studies 4(1). Retrieved October 19, 2019. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/res.v4n1p15