Malinowski

A detailed Summary of Malinowski


Malinowski, born in Poland was wealthy and well educated. He gained a Ph.D. in Philosophy, Physics and Mathematics (1908) followed by a Ph.D. in Science (1916). He decided to study Anthropology after reading Sir James Frazer's The Golden Bough and is now considered by many to have provided the first example of intensive ethnographic fieldwork. He engaged in an in-depth study of the Trobriand Islanders while he was interned there as an enemy alien during WW1. While there, he undertook the task of living among the natives, sharing their lives and comprehensively documenting every detail. His facility for languages allowed him access to aspects of the islanders society that others may not have been privy to.

Malinowski is often referred to as "The Father of Functionalism" a methodology that calls for the ethnographer to study and often re-frame facts and observations. S/he finds the relationship between isolated customs, institutions


and aspects of culture; the principle view being that every idea, object, custom and belief fulfills some vital function and is indispensable to the working whole. Functionalism was opposed to Tylor's notion of evolutionary cultural "survivals" and argued that no custom persists unless it fulfills some kind of socially useful purpose. He was however influenced by Spencer's "organic" analogy and also to some extent Durkheim's belief in the "vast continuing apparatus."

In this essay one can see who influenced Malinowski and how the disciplines he had studied played a role in his ethnography. He writes of the psychological and sociological undercurrents imbued by the Kula, but does not expand on these themes. He also minimizes serious aspects of the Kula such as conflicts, which arise, and the trade of necessities. This made me wonder if he was perhaps trying to hard to make the islanders "other" and perhaps inadvertently perpetuating the "noble savage" myth. I was

Some common words found in the essay are:
Kula Ring, Father Functionalism, Trobriand Islanders, Crown Jewels, Golden Bough, Bronislaw Malinowski, PhD Science, Physics Mathematics, kula ring, islanders society, crown jewels,

Approximate Word count = 654
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: People

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