What Was the Significance of Malinowski's Discussion of the Kula?
What was the significance of Malinowski 's Discussion of the Kula?
It is widely accepted that Malinowski was the founder of true anthropological fieldwork and this is a view shared by many anthropologists. An example of one such anthropologist was Adam Kuper. In 1973 Kuper undertook the writing of an analysis of the complete history of social anthropology in which he speaks comparatively highly of Malinowski.
"Malinowski has a strong claim to being founder of the profession of social anthropology in Britain, for he established its distinctive apprenticeship- exotic fieldwork in an exotic country." (Kuper, 1973) Kuper is referring to the amazing lengths Malinowski went to in order to accurately study the culture of the Trobianders in Papa New Guinea, from his ethnographer 's tent. The purpose of this essay is to evaluate the truth of Kuper 's point of view and critically discuss the significance of the theories that transpired from the pivotal fieldwork completed by Malinowski, concentrating on those of which surround the discussion of the Kula. Many anthropologists of the late 19th Century, for example Frazer or Taylor, were known to conduct their research from the comfort of their own homes. Although keen to expose the lifestyle and routines of societies foreign to their own, they had limited techniques in which to do so. Their theories were only conceptualised by arranging information from the many accounts written by various travellers who may have happened upon an out of the ordinary culture. In this way the theories they produced have very little concrete evidence to back them up, as travellers, missionaries and other sources had very little anthropological experience. The next generation of anthropologists including Hadden, Seligman and Rivers, did move a step closer to real fieldwork. By travelling to the country that concerned their area of study, they came out of the house and this coined the phrase onto the veranda '. These
It is widely accepted that Malinowski was the founder of true anthropological fieldwork and this is a view shared by many anthropologists. An example of one such anthropologist was Adam Kuper. In 1973 Kuper undertook the writing of an analysis of the complete history of social anthropology in which he speaks comparatively highly of Malinowski.
"Malinowski has a strong claim to being founder of the profession of social anthropology in Britain, for he established its distinctive apprenticeship- exotic fieldwork in an exotic country." (Kuper, 1973) Kuper is referring to the amazing lengths Malinowski went to in order to accurately study the culture of the Trobianders in Papa New Guinea, from his ethnographer 's tent. The purpose of this essay is to evaluate the truth of Kuper 's point of view and critically discuss the significance of the theories that transpired from the pivotal fieldwork completed by Malinowski, concentrating on those of which surround the discussion of the Kula. Many anthropologists of the late 19th Century, for example Frazer or Taylor, were known to conduct their research from the comfort of their own homes. Although keen to expose the lifestyle and routines of societies foreign to their own, they had limited techniques in which to do so. Their theories were only conceptualised by arranging information from the many accounts written by various travellers who may have happened upon an out of the ordinary culture. In this way the theories they produced have very little concrete evidence to back them up, as travellers, missionaries and other sources had very little anthropological experience. The next generation of anthropologists including Hadden, Seligman and Rivers, did move a step closer to real fieldwork. By travelling to the country that concerned their area of study, they came out of the house and this coined the phrase onto the veranda '. These
References: Kuper, A. (1973). Anthropology and Anthropologists: The Modern British School. London Routledge. Malinowski, B. (1922). Argonauts of the Eastern Pacific. London: RKP. Malinowski, B (1967) A Diary in the Strict Sense of the Term. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Mauss, M. (1990). The Gift: Forms and Functions of Exchange in Archaic Societies. London: Routledge. Rivers, W.H.R (1920) Anthropology and the Missionary. Church Missionary Review. Vol 71, Pg 208-215. Shack, W. (1985) The Kula: A Bronislaw Malinowski Centennial Exhibition. Robert H. Lowie. Museum of Anthropology. Wax, M.L. (1972). Tenting with Malinowski. American Sociological Review. Vol. 37 (1) Pg 1-13. Young, M. (2004) Malinowski: Odyssey of an Anthropologist, 1884-1920. Yale University Press.