Bronisław Kasper Malinowski (; 7 April 1884 – 16 May 1942) was a Polish-British
anthropologist
An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...
and
ethnologist
Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology) ...
whose writings on
ethnography
Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...
,
social theory
Social theories are analytical frameworks, or paradigms, that are used to study and interpret social phenomena.Seidman, S., 2016. Contested knowledge: Social theory today. John Wiley & Sons. A tool used by social scientists, social theories rela ...
, and
field research
Field research, field studies, or fieldwork is the collection of raw data outside a laboratory, library, or workplace setting. The approaches and methods used in field research vary across disciplines. For example, biologists who conduct fie ...
have exerted a lasting influence on the discipline of anthropology.
Malinowski was born in what was part of the
Austrian partition of Poland, and completed his initial studies at
Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University (Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...
in his birth city of
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
. From 1910, at the
London School of Economics
, mottoeng = To understand the causes of things
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £240.8 million (2021)
, budget = £391.1 millio ...
(LSE), he studied exchange and economics, analysing
Aboriginal Australia
The prehistory of Australia is the period between the first human habitation of the Australian continent and the colonisation of Australia in 1788, which marks the start of consistent written documentation of Australia. This period has been vari ...
through ethnographic documents. In 1914 he traveled to Australia. He conducted research in the
Trobriand Islands
The Trobriand Islands are a archipelago of coral atolls off the east coast of New Guinea. They are part of the nation of Papua New Guinea and are in Milne Bay Province. Most of the population of 12,000 indigenous inhabitants live on the main isla ...
and other regions in
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu
Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea).
It is a simplified version of ...
and
Melanesia
Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from Indonesia's New Guinea in the west to Fiji in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea.
The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Va ...
where he stayed for several years, studying
indigenous culture
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
s.
Returning to England after
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, he published his principal work, ''
Argonauts of the Western Pacific
''Argonauts of the Western Pacific: An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea'' is a 1922 ethnological work by Bronisław Malinowski, which has had enormous impact on the ethnographic genre. The bo ...
'' (1922), which established him as one of Europe's most important anthropologists. He took posts as lecturer and later as chair in anthropology at the LSE, attracting large numbers of students and exerting great influence on the development of British
social anthropology
Social anthropology is the study of patterns of behaviour in human societies and cultures. It is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In t ...
. Over the years, he guest-lectured at several American universities; when
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
broke out, he remained in the United States, taking an appointment at
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
. He died in 1942 and was interred in the United States. In 1967 his widow,
Valetta Swann
Valetta Swann (1904 – 1973) was an English painter and sculptor, known for her work related to rural and indigenous life in Mexico and the United States. She began her art career in Europe, but moved to the United States with her husband, an ...
, published
his personal diary kept during his fieldwork in
Melanesia
Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from Indonesia's New Guinea in the west to Fiji in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea.
The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Va ...
and
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu
Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea).
It is a simplified version of ...
. It has since been a source of controversy, because of its ethnocentric and egocentric nature.
Malinowski's ethnography of the Trobriand Islands described the complex institution of the
Kula ring
Kula, also known as the Kula exchange or Kula ring, is a ceremonial exchange system conducted in the Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea. The Kula ring was made famous by the father of modern anthropology, Bronisław Malinowski, who used this ...
and became foundational for subsequent theories of reciprocity and exchange. He was also widely regarded as an eminent fieldworker, and his texts regarding anthropological
field methods were foundational to early anthropology, popularizing the concept of
participatory observation
Participant observation is one type of data collection method by Practitioner–scholar model, practitioner-scholars typically used in qualitative research and ethnography. This type of methodology is employed in many disciplines, particularly an ...
. His approach to
social theory
Social theories are analytical frameworks, or paradigms, that are used to study and interpret social phenomena.Seidman, S., 2016. Contested knowledge: Social theory today. John Wiley & Sons. A tool used by social scientists, social theories rela ...
was a form of
psychological functionalism that emphasised how social and cultural institutions serve basic human needs—a perspective opposed to
A. R. Radcliffe-Brown's
structural functionalism
Structural functionalism, or simply functionalism, is "a framework for building theory that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability".
This approach looks at society through a macro-level o ...
, which emphasised ways in which social institutions function in relation to society as a whole.
Biography
Early life
Malinowski, scion of Polish ''
szlachta
The ''szlachta'' (Polish: endonym, Lithuanian: šlėkta) were the noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth who, as a class, had the dominating position in the ...
'' (nobility), was born on 7 April 1884 in
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
, in the
Austrian partition
The Austrian Partition ( pl, zabór austriacki) comprise the former territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth acquired by the Habsburg monarchy during the Partitions of Poland in the late 18th century. The three partition (politics), p ...
of the former
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth—then part of the
Austro-Hungarian
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
province known as the
Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria,, ; pl, Królestwo Galicji i Lodomerii, ; uk, Королівство Галичини та Володимирії, Korolivstvo Halychyny ta Volodymyrii; la, Rēgnum Galiciae et Lodomeriae also known as ...
.
His father,
Lucjan Malinowski
Lucjan Feliks Malinowski (27 May 1839 in Jaroszewice, Poland – 15 January 1898 in Kraków) was a Polish linguist, a researcher of regional dialects of Silesia, a traveller, a professor of Jagiellonian University, from the 1887 principal Se ...
, was a professor of
Slavic philology
Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...
at the
Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University (Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...
, and his mother was the daughter of a landowning family.
[Senft, Günter. 1997. Bronislaw Kasper Malinowski. in Verschueren, Ostman, Blommaert & Bulcaen (eds.) ''Handbook of Pragmatics'' Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamin]
/ref> As a child he was frail, often suffering from ill health, but excelled academically. On 30 May 1902 he passed his ''matura
or its translated terms (''Mature'', ''Matur'', , , , , , ) is a Latin name for the secondary school exit exam or "maturity diploma" in various European countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech ...
'' examinations (with distinction) at the Jan III Sobieski Secondary School, and later that year began studying at the College of Philosophy of Kraków's Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University (Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...
, where he initially focused on mathematics and the physical sciences.
While attending the university he became severely ill (possibly with tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
) and, while he recuperated, his interest turned more toward the social sciences
Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soci ...
as he took courses in philosophy and education. In 1908 he received a doctorate in philosophy from the Jagiellonian University; his thesis was titled ''On the Principle of the Economy of Thought''.
During his student years he became interested in travel abroad, and visited Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
, Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, the Canary Islands
The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...
, western Asia, and North Africa; some of those travels were at least partly motivated by health concerns. He also spent three semesters at the University of Leipzig
Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...
(ca. 1909-1910), where he studied under economist Karl Bücher
Karl Wilhelm Bücher (16 February 1847, Kirberg, Hesse – 12 November 1930, Leipzig, Saxony) was a German economist, one of the founders of non-market economics, and the founder of journalism as an academic discipline.
Biography
Early life ...
and psychologist Wilhelm Wundt
Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt (; ; 16 August 1832 – 31 August 1920) was a German physiologist, philosopher, and professor, known today as one of the fathers of modern psychology. Wundt, who distinguished psychology as a science from philosophy and ...
. After reading James Frazer
Sir James George Frazer (; 1 January 1854 – 7 May 1941) was a Scottish social anthropologist and folklorist influential in the early stages of the modern studies of mythology and comparative religion.
Personal life
He was born on 1 Janua ...
's ''The Golden Bough
''The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion'' (retitled ''The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion'' in its second edition) is a wide-ranging, comparative study of mythology and religion, written by the Scottish anthropologist Sir ...
'', he decided to become an anthropologist.
In 1910 he went to England, becoming a postgraduate student
Postgraduate or graduate education refers to Academic degree, academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by higher education, post-secondary students who have earned an Undergraduate education, un ...
at the London School of Economics
, mottoeng = To understand the causes of things
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £240.8 million (2021)
, budget = £391.1 millio ...
, where his mentors included C. G. Seligman
Charles Gabriel Seligman FRS FRAI (24 December 1873 – 19 September 1940) was a British physician and ethnologist. His main ethnographic work described the culture of the Vedda people of Sri Lanka and the Shilluk people of the Sudan. He was ...
and Edvard Westermarck
Edvard Alexander Westermarck (Helsinki, 20 November 1862 – Tenala, 3 September 1939) was a Finnish philosopher and sociologist. Among other subjects, he studied exogamy and the incest taboo.
Biography
Westermarck was born in 1862 in a ...
.
Career
In 1911 Malinowski published, in Polish, his first academic paper, "''Totemizm i egzogamia''" ("Totemism and Exogamy"), in '' Lud''. The following year he published his first English-language academic paper, and in 1913 his first book, '' The Family among the Australian Aborigines'', and gave his first lectures at the LSE, on topics related to psychology of religion
Psychology of religion consists of the application of List of psychological research methods, psychological methods and interpretive frameworks to the diverse contents of Religion, religious traditions as well as to both religious and Irreligion, ...
and social psychology
Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people or by social norms. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the r ...
.
In June 1914 he departed London, travelling to Australia, as the first step in his expedition to Papua (in what would later become Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
). The expedition was organized under the aegis of the British Association for the Advancement of Science
The British Science Association (BSA) is a charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). The current Chie ...
(BAAS). In fact, initially Malinowski's journey to Australia was supposed to last only about half a year, as he was mainly planning on attending a conference there, and travelled there in a capacity of a secretary to Robert Ranulph Marett
Robert Ranulph Marett (13 June 1866 – 18 February 1943) was a British ethnology, ethnologist and a proponent of the British Evolutionary School of cultural anthropology. Founded by Marett's older colleague, Edward Burnett Tylor, it asserte ...
. Shortly afterward, his situation became complicated due to the outbreak of World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
as although Polish by ethnicity, he was a subject of Austria-Hungary, which was at the state of war with the United Kingdom. Malinowski, at risk of internment
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...
, nonetheless decided not to return to Europe from the British-controlled region and after intervention by a number of his colleagues, including Marett as well as Alfred Cort Haddon
Alfred Cort Haddon, Sc.D., FRS, FRGS FRAI (24 May 1855 – 20 April 1940, Cambridge) was an influential British anthropologist and ethnologist.
Initially a biologist, who achieved his most notable fieldwork, with W.H.R. Rivers, C.G. Seligma ...
, British authorities allowed him to stay in the Australian region and even provided him with new funding.
His first field trip, lasting from August 1914 to March 1915, took him to the Toulon Island (Mailu Island
Mailu Island (sometimes known as the Toulon Island) is a small, 1.8 km long, island in Central Province, Papua New Guinea. It lies 250 km ESE from Port Moresby.
Characteristics
Mailu is an island that has been inhabited since ancient ti ...
) and the Woodlark Island
Woodlark Island, known to its inhabitants simply as Woodlark or Muyua, is the main island of the Woodlark Islands archipelago, located in Milne Bay Province and the Solomon Sea, Papua New Guinea.
Although no formal census has been conducted sinc ...
. This field trip was described in his 1915 monograph '' The natives of Mailu''. Subsequently, he conducted research in the Trobriand Islands
The Trobriand Islands are a archipelago of coral atolls off the east coast of New Guinea. They are part of the nation of Papua New Guinea and are in Milne Bay Province. Most of the population of 12,000 indigenous inhabitants live on the main isla ...
in the Melanesia
Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from Indonesia's New Guinea in the west to Fiji in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea.
The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Va ...
region. He organized two larger expeditions during that time; from May 1915 to May 1916, and October 1917 to October 1918, in addition to several shorter excursions. It was during this period that he conducted his fieldwork on the Kula ring
Kula, also known as the Kula exchange or Kula ring, is a ceremonial exchange system conducted in the Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea. The Kula ring was made famous by the father of modern anthropology, Bronisław Malinowski, who used this ...
and advanced the practice of participant observation
Participant observation is one type of data collection method by practitioner-scholars typically used in qualitative research and ethnography. This type of methodology is employed in many disciplines, particularly anthropology (incl. cultural an ...
, which remains the hallmark of ethnographic research today. The ethnographic collection of artifacts from his expeditions is mostly held by the British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
and the Melbourne Museum
The Melbourne Museum is a natural and cultural history museum located in the Carlton Gardens, Melbourne, Carlton Gardens in Melbourne, Australia.
Located adjacent to the Royal Exhibition Building, the museum was opened in 2000 as a project of t ...
. During the breaks in between his expeditions he stayed in Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, writing up his research, and publishing new articles, such as '' Baloma; the Spirits of the Dead in the Trobriand Islands''. In 1916 he received the title of Doctor of Sciences
Doctor of Sciences ( rus, доктор наук, p=ˈdoktər nɐˈuk, abbreviated д-р наук or д. н.; uk, доктор наук; bg, доктор на науките; be, доктар навук) is a higher doctoral degree in the Russi ...
.
In 1919, he returned to Europe, staying at Tenerife
Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...
for over a year before coming back to London on 1921. He resumed teaching at the London School of Economics
, mottoeng = To understand the causes of things
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £240.8 million (2021)
, budget = £391.1 millio ...
, accepting a position as a lecturer, declining a job offer from the Polish Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University (Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...
. The following year, his book ''Argonauts of the Western Pacific
''Argonauts of the Western Pacific: An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea'' is a 1922 ethnological work by Bronisław Malinowski, which has had enormous impact on the ethnographic genre. The bo ...
'', often described as his masterpiece, was published. For the next two decades, he would establish the London School of Economics as Europe's main centre of anthropology. In 1924 he was promoted to a reader
A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to:
Computing and technology
* Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader
* Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application
* A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...
, and in 1927, a full professor. In 1930 he became a corresponding foreign member of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences
The Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences or Polish Academy of Learning ( pl, Polska Akademia Umiejętności), headquartered in Kraków and founded in 1872, is one of two institutions in contemporary Poland having the nature of an academy of scien ...
. In 1933, he became a foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...
. In 1934 he travelled to Southern Africa, carrying out research among several tribes such as the Bemba
Bemba may refer to:
* Bemba language (Chibemba), a Bantu language spoken in Zambia
* Bemba people (AbaBemba), an ethnic group of central Africa
* Jean-Pierre Bemba, the former vice-President of the Democratic Republic of Congo
* A Caribbean drum, ...
, Kikuyu Kikuyu or Gikuyu (Gĩkũyũ) mostly refers to an ethnic group in Kenya or its associated language.
It may also refer to:
*Kikuyu people, a majority ethnic group in Kenya
*Kikuyu language, the language of Kikuyu people
*Kikuyu, Kenya, a town in Centr ...
, Maragoli
The Maragoli, or Logoli (''Ava-Logooli''), are now the second-largest ethnic group of the 6 million-strong Luhya nation in Kenya, numbering around 2.1 million, or 15% of the Luhya people according to the last Kenyan census. Their language is ...
, Maasai Maasai may refer to:
* Maasai people
*Maasai language
* Maasai mythology
* MAASAI (band)
See also
* Masai (disambiguation)
* Massai
Massai (also known as: Masai, Massey, Massi, Mah–sii, Massa, Wasse, Wassil or by the nickname "Big Foot" Mas ...
and the Swazi people
The Swazi or Swati ( Swati: ''Emaswati'', singular ''Liswati'') are a Bantu ethnic group native to Southern Africa, inhabiting Eswatini, a sovereign kingdom in Southern Africa. EmaSwati are part of the Nguni-language speaking peoples whose or ...
. The period 1926-1935 was the most productive time of his career, seeing the publications of many articles and several more books.
Malinowski taught intermittently in the United States, which he first visited in 1926. When World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
broke out during one of his American visits, he stayed there. In 1941 he carried out field research among the Mexican peasants in Oaxaca
Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...
. He took up a position at Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
as a visiting professor, where he remained until his death. In 1942, he co-founded the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America
The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (PIASA) is a Polish-American scholarly institution headquartered in Manhattan (New York City), at 208 East 30th Street.
History
The Institute was founded during the height of World War II, in 1 ...
of which he became its first president.
Malinowski died in New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...
on 16 May 1942, aged 58, of a stroke while preparing to resume his fieldwork in Oaxaca. He was interred at Evergreen Cemetery in New Haven.
Works
Except a few works from the early 1910s, all of Malinowski's research was published in English. His first book, ''The Family among the Australian Aborigines'', published in 1913, was based on materials he collected and wrote in the years 1909-1911. It was well-received not just by contemporary reviewers, but also by scholars generations later. In 1963, in his foreword to its new edition, John Arundel Barnes
John Arundel Barnes M.A. D.Phil. DSC FBA (9 September 1918 – 13 September 2010) was an Australian and British Social anthropology, social anthropologist. Until his death in 2010, Barnes held the post of Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Fellow ...
called it an epochal work, and noted how it discredited the previously held theory that Australian Aborigines
Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...
have no institution of family.
Published in 1922, ''Argonauts of the Western Pacific'', about the Trobriand people who live on the small Kiriwana island chain northeast of the island of New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu
Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea).
It is a simplified version of ...
, was widely regarded as a masterpiece and significantly boosted Malinowski's reputation in the world of academia. His later books included the '' Crime and Custom in Savage Society'' (1926), '' Myth in Primitive Psychology'' (1926), ''Sex and Repression in Savage Society
''Sex and Repression in Savage Society'' is a 1927 book by anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski. It is considered "a famous critique of psychoanalysis, arguing that the 'Oedipus complex' described by Freud is not universal."Connell, R. W. (200 ...
'' (1927), '' The Father in Primitive Psychology'' (1927), ''The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia
''The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia: An Ethnographic Account of Courtship, Marriage, and Family Life Among the Natives of the Trobriand Islands, British New Guinea'' is a 1929 book by anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski. The w ...
'' (1929) and ''Coral Gardens and Their Magic
Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...
'' (1935).
A number of his works were published posthumously, or collected in anthologies: '' A Scientific Theory of Culture and Others Essays'' (1944), '' Freedom & Civilization'' (1944), '' The Dynamics of Culture Change'' (1945), '' Magic, Science and Religion and Other Essays'' (1948), '' Sex, Culture, and Myth'' (1962) the controversial '' A Diary in the Strict Sense of the Term'' (1967) and '' The Early Writings of Bronislaw Malinowski'' (1993).
The personal diary of Malinowski, along with several others, written in Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
, was discovered in his Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
office after his death. First published in 1967, covering the period of his fieldwork in 1914–1915 and 1917–1918 in New Guinea and the Trobriand Islands, it set off a storm of controversy. The year it was published Clifford Geertz
Clifford James Geertz (; August 23, 1926 – October 30, 2006) was an American anthropologist who is remembered mostly for his strong support for and influence on the practice of symbolic anthropology and who was considered "for three decades. ...
called it "gross" and "tiresome", and wrote that it portrayed Malinowski as "a crabbed, self-preoccupied, hypochondriacal narcissist, whose fellow-feeling for the people he lived with was limited in the extreme." Two decades later, however, he praised it as "backstage masterpiece of anthropology, our ''The Double Helix
''The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA'' is an autobiographical account of the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA written by James D. Watson and published in 1968. It has earned both critical ...
''". Writing in 1987, James Clifford called it "a crucial document for the history of anthropology".
Many of Malinowski's works entered public domain
The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work
A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...
in 2013.
Ideas and influences
Already a year after his death Clyde Kluckhohn
Clyde Kluckhohn (; January 11, 1905 in Le Mars, Iowa – July 28, 1960 near Santa Fe, New Mexico), was an American anthropologist and social theorist, best known for his long-term ethnographic work among the Navajo and his contributions to the de ...
described his influence in the field as significant if somewhat controversial, noting that to some he "was a major prophet", and that "no anthropologist has ever had so wide a popular audience". In 1974 Witold Armon described many of his works as "classics".
Ethnography and fieldwork
Malinowski is often considered one of anthropology's most skilled ethnographers, especially because of his highly methodical and well-theorised approach to the study of social systems. He is often referred to as the first researcher to bring anthropology "off the verandah
Off the verandah (alt. spelling off the veranda; longer, come down off the verandah) is a phrase often attributed to anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski, who stressed the need for fieldwork enabling the researcher to experience the everyday li ...
" (a phrase that is also the name of a André Singer André Singer may refer to:
* André Singer (producer) (born 1945), British documentary film-maker and anthropologist
* André Vítor Singer
André Vítor Singer (born 1958) is a political sciences professor at the University of São Paulo and ...
's 1986 documentary about his work), that is, stressing the need for fieldwork enabling the researcher to experience the everyday life of his subjects along with them. Malinowski emphasised the importance of detailed participant observation
Participant observation is one type of data collection method by practitioner-scholars typically used in qualitative research and ethnography. This type of methodology is employed in many disciplines, particularly anthropology (incl. cultural an ...
and argued that anthropologists must have daily contact with their informants if they are to adequately record the "imponderabilia of everyday life" that are so important to understanding a different culture. He stated that the goal of the anthropologist, or ethnographer, is "to grasp the native's point of view, his relation to life, to realize ''his'' vision of ''his'' world". Because of the impact of his argument, he is sometimes credited with inventing the field of ethnography
Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...
.
Malinowski in his pioneering research literally set up a tent in the middle of villages he studied, in which he lived for extended periods of times, weeks or months. His argument was shaped by his initial experiences as an anthropologist in the mid-1910s in Australia and Oceania, where during his first field trip he found himself grossly unprepared for it, due to not knowing the language of the people he set to study, nor being able to observe their daily customs sufficiently (during that initial trip, he was lodged with a local missionary and just made daily trips to the village, and endeavour which became increasingly difficult once he lost his translator). His pioneering decision to subsequently immerse himself in the life of the natives represents his solution to this problem, and was the message he addressed to new, young anthropologists, aiming to both improve their experience and allow them to produce better data.
He advocated that stance from his very first publications, which were often harshly critical of those of his elders in the field of anthropology, who did most of their writing based on second-handed accounts. This could be seen in the relation between Frazer - an influential early anthropologist, nonetheless described as the classic armchair scholar - and Malinowski was complex; Frazer was one of Malinowski's mentors and supporters, and his work is credited with inspiring young Malinowski to become an anthropologist. At the same time, Malinowski was critical of Frazer from his early days, and it has been suggested that what he learned from Frazer was not "how to be an anthropologist" but "how not to do anthropology". Ian Jarvie Ian Charles Jarvie (born 8 July 1937) is a philosopher trained in England, long resident in Canada. Jarvie was educated at Dover Grammar School for Boys from 1948 to 1955. He studied at the London School of Economics under Karl Popper where he gain ...
wrote that many of Malinowski's writing represented an "attack" on Frazer's school of fieldwork, although James A. Boon suggested this conflict has been exaggerated.
Functionalism and other theories
Malinowski has been credited with originating, or being one of the main originators, of the school of social anthropology
Social anthropology is the study of patterns of behaviour in human societies and cultures. It is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In t ...
known as functionalism. It has been suggested that here he has been inspired by the views of William James
William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States.
James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...
. In contrast to Radcliffe-Brown
Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown, FBA (born Alfred Reginald Brown; 17 January 1881 – 24 October 1955) was an English social anthropologist who helped further develop the theory of structural functionalism.
Biography
Alfred Reginald Radcli ...
's structural functionalism
Structural functionalism, or simply functionalism, is "a framework for building theory that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability".
This approach looks at society through a macro-level o ...
, Malinowski's psychological functionalism argued that culture functioned to meet the needs of individuals rather than the needs of society as a whole. He reasoned that when the needs of individuals, who comprise society, are met, then the needs of society are met. To Malinowski, the feelings of people and their motives were crucial to understanding the way their society functioned:
Apart from fieldwork, Malinowski also challenged the claim to universality of Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts in ...
's theory of the Oedipus complex
The Oedipus complex (also spelled Œdipus complex) is an idea in psychoanalytic theory. The complex is an ostensibly universal phase in the life of a young boy in which, to try to immediately satisfy basic desires, he unconsciously wishes to have ...
. He initiated a cross-cultural approach in ''Sex and Repression in Savage Society
''Sex and Repression in Savage Society'' is a 1927 book by anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski. It is considered "a famous critique of psychoanalysis, arguing that the 'Oedipus complex' described by Freud is not universal."Connell, R. W. (200 ...
'' (1927) where he demonstrated that specific psychological complexes are not universal.
In 1920, he published his first scientific article on the Kula ring. In reference to the Kula ring, Malinowski also stated:
In these two passages, Malinowski anticipated the distinction between description and analysis, and between the views of actors and analysts. This distinction continues to inform anthropological method and theory. His research from that period on the Trobriand traditional economy
A traditional economic system is based on customs, history and time-honored beliefs. A traditional economy is an economic system in which traditions, customs, and beliefs help shape the goods and services the economy produces, as well as the rul ...
, with its particular focus on magic
Magic or Magick most commonly refers to:
* Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces
* Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic
* Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...
and magicians, has also been described as a significant addition to the economic anthropology
Economic anthropology is a field that attempts to explain human economic behavior in its widest historic, geographic and cultural scope. It is an amalgamation of economics and anthropology. It is practiced by anthropologists and has a complex re ...
.
Malinowski likewise influenced the course of African history, serving as an academic mentor to Jomo Kenyatta
Jomo Kenyatta (22 August 1978) was a Kenyan anti-colonial activist and politician who governed Kenya as its Prime Minister from 1963 to 1964 and then as its first President from 1964 to his death in 1978. He was the country's first indigenous ...
, the father and first president of modern-day Kenya
)
, national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
, ...
. Malinowski also wrote the introduction to ''Facing Mount Kenya'', Kenyatta's ethnographic study of the Gikuyu tribe.
In a brief passage in his 1979 book ''Broca's Brain
''Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science'' is a 1979 book by the astrophysicist Carl Sagan. Its chapters were originally articles published between 1974 and 1979 in various magazines, including ''The Atlantic Monthly'', ''The New R ...
'', the late science populariser Carl Sagan
Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is research on ext ...
criticised Malinowski for thinking that "he had discovered a people in the Trobriand Islands who had not worked out the connection between sexual intercourse and childbirth", arguing that it was more likely that the islanders were simply making fun of Malinowski. Mark Mosko wrote in 2014 that further research on Trobriand people affirmed some of Malinowski's claims about their beliefs on procreation, adding that the dogmas are tied to a complicated system of belief encapsulating magic into beliefs about human and plant procreation, but he also stated that "the preponderance of ethnographic evidence ... refutes Malinowski’s notorious claims of Islanders’ supposed “ignorance of physiological paternity”".
Teacher
As a teacher, he preferred lectures to discussions. He has been praised for his friendly and egalitarian attitude towards women students. Among his students were such future prominent social scientists as Hilda Beemer Kuper, Edith Clarke
Edith Clarke (February 10, 1883 – October 29, 1959) was the first woman to be professionally employed as an electrical engineer in the United States, and the first female professor of electrical engineering in the country. She was the first ...
, Kazimierz Dobrowolski, Raymond Firth
Sir Raymond William Firth (25 March 1901 – 22 February 2002) was an ethnologist from New Zealand. As a result of Firth's ethnographic work, actual behaviour of societies (social organization) is separated from the idealized rules of behaviou ...
, Meyer Fortes
Meyer Fortes FBA FRAI (25 April 1906 – 27 January 1983) was a South African-born anthropologist, best known for his work among the Tallensi and Ashanti in Ghana.
Originally trained in psychology, Fortes employed the notion of the "person ...
, Feliks Gross, Francis L. K. Hsu, Jomo Kenyatta
Jomo Kenyatta (22 August 1978) was a Kenyan anti-colonial activist and politician who governed Kenya as its Prime Minister from 1963 to 1964 and then as its first President from 1964 to his death in 1978. He was the country's first indigenous ...
, Edmund Leach
Sir Edmund Ronald Leach FRAI FBA (7 November 1910 – 6 January 1989) was a British social anthropologist and academic. He served as provost of King's College, Cambridge from 1966 to 1979. He was also president of the Royal Anthropologi ...
, Lucy Mair
Lucy Philip Mair (28 January 1901 – 1 April 1986) was a British anthropologist. She wrote on the subject of social organization, and contributed to the involvement of anthropological research in governance and politics. Her work on colonial ...
, Z. K. Matthews
Zachariah Keodirelang "ZK" Matthews (20 October 1901 – 11 May 1968) was a prominent black academic in South Africa, lecturing at University of Fort Hare, South African Native College (renamed University of Fort Hare in 1955), where many future ...
, Józef Obrębski, Maria Ossowska
Maria Ossowska (''née'' Maria Niedźwiecka, 16 January 1896, Warsaw – 13 August 1974, Warsaw) was a Polish sociologist and social philosopher.
Life
A student of the philosopher Tadeusz Kotarbiński, she originally in 1925 received a doctorat ...
, Stanisław Ossowski
Stanisław Ossowski ( Lipno, 22 May 18977 November 1963, Warsaw) was one of Poland's most important sociologists.
He held professorships at Łódź University (1945–47) and Warsaw University (1947–63).
Life
Ossowski first contributed to logi ...
, Ralph Piddington
Ralph O'Reilly Piddington (19 February 1906 – 8 July 1974) was a New Zealand psychologist, anthropologist and university professor.
Biography
He was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia in 1906, the son of Albert and Marion O'Reil ...
, Hortense Powdermaker
Hortense Powdermaker (December 24, 1900 – June 16, 1970) was an American anthropologist best known for her ethnographic studies of African Americans in rural America and of Hollywood.
Early life and education
Born to a Jewish family, Powdermak ...
, E. E. Evans-Pritchard
Sir Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard, Kt FBA FRAI (21 September 1902 – 11 September 1973) was an English anthropologist who was instrumental in the development of social anthropology. He was Professor of Social Anthropology at the University ...
, Margaret Read
Margaret Read (1892–1982) was the first female architect in Boulder, Colorado. Born in Iowa, she relocated with her parents to Boulder in 1910. After attending the University of Boulder for two years, she transferred to the University of Calif ...
, Audrey Richards
Audrey Isabel Richards, CBE, FRAI, FBA (8 July 1899 – 29 June 1984), was a pioneering British social anthropologist. She produced notable ethnographic studies. The most famous of which is ''Chisingu: A Girl's initiation ceremony among the B ...
, Isaac Schapera
Isaac Schapera FBA FRAI (23 June 1905 Garies, Cape Colony – 26 June 2003 London, England), was a social anthropologist at the London School of Economics specialising in South Africa. He was notable for his contributions of ethnographic and ...
, Andrzej Jan Waligórski, Camilla Wedgwood
Camilla Hildegarde Wedgwood (25 March 1901 – 17 May 1955) was a British anthropologist and academic administrator. She is best known for her research in the Pacific and her pioneering role as one of the British Commonwealth's first female anth ...
, Monica Wilson
Monica Wilson, née Hunter (3 January 1908 – 26 October 1982) was a South African anthropologist, who was professor of social anthropology at the University of Cape Town.
Life
Monica Hunter was born to missionary parents in Lovedale in t ...
and Fei Xiaotong
Fei Xiaotong or Fei Hsiao-tung (November 2, 1910 – April 24, 2005) was a Chinese anthropologist and sociologist. He was a pioneering researcher and professor of sociology and anthropology; he was also noted for his studies in the study o ...
,.He is considered to have raised the next generation of anthropologists, particularly British.
Remembrance
The Malinowski Memorial Lecture
The Malinowski Memorial Lecture is an annual lecture series hosted by the Department of Anthropology of the London School of Economics in commemoration of Professor Bronisław Malinowski, considered one of the most influential figures in the hist ...
, an annual anthropology lecture series at London School of Economics
, mottoeng = To understand the causes of things
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £240.8 million (2021)
, budget = £391.1 millio ...
, inaugurated in 1959, is named after him. A student-led anthropology magazine at the LSE, ''The Argonaut'', took its name from Malinowski's ''Argonauts of the Western Pacific''.
The Society for Applied Anthropology
The Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) is a worldwide organization for the Applied Social Sciences, established "to promote the integration of anthropological perspectives and methods in solving human problems throughout the world; to advocate ...
established the Bronislaw Malinowski Award The Bronislaw Malinowski Award is an award given by the US-based Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) in honor of Bronisław Malinowski (1884–1942), an original member and strong supporter of the Society. Briefly established in 1950, the award ...
in his honor in 1950. The award was awarded only until 1952, then went on hiatus until being re-established in 1973; it has been awarded annually since.
Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz
Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (; 24 February 188518 September 1939), commonly known as Witkacy, was a Polish writer, painter, philosopher, theorist, playwright, novelist, and photographer active before World War I and during the interwar period.
...
based a character, Duke of Nevermore, from his novel '' The 622 Downfalls of Bungo or The Demonic Woman'' (written in the 1910s but not published until 1972) on Malinowski.
In 1957 Raymond Firth edited a book dedicated to the life and work of Malinowski, '' Man and Culture''.
The life and work of Malinowski is the subject of a documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...
''Tales From The Jungle: Malinowski'' aired by BBC Four
BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002 channel in 2007.
Personal life
In 1919 Malinowski married Elsie Rosaline Masson
Elsie Rosaline Masson (1890–1935) was an Australian photographer, writer and traveller, best known as the wife of Polish-British anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski. She published ''An Untamed Territory: The Northern Territory of Australia'' i ...
, an Australian photographer, writer, and traveler (daughter of David Orme Masson
Sir David Orme Masson KBE FRS FRSE LLD (13 January 1858 – 10 August 1937)L. W. Weickhardt,Masson, Sir David Orme (1858–1937), ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 10, MUP, 1986, pp 432–435. Retrieved 6 October 2009 was a scie ...
), with whom he had three daughters: Józefa (born 1920), Wanda (born 1922), and Helena (born 1925). Elsie died in 1935, and in 1940 Malinowski married the English painter Valetta Swann
Valetta Swann (1904 – 1973) was an English painter and sculptor, known for her work related to rural and indigenous life in Mexico and the United States. She began her art career in Europe, but moved to the United States with her husband, an ...
. Malinowski's daughter Helena Malinowska Wayne wrote several articles and a book about her father's life.
While Malinowski was brought up in the Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
faith, after his mother's death he described himself as agnostic
Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient ...
.
Selected publications
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
See also
* Maria Czaplicka
Maria Antonina Czaplicka (25 October 1884 – 27 May 1921), also referred to as Marya Antonina Czaplicka and Marie Antoinette Czaplicka, was a Polish cultural anthropologist who is best known for her ethnography of Siberian shamanism. Czaplicka ...
* Zofia Romer
Zofia Romer ''née'' Dembowska (February 16, 1885 – August 23, 1972) was a Polish painter. She was born in 1885 in Dorpat (now Tartu, Estonia) to well-known physician Tadeusz Dembowski and his wife Matylda. She grew up in Lithuania and Poland s ...
* List of Poles
This is a partial list of notable Polish or Polish-speaking or -writing people. People of partial Polish heritage have their respective ancestries credited.
Science
Physics
* Czesław Białobrzeski
* Andrzej Buras
* Georges Charpak ...
* Archaeology of trade
Notes
References
Further reading
*
* Vermeulen, Han F. & Frederico Delgado Rosa (eds.). 2022
“Before and After Malinowski: Alternative Views on the History of Anthropology [A Virtual Round Table at the Royal Anthropological Institute, London, 7 July 2022
/nowiki>”] (with the participation of Sophie Chevalier, Barbara Chambers Dawson, Thomas Hylland Eriksen, Michael Kraus, Adam Kuper, Herbert S. Lewis, Andrew Lyons, David Mills, David Shankland, James Urry, and Rosemary Lévy Zumwalt), ''BEROSE International Encyclopaedia of the Histories of Anthropology'', Paris.
External links
*
*
Malinowski
Archive (Real audio stream) of BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
edition of 'Thinking allowed' on Malinowski
Baloma; the Spirits of the Dead in the Trobriand Islands
at sacred-texts.com
Papers of Bronislaw Malinowski held at LSE Library
Malinowski's fieldwork photographs, Trobriand Islands, 1915–1918
About the functional theory (selected chapters)
Savage Memory – documentary about Malinowski's legacy
More Than Malinowski: Polish Cultural Anthropologists You Should Know
* Bronislaw Malinowski papers (MS 19). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malinowski, Bronislaw
1884 births
1942 deaths
19th-century anthropologists
19th-century non-fiction writers
20th-century anthropologists
20th-century non-fiction writers
Academics of the London School of Economics
Alumni of the London School of Economics
Anthropologists of religion
British agnostics
British emigrants to Poland
British emigrants to the United States
British ethnographers
British ethnologists
Cornell University faculty
Economic anthropologists
Functionalism (social theory)
Jagiellonian University alumni
Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom
Polish agnostics
Polish anthropologists
Polish Austro-Hungarians
Polish emigrants to the United Kingdom
Polish emigrants to the United States
Polish ethnographers
Polish ethnologists
Scientists from Kraków
Social anthropologists
Trobriand Islands