Bronisław Kasper Malinowski (; 7 April 1884 – 16 May 1942) was a
Polish anthropologist
An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...
and
ethnologist whose writings on ethnography,
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 re ...
, 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 fi ...
have exerted a lasting influence on the discipline of anthropology.
Malinowski was born and raised in what was part of the
Austrian partition of Poland,
Kraków
, officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...
. He graduated from
King John III Sobieski 2nd High School. In the years 1902–1906 he studied at the philosophy department of the
Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University (, UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and one of the List of oldest universities in con ...
and received his doctorate there in 1908. In 1910, at the
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...
(LSE), he worked on exchange and economics, analysing
Aboriginal Australia through ethnographic documents. In 1914, he travelled to Australia. He conducted research in the
Trobriand Islands and other regions in
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
and
Melanesia
Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from New Guinea in the west to the Fiji Islands in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea.
The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Vanu ...
where he stayed for several years, studying
indigenous cultures.
Returning to England after
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, he published his principal work, ''
Argonauts of the Western Pacific'' (1922), which established him as one of Europe's most important anthropologists. He took posts as a 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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
broke out, he remained in the United States, taking an appointment at
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
. He died in 1942 while at Yale and was interred in a grave in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1967 his widow,
Valetta Swann, published
his personal diary kept during his fieldwork in Melanesia and New Guinea. 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 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. His approach to social theory 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, a scion of the Polish ''
szlachta
The ''szlachta'' (; ; ) were the nobility, noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Depending on the definition, they were either a warrior "caste" or a social ...
'' (nobility),
was born on 7 April 1884 in
Kraków
, officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...
, in the
Austrian Partition of the former
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth – then part of the
Austro-Hungarian province known as the
Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, also known as Austrian Galicia or colloquially Austrian Poland, was a constituent possession of the Habsburg monarchy in the historical region of Galicia (Eastern Europe), Galicia in Eastern Europe. The Cr ...
.
His father,
Lucjan Malinowski, was a professor of
Slavic philology
Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...
at
Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University (, UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and one of the List of oldest universities in con ...
, 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 in 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, where he initially focused on mathematics and the physical sciences.
While attending the university he became severely ill (possibly with tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
), and while he recuperated his interest turned more toward the social science
Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...
s as he took courses in philosophy and education. In 1908 he received a doctorate in philosophy from Jagiellonian University; his thesis
A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...
was titled ''On the Principle of the Economy of Thought''.
During his student years he became interested in travel abroad, and visited Finland
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
, Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
, the Canary Islands
The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...
, 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 (), 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 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...
(–1910), where he studied under economist Karl Bücher and psychologist Wilhelm Wundt
Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt (; ; 16 August 1832 – 31 August 1920) was a German physiologist, philosopher, and professor, one of the fathers of modern psychology. Wundt, who distinguished psychology as a science from philosophy and biology, was t ...
, and examined the works of anthropologist Heinrich Schurtz. After reading James Frazer's '' The Golden Bough'', he decided to become an anthropologist.
In 1910 he went to England, becoming a postgraduate student at the London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...
(LSE), where his mentors included C. G. Seligman and Edvard Westermarck.
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''. In the same year he gave his first lectures at LSE, on topics related to psychology of religion and social psychology
Social psychology is the methodical study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. Although studying many of the same substantive topics as its counterpart in the field ...
.
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, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
). The expedition was organised under the aegis of the British Association for the Advancement of Science
The British Science Association (BSA) is a Charitable organization, 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 Scienc ...
(BAAS). 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 the capacity of secretary to Robert Ranulph Marett. Shortly afterward, his situation became complicated due to the outbreak of World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. Being a subject of Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...
, which was at war with the United Kingdom, Malinowski risked internment
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without Criminal charge, charges or Indictment, intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects ...
. He nonetheless decided not to return to Europe, and after intervention by a number of his colleagues, including Marett as well as Alfred Cort Haddon, the Australian authorities allowed him to stay in the 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) and the Woodlark Island. This field trip was described in his 1915 monograph '' The Natives of Mailu''. Subsequently, he conducted research in the Trobriand Islands in the Melanesia
Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from New Guinea in the west to the Fiji Islands in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea.
The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Vanu ...
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 (a ceremonial exchange system conducted by the natives he studied) 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 (including cultur ...
, 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 Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
and the Melbourne Museum. During the breaks in between his expeditions he stayed in Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
, 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.
In 1919, he returned to Europe, staying at Tenerife
Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...
for over a year before coming back to England in 1920 and finally to London in 1921. He resumed teaching at the LSE, accepting a position as a lecturer, declining a job offer from the Polish Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University (, UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and one of the List of oldest universities in con ...
. The following year, his book '' Argonauts of the Western Pacific'', often described as his masterpiece, was published. For the next two decades, he would establish the LSE as Europe's main centre of anthropology. In 1924 he was promoted to a reader, and in 1927, a full professor (foundation Professor of Social Anthropology). In 1930 he became a corresponding foreign member of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1933, he became a foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1934 he travelled to British East Africa and Southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...
, carrying out research among several tribes such as the Bemba, Kikuyu, Maragoli, Maasai and the Swazi people
The Swati or Swazi ( Swati: ''Emaswati'', singular ''Liswati'') are a Bantu ethnic group native to Southern Africa, inhabiting Eswatini, a sovereign kingdom in Southern Africa, and South Africa's Mpumalanga province. EmaSwati are part of the ...
. 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 to study the Hopi
The Hopi are Native Americans who primarily live in northeastern Arizona. The majority are enrolled in the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona; however, some Hopi people are enrolled in the Colorado ...
. When World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
broke out during one of his American visits, he stayed there. He became an outspoken critic of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
, arguing that it posed a threat to civilization, and he repeatedly urged US citizens to abandon their neutrality; his books duly became banned in Germany. In 1941 he carried out field research among the Mexican peasants in Oaxaca
Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...
. He took up a position at Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
as a visiting professor, where he remained until his death. In 1942 he co-founded the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America, of which he became its first president.
In addition to his work in academia, he has been described as a "wittily entertaining pundit" who wrote and spoke in media of the day on various issues, such as religion and race relations, nationalism, totalitarianism, and war, as well as birth control
Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth control only be ...
and sex education
Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including human sexual anatomy, Human sexual activity, sexual activity, sexual reproduction, safe sex, birth ...
. He was a supporter of the British Social Hygiene Council, Mass-Observation, and the International African Institute.
Malinowski died in New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...
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 for 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 only by contemporary reviewers but also by scholars generations later. In 1963, in his foreword to its new edition, John Arundel Barnes called it an epochal work, and noted how it discredited the previously held theory that Australian Aborigines had no institution of family.
Published in 1922, '' Argonauts of the Western Pacific'', about the society and economy of Trobriand people who live on the small Kiriwana island chain northeast of the island of New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
, was widely regarded as a masterpiece and significantly boosted Malinowski's reputation in the world of academia. His later books included '' Crime and Custom in Savage Society'' (1926), '' Myth in Primitive Psychology'' (1926), '' Sex and Repression in Savage Society'' (1927), '' The Father in Primitive Psychology'' (1927), '' The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia'' (1929), and '' Coral Gardens and Their Magic'' (1935). The works tackled issues such as reciprocity and quasi-legal sanctions (in ''Crime''...), psychoanalysis
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious mind, unconscious processes and their influence on conscious mind, conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on The Inte ...
of ethnographic findings (in ''Sex and Repression...)'' courtship, sex, marriage, and the family (in ''The Sexual Life''...), and perceived connections between agriculture and magic (in ''Coral Gardens''...).
His paper "Psycho-Analysis and Anthropology" (1924) is believed to be the first use of the term "nuclear family
A nuclear family (also known as an elementary family, atomic family, or conjugal family) is a term for a family group consisting of parents and their children (one or more), typically living in one home residence. It is in contrast to a single ...
". He incorporated the paper into his ''Sex and Repression in Savage Society'' (1927).
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).
Malinowski's personal diary, along with several others written in Polish, was discovered in his Yale University 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 and what Michael W. Young called a "moral crisis of the discipline". 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 to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...
in 2013.
Ideas and influences
Already a year after his death Clyde Kluckhohn 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". Michael W. Young outlined Malinowski's major contributions as the comparative study of concepts of kinship
In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox says that ...
, marriage, the family; magic, mythology
Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...
, and religion
Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...
. His work impacted numerous fields such as economic anthropology; comparative law
Comparative law is the study of differences and similarities between the law and legal systems of different countries. More specifically, it involves the study of the different legal systems (or "families") in existence around the world, includ ...
; and pragmatic linguistic theory
Theoretical linguistics is a term in linguistics that, like the related term general linguistics, can be understood in different ways. Both can be taken as a reference to the theory of language, or the branch of linguistics that inquires into the ...
.
Ethnography and fieldwork
Malinowski is 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" (a phrase that is also the name of André Singer'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 emphasized 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 (including cultur ...
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 influence of his argument, he is sometimes credited, particularly in the United Kingdom, with having invented the field of ethnography
Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...
. J. I. (Hans) Bakker says that Malinowski "wrote at least two of the 100 most significant ethnographies of all time".
Malinowski in his pioneering research set up a tent in the middle of villages he studied, in which he lived for extended periods of time, 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, an endeavor 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-hand accounts. This could be seen in the relation between Frazer - an influential early anthropologist, nonetheless described as the classic armchair scholar - and Malinowski, which 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 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.
His early works also contributed to scientific study of sex, previously restricted due to Euro-American prudery and views on morality. Malinowski's interest in the topic has been attributed to his Slavic background having made him less concerned with "Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...
puritanism
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should ...
".
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 he was here inspired by the views of William James
William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher and psychologist. The first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States, he is considered to be one of the leading thinkers of the late 19th c ...
. In contrast to Alfred 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 ...
, Malinowski's psychological functionalism held 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. Malinowski understood basic needs as arising from the necessities of biology; and culture, as group cooperation – as a way of addressing the basic needs. Thus, biological needs include metabolism, reproduction, bodily comforts, safety, movement, growth, and health; and the corresponding cultural responses are a food supply, kinship, shelter, protection, activities, training, and hygiene.
The development of Malinowski's theory of psychological functionalism was intimately tied to his focus on the importance of fieldwork: the anthropologist must, via empirical observation, investigate the functions of the customs observed in the present. To Malinowski, people's feelings and motives were crucial to understanding the way their society functioned, which he outlined as follows:
Malinowski, in what is considered an important contribution to cross-cultural psychology
Cross-cultural psychology is the scientific study of human behavior and mental processes, including both their variability and invariance, under diverse cultural conditions. Through expanding research methodologies to recognize cultural variance i ...
, challenged the claim, to universality, of Freud's theory of the Oedipus complex
In classical psychoanalytic theory, the Oedipus complex is a son's sexual attitude towards his mother and concomitant hostility toward his father, first formed during the phallic stage of psychosexual development. A daughter's attitude of desire ...
. Malinowski initiated a cross-cultural approach in '' Sex and Repression in Savage Society'' (1927), demonstrating 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, he later wrote:
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 methods and theories. His research on the Trobriand traditional economy, with its particular focus on magic and magicians, has been described as a substantial contribution to economic anthropology.
Overall, Malinowski has been credited with "contesting existing stereotypes", such as dismissals of "primitive economics", through his study of the Kula ring, which demonstrated how economics was embedded in culture. He criticized the term "primitive superstition", demonstrating complex relations among magic, science, and religion. Likewise his study of sexuality undermined simplistic views of "primitive sexuality".
Malinowski influenced African studies
African studies is the study of Africa, especially the continent's cultures and societies (as opposed to its geology, geography, zoology, etc.). The field includes the study of Africa's History of Africa, history (pre-colonial, Colonisation of Af ...
, serving as academic mentor to Jomo Kenyatta, the father and first president of modern Kenya
Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
. Malinowski wrote the introduction to ''Facing Mount Kenya'', Kenyatta's ethnographic study of the Kikuyu. Many of Malinowski's students worked in Africa, likely due to his involvement with the International African Institute.
Teacher
Malinowski is considered to have raised the next generation of anthropologists, particularly British. Many of his students adopted his functionalist approach.[ As a teacher, he preferred lectures to discussions;] his seminars have been called "electrifying". He has been praised for his friendly and egalitarian attitude towards women students. Among his students were such future social scientists as Hilda Beemer Kuper, Edith Clarke, 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 behavio ...
, 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 "perso ...
, Feliks Gross, Francis L. K. Hsu, Phyllis Kaberry
Phyllis Mary Kaberry (17 September 1910 – 31 October 1977) was a social anthropologist who dedicated her work to the study of women in various societies. Particularly with her work in both Australia and Africa, she paved the way for a femin ...
, Jomo Kenyatta, Edmund Leach, Lucy Mair, Z. K. Matthews, Józef Obrębski, Maria Ossowska, Stanisław Ossowski, Ralph Piddington, Hortense Powdermaker, E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Margaret Read, Audrey Richards, Isaac Schapera, Andrzej Jan Waligórski, Camilla Wedgwood, 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.
Legacy
The Malinowski Memorial Lecture, an annual anthropology lecture series at the LSE, 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 established the Bronislaw Malinowski 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 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''. Other works about Malinowski have appeared since, such as Michael W. Young's '' Malinowski: Odyssey of an Anthropologist, 1884–1920'' (2004).
He is portrayed by Tom Courtenay in the ''Young Indiana Jones'' TV movie ''Treasure of the Peacock's Eye''.
The life and work of Malinowski is the subject of a documentary film
A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...
''Tales From The Jungle: Malinowski'' aired by BBC Four
BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002 channel in 2007.
Personal life
In his youth he was a close friend of Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, a Polish artist; this friendship had much impact on Malinowski's early life. They had a romantic triangle with Zofia Romer ''née'' Dembowska. Throughout his life he gained the reputation of a philanderer.
His other friends from his student times included 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 ...
, the first female lecturer in anthropology at Oxford University.
In 1919 Malinowski married Elsie Rosaline Masson, an Australian photographer, writer, and traveler (daughter of David Orme Masson), 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. Malinowski's daughter Helena Malinowska Wayne wrote several articles on her father's life and a book about her parents.
While Malinowski was brought up in the Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
faith, after his mother's death he described himself as agnostic.
Selected publications
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See also
* List of Polish people
This is a partial list of notable Polish or Polish-speaking or -writing people. People of partial Polish heritage have their respective ancestries credited.
Physics
* Miedziak Antal
* Czesław Białobrzeski
* Andrzej Buras
* Georges ...
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
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*
Malinowski
Archive (Real audio stream) of BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
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
Savage Memory – documentary about Malinowski's legacy
* Bronislaw Malinowski papers (MS 19). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malinowski, Bronislaw
Bronisław Malinowski
1884 births
1942 deaths
20th-century British anthropologists
20th-century British non-fiction writers
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
20th-century Polish non-fiction writers