On the Kula and the Primitive Economic man, how was Malinowski wrong and why it does not matter
"Imagine yourself suddenly set down surrounded by all your gear, alone on a tropical beach close to a native village, while the launch or dinghy which has brought you sails away out of sight… Imagine further that you are a beginner, without previous experience, with nothing to guide you and no one to help you. For the white man is temporarily absent, or else unable or unwilling to waste any of his time on you. This exactly describes my first initiation into field work on the south coast of New Guinea."
This quote also describes my first imergency into Malinowski’s ethnography, ‘’Argonauts of the western pacific.’’ It was uncharted waters, and I was left stranded on a beach of an unknown field with only my books to make for friends. This paper will give account of my thoughts as they appeared and evolved on several key issues through the book, concentrating on, what I deduced, to be of either paramount importance to the ‘’Malinowski experience’’ in the archipelagos of Melanesian New Guinea, or to be points of academic debate between me and the author and his work. Firstly, I will explore the position towards the ethnographer and his task in field work, giving account of Malinowski’s contribution to the field of social anthropology as well as providing some contrary opinion. Secondly, I will engage with the ‘’Primitive Economic Man’’ and Malinowski’s critic of him, leading to the depiction of the Kula and its ways, where I will look at how the author approached the system (and the structure) and how that approach had influenced his later observations and analysis. Finally I will look at the functionalists’ perspective on the local soci...
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...pt for chapter XXII., Malinowski provides the reader with little more than pure, observed data. This can be tiring from time to time and does leaves the ethnography somewhat lacking in deeper analysis, something I have grown to expect from functionalists in general.
One lest remark I had, to the work Malinowski put into his account of the life in the Trobriand Islands, would be the lack of himself in the book. He does give an overview of what the methods are and how an anthropologist should go about his business; however, he does not mention his position in the tribe he lived in for such a long time. The pictures of tribesmen and ‘’informants’’ he does mention, but very little is said about the role he played in their society, how he interacted, how did his presence change the events unfolding before his eyes.
Works Cited
malinowski, argonauts,1922, LSE, england
Darryl’s life is worth fighting for. “You can’t buy what I’ve got.” ‘The Castle’ directed by Rob Sitch, about one man, his family and neighbours on the verge of being homeless. Darryl Kerrigan, the “backbone of the family” won’t stand for that. Of course no one can buy what he has. He’s spent almost his entire lifetime building what he has, why should he give it up? Darryl’s way of life is simple yet filled with family values. 3 Highview Crescent is the home to Darryl, his wife Sal and their 3 children: Wayne, Steve, Tracy and Dale. (Wayne currently being in jail.) The house is made up of love, and simple family values. Darryl’s also added bits and pieces to it. He’s added on so much to the house, his own personal touch. His neighbours, also in the same bout are almost family to the Kerrigans. Jack and Farouk are another reason why Darryl’s ready to take matters into his own hands.
Every individual has two lives, the life we live, and the life we live after that. Nobody is perfect, but if one works hard enough, he or she can stay away from failure. The Natural is a novel written by Bernard Malamud. It is Malamud’s first novel that initially received mixed reactions but afterwards, it was regarded as an outstanding piece of literature. It is a story about Roy Hobbs who after making mistakes in his life, he returns the bribery money and is left with self-hatred for mistakes he has done. Hobbs was a baseball player who aspired to be famous, but because of his carnal and materialistic desire, his quest for heroism failed, as he was left with nothing. In the modern world, the quest for heroism is a difficult struggle, and this can be seen through the protagonist in The Natural.
Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate is the story of an African boy, Kek, who loses his father and a brother and flees, leaving his mother to secure his safety. Kek, now in Minnesota, is faced with difficulties of adapting to a new life and of finding his lost mother. He believes that his mother still lives and would soon join him in the new found family. Kek is taken from the airport by a caregiver who takes him to live with his aunt. It is here that Kek meets all that amazed him compared to his home in Sudan, Africa. Home of the brave shows conflicts that Kek faces. He is caught between two worlds, Africa and America. He feels guilty leaving behind his people to live in a distant land especially his mother, who he left in the midst of an attack.
“The Sambia: Ritual, Sexuality, and Change in Papua New Guinea” is a book written by Gilbert Herdt. It is based on a case study Herdt did during the 1970’s of the culture of the Sambia people. His study took place in Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. He didn’t know much about their language, however through out his time there he was able to learn their language and customs. As he settled into their village, he mostly slept in the clubhouse with the other Nilangu villagers; however, eventually they built a house for him to stay at. Herdt had a great interest in gaining new knowledge about the Sambia culture.
In this report you will see the comparisons between the novel Dawn and the life of Elie Wiesel, its author. The comparisons are very visible once you learn about Elie Wiesel’s life. Elie Wiesel was born on September28,1928 in the town of Hungary. Wiesel went through a lot of hard times as a youngster. In 1944, Wiesel was deported by the nazis and taken to the concentration camps. His family was sent to the town of Auschwitz. The father, mother, and sister of Wiesel died in the concentration camps. His older sister and himself were the only to survive in his family. After surviving the concentration camps, Wiesel moved to Paris, where he studied literature at the Sorbonne from 1948-1951. Since 1949 he has worked as a foreign correspondant and journalist at various times for the French, Jewish, periodical, L’Arche, Tel-Aviv newspaper Yediot Ahronot, and the Jewish daily forward in New York City. Francois mauriac the Roman Catholic Nobelest and Nobel Laureate convinced Wiesel to speak about the Holocaust. Wiesel wrote an 800 page memoir which he later edited into a smaller version called "Night". In the mid 60’s Wiesel spoke out a lot about the Holocaust. Later on Wiesel emerged on as an important moral voice on Religious Issues and the Human Rights. Since 1988 Wiesel has been a professor at Boston University. Some of Wiesel’s greatest novels has been "Night", "Dawn", "The Accident", "The Town Beyond The Wall", "The Gates Of The Forest", "The Fifth Son"...
...d issues of post-colonialism in Crossing the Mangrove. It is clear that Conde favors multiplicity when it comes to ideas of language, narrative, culture, and identity. The notion that anything can be understood through one, objective lens is destroyed through her practice of intertextuality, her crafting of one character's story through multiple perspectives, and her use of the motif of trees and roots. In the end, everything – the literary canon, Creole identity, narrative – is jumbled, chaotic, and rhizomic; in general, any attempts at decryption require the employment of multiple (aforementioned) methodologies.
The poem “Thanatopsis” by William Cullen Bryant reveals a very unusual aspect of nature. While most people think of nature as beauty and full of life, Bryant takes a more interesting approach to nature. He exposes a correlation between nature, life, death, and re-birth. Using nature as a foothold, Bryant exercises methods such as tone, setting, and imagery in a very intriguing way while writing “Thanatopsis.”
The film Ongka’s Big Moka is about a Big Man named Ongka of the Kawelka tribe in Papua New Guinea. Being the Big Man of the tribe Ongka reasures his status by arranging a Moka ceremony. In this film we see the process of a Moka that takes up to 5 years of preparation. We follow Ongka’s struggles and successes of accumulating the number of pigs in preparation for the ceremony. The film allows us to understand the motives and functions of a Moka, provides topics that have been discussed in class, and relate this culture to a similar institution within the United States.
Zystrla, M. "Colonization of History." Welcome to Study Anthropology; A Resource for Applied and Cultural Anthropology. Web. 20 Nov. 2011. .
In the chronological, descriptive ethnography Nest in the Wind, Martha Ward described her experience on the rainy, Micronesian island of Pohnpei using both the concepts of anthropological research and personal, underlying realities of participant observation to convey a genuine depiction of the people of Pohnpei. Ward’s objective in writing Nest in the Wind was to document the concrete, specific events of Pohnpeian everyday life and traditions through decades of change. While informing the reader of the rich beliefs, practices, and legends circulated among the people of Pohnpei, the ethnography also documents the effects of the change itself: the island’s adaptation to the age of globalization and the survival of pre-colonial culture.
Alexander Stowe is a twin, his brother is Aaron Stowe. Alex is an Unwanted, Aaron is a Wanted, and their parents are Necessaries. Alex is creative in a world where you can’t even see the entire sky, and military is the dream job for everyone and anyone. He should have been eliminated, just like all the unwanteds should have been. He instead comes upon Artimè, where he trains as a magical warrior- after a while. When he was still in basic training, and his friends were not, he got upset, he wants to be the leader, the one everyone looks up to.
Between the years of 1985 to 1987 Conklin spent a total of 19 months living amongst the Wari’ tribes. Her primary source of gathering information was to interview the Wari’ about their own culture and history. Performing return trips to the Amazonian society in 1991, 1999, and 2000 Conklin was able to confirm her gathered information by asking different Wari’ about their beliefs and cultural history. Amongst Conklin’s interview subjects were dozens of elderly Wari’ who could remember the life before the outside world had become a major influence. They c...
"When a trout rising to a fly gets hooked on a line and finds himself unable to swim about freely, he begins with a fight which results in struggles and splashes and sometimes an escape. Often, of course, the situation is too tough for him."
In the story, The Natural, certain characters and events are portrayed in a distinctive way that makes this story unique to other books and shows the typical writing style of the narrator. The author uses a repetitive writing technique that is impossible to overlook. The writer of this book is able to catch the reader’s eye with his concept of the importance of beautiful description. The Natural, by Bernard Malamud, uses great imagery that makes the story appealing.
In a strange way, Victor Navorski’s long and obstacle packed journey relates closely to the journey many early settlers must have experienced. Just like Victor Navorski journey, the early