Bronislaw Malinowski conducted extended fieldwork among the Trobriand Islanders of Melanesia from 1915 to 1918, prompted in part by the outbreak of the First World War, which left him unable to return to Europe from Australia as an Austro-Hungarian citizen. He lived in a tent pitched in a Trobriand village rather than at the mission or government station, learned the local language, and recorded the kula ring, a ceremonial exchange of shell valuables that circulated among island communities across hundreds of miles of open sea. Published as Argonauts of the Western Pacific in 1922, the fieldwork set the model for participant observation as a systematic method in anthropology.
Facts
YearSourced to the subject's own account MethodSourced to the subject's own accountMalinowski used participant observation, living among the Trobriand islanders for extended periods (1915-1918), taking part in their daily life while conducting informal interviews, direct observation and collective discussions, and following the ceremonial kula exchange voyages between islands such as Sinaketa and Dobu. 1 Key FindingSourced to the subject's own accountThe fieldwork documented the kula ring, a ceremonial inter-island trading network among the Trobriand and neighbouring peoples, establishing participant observation as the discipline's method and reshaping ethnography; James Frazer's preface likened Malinowski's impact on the field to Shakespeare's on literature. 1 LocationSourced to the subject's own accountThe Trobriand Islands (Kiriwina island chain), off the northeast coast of New Guinea, Melanesia, including voyages among the kula district's islands such as Sinaketa and Dobu. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Sources
1. Argonauts of the Western Pacific (Wikipedia)
WikipediaWikipedia, Argonauts of the Western Pacific, Fieldwork methodology sectionQuote, Wikipedia, Argonauts of the Western Pacific, Fieldwork methodology section
participant observation: informal interviews, direct observation, participation in the life of the group, collective discussions, analyses of personal documents produced within the group, self-analysis, results from activities undertaken off or online, and life-histories.
1. Argonauts of the Western Pacific (Wikipedia)
WikipediaWikipedia, Argonauts of the Western Pacific, Preface/Reception sectionQuote, Wikipedia, Argonauts of the Western Pacific, Preface/Reception section
already James George Frazer in his preface to the first edition compared Malinowski's impact on ethnography to that of Shakespeare on literature.
1. Argonauts of the Western Pacific (Wikipedia)
WikipediaWikipedia, Argonauts of the Western Pacific, IntroductionQuote, Wikipedia, Argonauts of the Western Pacific, Introduction
the Trobriand people who live on the small Kiriwana island chain northeast of the island of New Guinea
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.