Bronislaw Malinowski A Polish Born British Social Anthropologist Who Conducted His Fieldwork Among The Trobriand Island 1 (850.48 KiB) Viewed 103 times
Bronislaw Malinowski, a Polish born British socialanthropologist who conducted his fieldwork among the Trobriandislanders in the beginning of last century is widely credited asthe anthropologist who introduced ethnography as a scientificenterprise. Malinowski maintained that in order to understand thenative point of view, the ethnographer has to immerse totally inthe culture he/she intend to study. Total immersion, he maintainedfurther, requires participant-observation, the technique oflearning a people's culture through social participation andpersonal observation. Simply put, participant-observation requireseating food of the people being studied, learning how to speak andbehave acceptably, and personally experiencing their habits andcustoms.
However, some of the photographs of Malinowski's actualfieldwork reveal a rather different scenario (see a photograph ofMalinowski's actual fieldwork in page 20 of your textbook) in whichthe imposing figure of Malinowski clad in his European clothes andshoes can be seen interacting with natives.
Was he preaching something that he himself has neverpracticed? Or, is ethnography a defective method to beginwith?
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