X/736v6 ARGONAUTS OF THE WESTERN PACIFIC pelage 8边<4 tinea BRONISLAW MALINOWSKI PH. D,(Cracow), D Sc(London) 巴za WITH A PREFACE SIR JAMES GEORGE FRAZER, F B.A., F.R.S. WITH 5 MAPS, 65 ILLUSTRATIONS, AND 2 FIGURES LONDON routledge KEGAN PAUL ltd NEW YORK: E, P. dutton COMPANY, INC N1门NeNA2
MY FRIEND AND TEACHER PROFESSOR C.G. SELIGMAN, F.R.S. 226526 GEORGETOW UNIVERSTY LIBRARIES JUL17168 LONDON N w.Io
INTRODUCTION THE SUBJECT, METHOD AND SCOPE OF THIS CHE coastal populations of the South Sea Islands, with very few exceptions, are, or were before their extinction, expert gators and traders. Several of them had evolved excellent types of large sea-going canoes, and used to embark in them n distant trade expeditions or raids of war and conquest The Papuo-Melanesians, who inhabit the coast and the out lying islands of New Guinea, are no exception to this rule. In aring sailors, industrious man and keen traders. The manufacturing centres of important Eart erek miadwvineaol ast valued ornaments, are localised in several places, according to the skill of the inhabitants, their inherited tribal tradition und special facilities offered by the district; thence they are traded over wide areas, sometimes travelling more than hundreds of miles Definite forms of exchange along definite trade to be found established between the various tribes. A most tradition The native names and t heu nP on ghn this and the follow maps iil-v show tb remarkable form of intertribal trade is that obtaining between native names as ascertained by myself and phonetically spelled the Motu of Port Moresby and the tribes of the Papuan Gulf The Motu sail for hundreds of miles in heavy, unwieldy canoes, called lakatoi, hich are provided with the characteristic b-claw sails. They bring pottery and shell ornaments, in Iden days, stone blades, to fre obtain in exchange sago and the heavy dug-outs, which are sed afterwards by the Motu for the construction of their lakatoi canoes The hiri, as these expeditions are called in Motuan, have been described ealth of detail and clearness of outli man's " The Melanesians of British New Guinea, Car
SUBJECT, METHOD AND SCOPE SUBJECT, METHOD AND SCOPE Further East, on the South coast, there lives theindustrious, this cannot be done as rigorously, but every student will do a-faring population of the Mailu, who link the East End oi his best to bring home to the reader all the conditions in which trading expeditio inally, the natives of the islands graphy, where a candid account of such data is perhaps even and archipelagoes, scattered around the East End, are in constant trading relations with one another. We possess in bore necessary, it has unfortunately in the past not always been supplied with sufficient generosity, and many writers do Professor Seligman's book an excellent description of the not ply the full searchlight of methodic sincerity, as they move subject, especially of the nearer trades routes between the among their facts but produce them before us out of complete various islands inhabited by the Southern Massim t There abscurit exists, however, another, a very extensive and highly complex trading system, embracing with its ramifications, not only the I sientific hall-mark on them, in which wholesale generalisations islands near the East End, but also the Louisiades, Woodlark are laid down before us, and we are not informed at all by what Island, the Trobriand Archipelago, and the d'Entrecasteaux actual experiences the writers have reached their conclusion. oup: it penetrates into the mainland of New Guinea, and No special chapter or paragraph is devoted to describing to us xerts an indirect influence over several outlying districts, such as Rossel Island, and some parts of the Northern and the conditions under which observations were made and infor Southern coast of New Guinea. This tradin mation collected. I consider that only such ethnograph tem, the Kula, sources are of unquestionable scientific value, in which we can is the subiect I am setting out to describe m this volume, and clearly draw the line between, on the one hand, the results of it will be seen that it is an economic phenomenon of considera- direct observation and of native statements and interpretation ffe of those natives who live within its circuit, and its impor- common sense and psycholgical insight. Indeed, some such ambitions, desires and vanities are very much bound up with I this chapter)ought to be forthcoming, so that at a glance the the Kula II rsonal acquaintance with the facts which he describes, and Before proceeding to the account of the Kula, it will be well n idea under what conditions information had been to give a description of the methods used in the collecting of the ethnographic material. The results of scientific research Again, in historical science, no one could expect to be any branch of learning ought to be presented in a manner seriously treated if he made any mystery of his sources and absolutely candid and above board. No one would dream poke of the past as if he knew it by divination. In Ethno- of making an experimental contribution to physical or chemical I the same time, while his sources are no doubt easily accessible account of all the arrange- but also supremely elusive and complex they are not ments of the experiments; an exact description of the apparatus used: of the manner in which the observations were conducted bodied in fixed, material documents, but in the behaviour of their number; of the length of time devoted to them, and a nd in the memory of ting men.In Ethnography, the of the degree of approximation with which each measurement tance is often enormous between the brute material yas made. In less exact sciences, as in biology or geology, ailu, "by B. Malinowski of S. Australia, I915: Chapter iv, 4, pP. 612 to 629. ers and s t Op. cit. Chapter xl wes can visualise with pertect precision the conditions under which the work
SUBJECT, METHOD AND SCOPE SUBJECT, METHOD AND SCOPE information-as it is presented to the student in his own obser I came back duly, and soon gathered an audience around vations, in native statement, in the kaleidoscope of tribal life- me. A few compliments in pidgin-English on both sides,some and the final authoritative presentation of the results. The i tobacco changing hands, induced an atmosphere of mutual years between the moment when he sets foot upon a native begin with subjects which might arouse no suspicion, I started beach,and makes lis first attempts to get into touch with the to"do"technology. A few natives were engaged in manu- natives, and the time when he writes down the final version of facturing some object or other. It was easy to look at it and his results. A brief outline of an Ethnographer's tribulations, obtain the names of the tools, and even some technical expres as lived through by myself, may throw more light on the dons about the proceedings, but there the matter ended. It question, than any long abstract discussion could do must be borne in mind that pidgin- English is a very imperfect Instrument for expressing ones ideas, and that before one gets III a good training in framing questions and understanding answers Imagine yourself suddenly set down surrounded by one has the uncomfortable feeling that free communication in it with the natives will never be attain your gear, alone on a tropical beach close to a native village, un able to enter into any more detailed or explicit conversation while the launch or dinghy which has brought you sails away i with them at first. I knew well that the best remedy for this out of sight. Since you take up your abode in the compound of was to collect concrete data, and accordingly I took a village some neighbouring white man, trader or missionary, you have census, wrote down genealogies, drew up plans and collected nothing to do, but to start at once on your ethnographic work of kinship, But all this remained dead Imagine further that you are a beginner, without previous which led no further into the understanding of real native experience, with nothing to guide you and no one to help you.: mentality or behaviour. since I could neither procure For the white man is te temporarily absent, or else unable or i god native interpretation of any of these items, nor get unwilling to waste any of his time on you describes my first initiation into field work on the. this exactly what could be called the hang of tribal life. As to obtaining of New Guinea. I well remember the long visits i paid to the south coast their ideas about religion, and magic, their beliefs in sorcery villages during the first weeks; the feeling of hopelessness and and spirits, nothing was forthcoming except a few superficial despair after many obstinate but futile attempts had entirely it ems of folk-lore, mangled by being forced into pidgin English. failed to bring me into real Information which i received from some white residents in touch with the natives, or supplyi the district, valuable as it was in itself, was more discouraging me with any material. I had periods of despondency, when I i tl:all anything else with regard to my own work. Here were buried myself in the reading ot novels, as a man might take i men who had lived for years in the place with constant oppor to drink in a fit of tropical depression and boredom tunities of observing the natives and communicating with them magine yourself then, making your first entry into the and who yet hardly knew one thing about them really well village, alone or in company with your white cicerone. Some llow could I therefore in a few months or a year, hope to over- Others, the more dignified and elderly, remain seated wherethey, take and go beyond them l Moreover the manner in which my are. Your white companion has his routine way of treating the natives, and he neither understands, nor is very much concerned was, naturally, that of untrained minds, unaccustomed to formulate their thoughts with any degree of consistency and with the manner in which you, as an ethnographer, will have precision. And they were for the most part, naturally enough, to approach them. The first visit leaves you with a hopeful full of the biassed and pre- judged opinions inevitable in the feeling that when you return alone, things will be easier. Such was my hope at least average practical man, whether administrator, missionary,or trader, yet so strongly repulsive to a mind striving after the
SUBJECT, METHOD AND SCOPE SUBJECT, METHOD AND SCOPE objective, scientific view of things. The habit of treating with Mours only to"do the village. It should not even be near a self-satisfied frivolity what is really serious to the ethno anough to fy to at any moment for recreation. For the native not the natural companion for a white man, and after you that is to say, the native, s cultural and mental peculiarities and have been working with him for several hours, seeing how he grapher; the cheap rating of what to him is a scientific treasure s his gardens, or letting him tell you items of folk-lore, amateur's writing, I found in the tone of the majority of white discussing his customs, you will naturally hanker after the Indeed, in my first piece of Ethnographic research on the beyond reach of this, you go for a solitary walk for an hour or residents. mpany of your own kind. But if you are alone in a village South coast, it was not until I was alone in the district that I 1, return again and then quite naturally seek out the native began to make some headway: and, at any rate, I found out society, this time as a relief from loneliness, just as you would ethnographer's magic, by which he is able to evoke the real Intercourse, you learn to know him, and you become familiar spirit of the natives, the true picture of tribal life As usual with his customs and beliefs far better than when he is a paid, success can o There is all the difference between a sporadic plunging into e company of natives, and being really in contact with them What does this latter mean On the Ethnographer's side, it effort. or trouble. The principles of method can be grouped means that his life in the village, which at first is a strange marv under three main headings; first of all, naturally, the student Sometimes unpleasant, sometimes must possess real scientific aims, and know the values and adventure, soon adopts quite a natural course very much in criteria of modern ethnography. Secondly, he ought to put harmony with his surroundings Soon after I had established myself in Omarakana dtro without other white. men, right among the natives. Finally, briand Islands), I began to take part, in a way, in the village himself in good conditions of work, that is, in the main, to live anipulating and fixing his evidence. A few words must beI take personal interest in the gossip and the developments of the he has to apply a number of special methods of collecting. said about these three foundation stones of field work, beginning sm: ll village occurrences to wake up every morning to a day with the second as the most elementary senting itself to me more or less as it does to the native. I would get out from under my mosquito net, to find around me d also to the season Proper conditions for ethnographic work. These, as sal they get up and begin their labours early or late, as work onsist mainly in cutting oneself off from the company ofother presses. As I went on my morning walk through the village, I white men, and remaining in as close contact with the natives could see intimate details of family life, of toilet, cooking as possible, which really can only be achieved by camping right t taking of meals; I could see the arrangements for the day's in their villages(see Plates I and If). It is very nice to have ork, people starting on their errands, or groups of men and base in a white man compound for the stores, and to knot women busy at some manufacturing tasks(see Plate IIl) But it a refuge there in times of sickness and surfeit of native Quarrels, jokes, family scenes, events usually trivial, some must be far enough away not to become a permanent mes dramatic but always significant, formed the atmosphere in which you live and from which you emerge at fixed of my daily life, as well as of theirs. It must be remembered ere a few that as the natives saw me constantly every day, they ceased to Raffael be interested or alarmed, or made self-conscious by my Brudo, another pearl trader; an
8 SUBJECT, METHOD AND SCOPE SUBJECT, METHOD AND SCOPE presence, and I ceased to be a disturbing element in the tribal raining in theory, and acquaintance with its latest results, is life which I was to study, altering it by my very approach, as not identical with being burdened with"preconceived ideas always happens with a new-comer to every savage community a man sets out on an expedition, determined to prove certain In fact, as they knew that I would thrust my nose into ever hypotheses, if he is incapable of cha ews constantly thing, even where a well-mannered native would not dream of intruding, they finished by regarding me as part and parcel of idence, needless to say his work will be worthless. But the their life, a necessary evil or nuisance, mitigated by donation of tobacco laote problems he brings with him into the field, the more he is he habit of moulding his theories according to fa s, and of Later on in the day, whatever happened was reach, and there was no possibility of its escaping my notice. equipped for the work., Preconceived ideas are pernicious Alarms about the sorcerer's approach in the evening, one or two big, really important quarrels and rifts within the community endowment of a scientific thinker, and these problems are first cases of illness, attempted cures and deaths, magical rites revealed to the observer by his theoretical studie which had to be performed, all these I had not to pursue, fearful In Ethnology the early efforts of Bastian, of missing them, but they took place under my very eyes,at e German Volkerpsychologen have remoulded the older my own doorstep, so to speak(see Plate IV). And it must be crude information of travellers, missionaries, etc, and have shown us the importance of applying deeper conceptions and is essential to investigate it at the very moment of happen-i discarding crude and misleading ones ing, because the natives cannot but talk about it, are too The concept of animism superseded that of"fetichism"or excited to be reticent, and too interested to be mentally lazy in supplying details. Also, over and over again, I committed of the classificatory systems of relationship paved the way for breaches of etiquette, which the natives, familiar enough with the brilliant, modern researches on native sociology in the me, were not slow in pointing out. I had to learn how to field-work of the Cambridge school. The psychological behave, and he feeling "for analysis of the German thinkers has brought forth an abundant native good and bad manners. With this, and with the crop of most valuable information in the results obtained by capacity of enjoying their company and sharing some of their the recent German expeditions to Africa, South America and games and amusements, I began to feel that i was indeed in k and others have already, and will no doubt still for a long time conditi being able to carry on successful field work. inspire field workers and lead them to new results. The field worker relies entirely upon inspiration from theory. Of course he may be also a theoretical thinker and worker, and there he But the Ethnographer has not only to spread his nets in can draw on himself for stimulus. But the two functions are the right place, and wait for what will fall into them. He must separate, and in actual research they have to be separated and drive his both in ti follow it up to its most inaccessible lairs. And that leads us As always happens when scientific interest turns towards to the more active methods of pursuing ethnographic evidence. and begins to labour on a field so far only prospected by the It has been mentioned at the end of division iii that the riosity of amateurs, Ethnology has introduced law and order Ethnographer has to be inspired by the knowledge of the most into what seemed chaotic and freakish. It has transformed of scientific study, by its for us the sensational, wild and unaccountable world of I shall not enlarge upon this subject, except by way 'of one remark, to avoid the possibility of misunderstanding. Good Man and the word Ethnology for speculative and com
SUBJECT, METHOD AND SCOPE SUBJECT, METHOD AND SCOPE governed", into a number of well ordered communities,I from the irrelevances. The firm skeleton of the tribal life has by law, behaving and thinking according to consistent o be first ascertained. This ideal imposes in the first place principles. The word"savage, whatever association it might i the fundamental obligation of giving a complete survey of the irregularity, of something extremely and extraordinarily quaint. still less the funny and quaint. The time when we could In popular thinking, we imagine that the natives live on the berate accounts presenting us the native as a distorted, childish bosom of nature, mo oricbeliefs and apprehensions. Modern 5 and like many other falsehoods, it has been killed by Science science, on the contrary, shows that their social institutions have The field Ethnographer has seriously and soberly to cover the very definite organisation, that they are governed by author full extent of the phenomena in each aspect of tribal culture ty, law and order in their public and personal relations, while studied, making no difference between what is commonplace. the latter are, besides, under the control of extremely complex ties of kinship and clanship. Indeed, we see them entangled drab, or ordinary, and what strikes him as astonishing and out-of-the-way. At the same time, the whole area of tribal in a mesh of duties, functions and privileges which correspond to an elaborate tribal, communal and kinship organisatic consistency, the law and order which obtain within each (see Plate Iv). Their beliefs and - practices do not by any aspect make also for joining them into one coherent whole means lack consistency of a certain type, and their knowledge An Ethnographer who sets out to study only religion,or of the outer world is sufficient to guide them in many of their ly technology, or only sorial organisation cuts out an strenuousenterprises and. activities. Their artistic pro- artificial field for inquiry, and he will be seriously handicapper ductions again lack neither meaning nor beauty It is a very far cry from the famous answer given long ago by a representative authority who, asked, what are the manners and customs of the natives, answered, Customs none, manners Having settled this very general rule, let us descend to beastly to the position of the modern Ethnographer. This tuore detailed consideration of method. The Ethnographer atter, with his tables of kinship terms, genealogies, maps, las in the field, according to what has just been said, the dut plans and diagrams, proves the existence of an extensive and big: before him of drawing up all the rules and regularities of tribal ganisation, shows the constitution of the tribe, of the clan, of the ermanent and fixed of giving an anatomy family; and he gives us a picture of the natives subjected to a eir culture, of depicting the constitution of their society. strict code of behaviour and good manners, to which in comparison ut these things, though crystallised and set, ar the life at the Court of versailles or Escurial was tree and easy. formulated. There is no written or explicitly expressed code Thus the first and basic ideal of ethnographic field-worl of laws, and their whole tribal tradition the whole structure of to give a clear and firm outline of the social constitution, their society, are embodied in the most elusive of all materials disentangle the laws and regularities of all cultural phenomena the human being. But not even in human mind or memory are these laws to be found definitel he forces and commands of and their impulses, but could not lay down a single law of psychology. The regularities in native institutions are an automatic result of the interaction of the mental forces of radition, and of the material conditions of environment Exactly as a humble member of any modern institution
SUBJECT, METHOD AND SCOPE SUBJECT, METHOD AND SCOPE whether it be the state, or the church, or the army, is of it and F enpirical investigator with a mental chart, in accordance with in it, but has no vision of the resulting integral action of the which he can take his bearings and lay his course whole, still less could furnish any account of its organisation, To return to our example, a number of definite cases so it would be futile to attempt questioning a native in abstract, a dliscussed will reveal to the Ethnographer the social machinery sociological terms. The difference is that, in our society, for punishment. This is one part, one aspect of tribal every institution has its intelligent members, its historians uthority. Imagine further that by a similar method of and its archiv documents, whereas in a native society nference from definite data, he arrives at understanding leader- here are none of these. After this is realised an expedient has I ship in war, in economic enterprise, in tribal festivities-there to be found to overcome this diffculty. This expedient for an about tribal government and social authority. In actual he has at once all the data necessary to answer the questions and drawing the general inferences for himself. This seems field work, the comparison of such data, the attempt to piece obvious on the face of it but was not found out or at least hem together, will often reveal rifts and gaps in the infor- practised in Ethnography till field work was taken up by men mation which lead on to further investigations From my own experience, I can say that, very often,a easy to devise the concrete applications of this method, nor to, problem seemed settled, everything fixed and clear, till l began th y Though we cannot ask a native about abstract, general rules only then, did I see the enormous deficiencies, which would we can always enquire how a given case would be treated show me where lay new problems, and lead me on to new work Thus for instance, in asking how they would treat crime In fact, I spent a few months between my first and second or punish it, to put to a native xpeditions, and over a year between that and the subsequent for even words could not be found to express it in native, or i ready for publication each time though each time I knew I in pidgin. But an imaginary case, or still better, a real occurrence,will stimulate a native to express his opinion and to structive work and observation, I found most valuable, and I supply plentiful information. A real case indeed will start the lo not think I could have made real headway without it. I give natives on a wave of discussion, evoke expressions of indigna this bit of my own history merely to show that what has been tion, show them taking sides-all of which talk will probably said so far is not only an empty programme, but the result of contain a wealth of definite views, of moral censures, as well / personal experience. In this volume, the description is given of as reveal the social mechanism set in motion by the crime big institution connected with ever so many associated committed. From there, it will be easy to lead them on to activities, and presenting many aspects. To anyone who speak of other similar cases, to remember other actual occur.) about a phenomenon of such high complexity and of so man.? reflects on the subject, it will be clear that the informatio rences or to discuss them in all their implications and aspects amifications, could not be obtained with any degre range of facts, the inference is obtained by simple induction. i exactitude and completeness, without a constant interplay of The scientific treatment differs from that of good common sense, first in that a student will extend the completeness and systematic and methodical manner: and secondly, in that the expeditions. Each time, new problems and difficult minuteness of survey much further and in a pedantically dozen times while in the field and in the intervals betw scientifically trained mind, will push the inquiry along really presented themselves relevant lines, and towards aims possessing real importance. The collecting of concrete data over a wide range of facts is Indeed, the object of scientific training is to provide the hus one of the main points of field method. The obligation
SUBJECT, METHOD AND SCOPE SUBJECT, METHOD AND SCOPE is not to enumerate a few examples only, but to exhaust as far of connected relations of kinship. Its value as an instrument as possible all the cases within reach; and, on this search fur of research consists in that it allows the investigator to put clearest. But, whenever the material of the search allows it, put concretely to the native informant. As a document this mental chart ought to be transformed into he :i Yalue consists in that it gives a number of authenticated da it ought to materialise into a diagram, a plan, an exhaustive, presented in their natural grouping. A synoptic chart of ynoptic table of cases. Long since, in all tolerably good magic fulls the same function. As an instrument of research lodern books on natives, we expect to find a full list or table of I i have used it in order to ascertain, for instance, the ideas about kinship terms, which includes all the data relative to it, and t the nature of magical power. With a chart before me.I could does not just pick out a few strange and anomalous relation- easily and conveniently go over one item after the other, and following up of one relation after another in concrete cases i of them. The answer to my abstract problem could then be leads naturally to the construction of genealogical tables btained by drawing a general inference from all the cases, Practised already by the best early writers, such as Munzinger,, and the procedure is illustrated in Chapters XVII and XVII and, if I remember rightly, Kubary, this method has been I cannot enter further into the discussion of this question, developed to its fullest extent in the works of Dr. Rivers, which would need further distinctions, such as between a chart Again, studying the concrete data of economic transactions,I of concrete, actual data, such as is a genealogy, and a chart in order to trace the history of a valuable object, and to gauge sunmarising the outlines of a custom or belief, as a chart of the nature of its circulation, the principle of completeness an thoroughness would lead to construct tables of transactions i magical system would be. Returning once more to the question of methodological h as we find in the work of Professor Seligman. It is in candour, discussed previously in Division II. I wish to point following Professor Seligman's example in this matter that Ii out here, that the procedure of concrete and tabularised presentation of data ought to be applied first to the Ethno rules of the Kula. The method of reducing information, if Krapher's own credentials. That is, an Ethnographer, who possible, into charts or synoptic tables ought to be extended to hes to trusted, must show clearly and concisely, in a the study of practically all aspects of native life. All types of tabularised form, which are his own direct observations, and economic transactions may be studied by following up con- which the indirect information that form the bases of his nected,actual cases, and putting them into a synoptic chart, /, account. The Table on the next page will serve as an example again, a table ought to be drawn up of all the gifts and present f this procedure and help the reader of this book to form an customary in a given society, a table including the sociological ilea of the trustworthiness of any statement he is specially could be charted, allowing each entry to be synoptically defined what circumstances, and with what degree of accuracy I arrived under a number of headings. Besides th of course, the at a given item of knowledge, there will, I hope remain no genealogical census of every community, studied more in detail obscurity whatever as to the sources of extensive maps, plans and d garden land, hunting and fishing privileges, etc s ownership in ore fundamental documents of ethnographic research the a genealogy is nothing else but a synoptic chart of a number For instance, the tables of circulation of the valuable ct,pp.53r,532 harts, etc, preferring reserve them till the full publication of my material
