Bronislaw Malinowski
Quotes from Argonauts of the Western Pacific (New York: E.P. Dutton. 1961
[1922]) and commentary
"The final goal ... is to
grasp the native's point of view,
his relation to life, to realise his vision of his world." (p25)
This statement closes the introduction to this book and remained
unproblematic for many years until Clifford Geertz focused on it following the
publication of Malinowski's diaries and in a movement of skepticism about the
nature of ethnography and the possibility of anthropology that culminated with
the work of Clifford (1988), Marcus and Fisher (1986).
The criticism focused on the possibility of reaching "the
native's point of view" (Geertz 1976). If this is the goal, then the criticism
is radical indeed. What was not discussed much were the three steps that Malinowski
describes as essential in the movement towards reaching "the native's point
of view.
What are we to do with them?
(Note that all texts in italics, as well as the right aligned titles, are
mine) d
The goal of ethnographic field-work must be approached through three avenues:
- 1. The organization of the tribe, and the anatomy of its culture must be recorded in
firm, clear outline. The method of concrete, statistical documentation is the means
through which such an outline has to be given.
- 2. Within this frame, the imponderabilia of actual life, and the type of behavior have
to be filled in. They have to be collected through minute, detailed observations, in the
form of some sort of ethnographic diary, made possible by close contact with native life.
- 3. A collection of ethnographic statements, characteristic narratives, typical
utterances, items of folk-lore and magical formulae has to be given as a corpus
inscriptionum, as documents
These appear deceptively clear technical matters, though
they raise complex issues that directly involve an explicit anthropological
activity: "what" is to be counted in the statistical documentation?
Still, one may argue whether any proposition in the shape
of "this is the outline of a culture" must necessarily be taken as
a statement about the "final goal" of ethnography: (p. 24)
The final goal ... is to grasp the native's point of view, his relation to life, to
realise his vision of his world. (p25)
One might doubt that this will ever be doable, without doubting
the utility of working at achieving at leasts some of the first three steps
in the name of a redefined overall goal that may or may not involve a new understanding
of the "natives" and their "point of view." Contrast this
to Lévi-Strauss' statement on a similar matter (1963
[1958]: 17)
[full text]
September 7, 1999