Argonauts of the Western Pacific An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea

Languageen
First published2017-10-26
RightsPublic domain in the USA.
Gutenberg ID#55822

Description

"Argonauts of the Western Pacific" by Bronisław Malinowski is an ethnography published in 1922. This groundbreaking work documents the Trobriand people of the Kiriwana island chain near New Guinea, focusing on their complex trading system called the kula. Malinowski revolutionized anthropology by practicing "participant observation"—living among his subjects rather than studying them from afar. The book redefined ethnographic fieldwork and established intensive fieldwork as the foundation of modern social anthropology, earning comparison to Shakespeare's impact on literature. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Subjects

  • Kula exchange -- Papua New Guinea -- Trobriand Islands
  • Massim (Papua New Guinean people) -- Rites and ceremonies
  • Ethnology -- Papua New Guinea -- Trobriand Islands
  • Folklore -- Papua New Guinea -- Trobriand Islands
  • Barter -- Papua New Guinea -- Trobriand Islands
  • Trobriand Islands (Papua New Guinea) -- Social life and customs
  • GN

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