ANTB19H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Trobriand Islands, Tom Boellstorff, Ethnography
Document Summary
Off the verandah film: his move to the trobriand islands was his own will. But then, he got stuck there and couldn"t get back: malinowski knew the value of long-term field work, which includes learning the language, etc. How would malinowski describe a typical or model anthropologist: a man with a scientific background that comes from a civilized world, older, of higher class, someone that can go out and have a mind with a blank slate. A trained individual that is purely objective and has no preconceived notion: engaged, curious, the anthropologist must learn languages, likeable, monotheistic background, but secular. His religious beliefs are informing and help him understand what he sees in the field: straight, without family, an intrepid adventurer scientist who strikes out alone, not a merchant, missionary or travel writer. What, to malinowski, constitutes an appropriate field site: exotic, visually different, untouched, cut off/isolated/far away, tribal, rich culture, a hunter-gatherer society, a simpler place.
