Documental: Cuentos de la jungla

Summary

El guion narra la revolución en antropología iniciada por Bronisław Malinowski, quien abandonó las comodidades coloniales para vivir entre los nativos de las islas Trobriand, en Papúa Nueva Guinea. Su innovador enfoque de 'observación participante' desafía las nociones victorianas del 'salvaje simple', ofreciendo una visión más humana y compleja de las culturas indígenas. Malinowski's diarios privados, publicados posthumamente, revelaron su lado oscuro, generando cuestionamientos sobre su legado. El guion explora su pasión por la ciencia, su búsqueda de aceptación y prestigio, y cómo su trabajo influenció profundamente la comprensión de las sociedades humanas.

Takeaways

• 🧐 Bronisław Malinowski es considerado uno de los padres fundadores de la antropología social moderna y su trabajo en las islas de Papua Nueva Guinea revolucionó la comprensión de la cultura y la sociedad indígenas.
• 🌊 Durante su estancia en las islas Trobriand, Malinowski adoptó un enfoque innovador de 'observación participante', viviendo entre los nativos y aprendiendo su idioma para comprender su cultura desde su perspectiva.
• 📚 Malinowski criticó la antropología de su tiempo por ser prejuiciosa y carecer de rigurosidad científica, promoviendo un enfoque más empírico y basado en la observación directa.
• 🎓 Con un trasfondo en matemáticas y física, Malinowski aportó una dimensión científica a la antropología, buscando aplicar rigurosidad y métodos científicos a la disciplina.
• 🌐 La Primera Guerra Mundial y la situación política de la época influyeron en la duración de su estancia de campo, convirtiéndose en una de las misiones de campo más largas de la historia de la antropología.
• 💭 Malinowski descubrió que las tradiciones y rituales, como el 'kula', tenían una función social y simbólica profunda, reforzando el estatus de los jefes y la prestigio, y mostrando que las sociedades indígenas eran complejas y racionales.
• 📖 Publicó 'Argonauts of the Western Pacific', donde presentó sus hallazgos y su visión de que las culturas indígenas eran sofisticadas y racionales, desafiando las nociones victorianas del 'salvaje simple'.
• 🏛 Su teoría del funcionalismo argumentaba que todas las culturas humanas tienen un propósito y que los rituales han evolucionado para satisfacer las necesidades básicas de los individuos.
• 👥 Malinowski fue un personaje complejo y contradictorio, cuyos diarios privados, publicados postumamente, revelaron su lado oscuro y sus prejuicios, lo que generó cuestionamientos sobre su legado.
• 🔄 A pesar de las controversias, su trabajo influenció profundamente la antropología y la percepción de las culturas indígenas, y su método de observación participante sigue siendo una herramienta valiosa en la investigación cultural.
• 🌟 Malinowski aspiraba a que la antropología se convirtiera en una disciplina filosófica, iluminadora y elevadora, y su legado continúa inspirando y provocando reflexión sobre la naturaleza de la cultura humana.

Q & A

¿Quién fue Bronisław Malinowski y cómo cambió su trabajo la antropología?

Bronisław Malinowski fue un antropólogo que revolucionó la disciplina al alejarse de las teorías de los 'salvajes simples' y adoptar un enfoque más participativo y observador, viviendo entre los nativos y estudiando sus costumbres de cerca.

¿Cuál fue la importancia de las islas Trobriand en la obra de Malinowski?

Las islas Trobriand fueron el lugar donde Malinowski llevó a cabo su famosa investigación participante, lo que le permitió obtener una perspectiva única y detallada sobre la vida y costumbres de sus habitantes.

¿Cómo describió Malinowski a los nativos en sus diarios privados después de su publicación en 1967?

En sus diarios privados, Malinowski se describió a sí mismo como alguien con tendencias lúdicas, arrogante, mentiroso y a veces racista, lo que contrasta con la imagen pública que había proyectado como científico objetivo.

¿Qué metodología de investigación introdujo Malinowski en la antropología?

Malinowski introdujo la metodología de la observación participante, que implica vivir entre la comunidad que se estudia y participar en su vida diaria para obtener una comprensión más profunda de su cultura.

¿Cuál fue el impacto de la Primera Guerra Mundial en las investigaciones de Malinowski?

La Primera Guerra Mundial impactó las investigaciones de Malinowski al dejarlo atrapado en las islas Trobriand por cuatro años, lo que延长了他的 estancia de campo y profundizó su investigación, aunque también lo dejó aislado de su hogar y familia.

¿Cómo describió Malinowski la cultura de los nativos en comparación con la sociedad europea de su tiempo?

Malinowski argumentó que, a pesar de las diferencias superficiales, los nativos tenían una complejidad social y cultural similar a la de la sociedad europea, con estructuras familiares y rituales que cumplían funciones esenciales en su sociedad.

¿Qué teoría presentó Malinowski sobre la función de las culturas humanas?

Malinowski presentó la teoría del funcionalismo, que sostiene que todas las culturas tienen un propósito y que cada costumbre cumple una función en la sociedad para satisfacer las necesidades básicas de los individuos.

¿Cómo cambió la publicación de los diarios privados de Malinowski la percepción de su legado en la antropología?

La publicación de los diarios privados de Malinowski generó controversia y cuestionó su reputación, ya que reveló sus propias prejuicios y falta de empatía hacia los nativos, lo que contrastaba con su imagen como pionero de una nueva perspectiva en la antropología.

¿Qué rol jugó el apego de Malinowski a la cultura británica en su vida y en su trabajo?

El apego de Malinowski a la cultura británica influenció su deseo de ser parte de la aristocracia y su enfoque en la antropología, buscando comprender y ser aceptado en una sociedad que admiraba pero también temía por su refinamiento y elegancia.

¿Cómo describió Malinowski el ritual de 'kula' y su importancia en la sociedad trobriand?

Malinowski describió el ritual de 'kula' como una red de intercambio de objetos de concha que simbolizaban poder y prestigio, y que eran esenciales para reforzar el estatus de los jefes tribales y hombres de rango.

Outlines

00:00

🧐 La revolución antropológica de Malinowski

Bronisław Malinowski es considerado uno de los más grandes antropólogos, cuya visita inicialmente breve a las islas de Papua Nueva Guinea se transformó en una estancia de cuatro años. Su inmersión en la vida de los nativos, lejos de los asentamientos coloniales, revolucionó la antropología al desafiar las nociones victorianas del 'salvaje simple'. Sin embargo, la publicación de sus diarios privados en 1967 reveló un lado oscuro del hombre, mostrando su complejidad y contradicciones.

05:01

📚 La búsqueda de aceptación y prestigio

Londres 1910, Malinowski, un joven polaco de origen humilde pero con aspiraciones altas, llega a la ciudad con la ambición de integrarse en la aristocracia británica. Fascinado por la estructura social de Inglaterra, aspiraba a ser parte de la clase alta y su inteligencia excepcional sería su principal herramienta para alcanzar su objetivo de convertirse en un eminente académico.

10:02

🌏 El estudio de antropología y la crítica a las teorías de la época

Malinowski se interesó por la antropología, una disciplina poco entendida en ese momento, que buscaba clasificar las culturas exóticas y 'bárbaras' que el Imperio Británico encontraba en su expansión. Criticó las teorías de los 'antropólogos de butaca', quienes formulaban teorías basadas en relatos de viajeros y misioneros sin una comprensión profunda de las culturas estudiadas, y decidió que la antropología necesitaba un enfoque más científico.

15:03

🤔 La introspección y la búsqueda de la verdad

Malinowski, con su meticulosa introspección y su mente científica, se propuso cambiar la antropología con un enfoque más riguroso. Su obsesiva búsqueda de la perfección y su análisis de sí mismo, combinados con su salud precaria y sus complejos, lo llevaron a ser un observador meticuloso, capaz de desentrañar los verdaderos aspectos de las culturas que estudiaba.

20:04

🌴 La vida en las islas Trobriand y la observación participante

Al llegar a las islas Trobriand, Malinowski tuvo una revelación tras observar una ceremonia llamada 'yoba', que le mostró la importancia de no confiar únicamente en lo que los nativos decían, sino en lo que él mismo observaba. Esto llevó a su técnica de observación participante, viviendo entre los nativos y aprendiendo su idioma, para comprender mejor su cultura.

25:07

💔 La soledad y el impacto emocional del trabajo de campo

La primera Guerra Mundial dejó a Malinowski atrapado en las islas, lo cual, aunque le permitió profundizar en su estudio de la cultura trobriand, también lo dejó aislado y lejos de su hogar. Esta soledad, junto con su pasión por las mujeres locales y sus conflictos internos, lo llevó a enfrentarse a su propia turbulencia emocional.

30:07

🔄 El descubrimiento del Kula y su significado

Malinowski se topó con la tradición del Kula, un intercambio de objetos de concha que parecía sin sentido a simple vista pero que, al estudiarlo en profundidad, reveló una red compleja de intercambios que reforzaba el estatus de los jefes y hombres de rango, mostrando la sofisticación y la importancia de esta práctica en la sociedad trobriand.

35:10

📖 La publicación de 'Argonauts of the Western Pacific'

Después de cuatro años de trabajo de campo, Malinowski publicó 'Argonauts of the Western Pacific', donde presentó sus hallazgos y desafió las percepciones estereotipadas de los 'salvajes', mostrando que las sociedades indígenas eran complejas y racionales, y que sus costumbres tenían una función en la sociedad.

40:10

🌐 La teoría del funcionalismo y su impacto en la antropología

Malinowski propuso el funcionalismo, una teoría que argumentaba que todas las culturas tienen un propósito y que cada costumbre cumple una función en la sociedad. Esta idea fue revolucionaria y cambió la forma en que se veía no solo a las culturas 'primitivas', sino también a la sociedad occidental.

45:11

🏆 La consolidación del método de observación participante

Malinowski estableció el método de observación participante como una práctica estándar en la antropología, lo que significó que los antropólogos debían inmersarse en la cultura que estudiaban para comprenderla plenamente. Este enfoque ha perdurado y sigue siendo fundamental en la disciplina.

50:14

💼 Malinowski y su legado en la antropología moderna

A pesar de las controversias surgidas tras la publicación de sus diarios privados, que mostraron su lado más oscuro y prejuicios, el legado de Malinowski en la antropología sigue siendo significativo. Su enfoque innovador y su contribución a la comprensión de las culturas humanas siguen siendo fundamentales en la disciplina.

Keywords

💡Antropología

Antropología es el estudio científico del ser humano en todas sus formas y desarrollo a lo largo del tiempo. En el video, la antropología se presenta como una disciplina que revoluciona nuestra comprensión de las sociedades 'salvajes' o 'primitivas', desafiando las nociones victorianas y promoviendo una visión más matizada y empática de la diversidad cultural.

💡Bronislaw Malinowski

Bronislaw Malinowski fue un antropólogo polaco que se considera el fundador de la antropología social moderna. Su trabajo de campo en las islas Trobriand y su metodología de observación participante cambiaron la forma en que se estudia a las culturas humanas, como se ilustra en el video.

💡Observación participante

La observación participante es una técnica de investigación antropológica que implica a los investigadores inmersos completamente en la cultura que están estudiando, participando en las actividades diarias y aprendiendo el idioma local. Malinowski la utilizó para obtener una comprensión más profunda de la vida trobriand, y esta metodología sigue siendo fundamental en la antropología, como se destaca en el video.

💡Kula

Kula es una práctica cultural de intercambio de objetos de concha que Malinowski estudió en las islas Trobriand. Representa un sistema de redes sociales que conecta a diferentes islas y es central para el estatus y la prestigio, como se muestra en el video.

💡Funcionalismo

El funcionalismo es una teoría antropológica que Malinowski desarrolló, argumentando que todas las costumbres y rituales de una cultura tienen una función social y sirven para satisfacer las necesidades básicas de los individuos. El video muestra cómo este enfoque cambió la forma en que se veían las culturas 'primitivas', presentándolas como sistemas igualmente complejos que el nuestro.

💡Victoriano

El término 'victoriano' se refiere al período de la historia durante el reinado de la Reina Victoria, conocido por sus rígidas normas sociales y la expansión del Imperio Británico. En el video, la antropología victoriana es criticada por su enfoque superficial y prejuicioso hacia las culturas no europeas, a diferencia de la nueva perspectiva que Malinowski introdujo.

💡Diarios privados

Los diarios privados de Malinowski, publicados póstumamente, revelaron un lado oscuro de su personalidad, con expresiones de racismo y otros prejuicios que contrastan con su imagen pública. El video menciona cómo estos diarios han generado debate sobre su legado y la objetividad de su trabajo en antropología.

💡Cultural relativismo

El cultural relativismo es la idea de que las creencias, prácticas y valores de una cultura deben ser evaluados en términos de su propia cultura y no de otra. El video sugiere que Malinowski, a pesar de sus prejuicios personales, contribuyó al desarrollo de esta perspectiva al mostrar la sofisticación y la lógica de las culturas que estudió.

💡Trobriand Islands

Las islas Trobriand son un archipiélago en Papua Nueva Guinea donde Malinowski realizó su famoso estudio de campo. El video narra cómo su tiempo en estas islas, originalmente planeado como una visita corta, se convirtió en una estancia prolongada que permitió una inmersión completa en la cultura local.

💡Armchair anthropology

La 'antropología de butaca' es un término utilizado en el video para describir el enfoque antropológico de la época victoriana, donde los antropólogos formulaban teorías basadas en informes de otros sin realizar fieldwork. Malinowski desafió esta práctica con su enfoque de observación directa y su metodología de inmersión total.

Highlights

Bronislaw Malinowski's fieldwork in Papua New Guinea revolutionized anthropology by challenging Victorian notions of 'savages'.

Malinowski lived among the natives, departing from the colonial settlements, to gain a deeper understanding of their culture.

His work overturned the simplistic view of 'primitive' societies, showing them as complex and rational like Western societies.

Malinowski's private diaries, published in 1967, revealed a more complex and controversial side of him, including instances of racism and arrogance.

He was driven by a desire for acceptance and prestige, aiming to be part of the British upper class.

Malinowski's scientific background in maths and physics equipped him with the rigor needed to transform anthropology.

His fieldwork in the Trobriand Islands led to the development of the 'participant observation' method, a cornerstone of modern anthropology.

Malinowski's study of the Kula exchange system demonstrated the social and economic significance of seemingly trivial customs.

His work showed that the Trobrianders were not 'savages' but sophisticated beings with complex social structures.

Malinowski's theory of functionalism proposed that all cultural practices serve a purpose and function in society.

He believed that understanding different cultures could help reflect on and improve our own society.

Malinowski's personal struggles, including his mother's death, affected his work and emotional state during his fieldwork.

His work in anthropology was not just academic but also deeply personal, reflecting his own introspective nature and desire for perfection.

Malinowski's influence extended beyond his lifetime, shaping the field of anthropology and its methods.

The publication of his diaries sparked debates about the ethical implications of anthropological research and the personal biases of researchers.

Malinowski's legacy includes not only his contributions to anthropology but also the challenges his personal diaries pose to his scholarly image.

Transcripts

the story of bronislav malinowski is one

of the greatest tales in anthropology

almost a hundred years ago his short

visit to some remote islands of papua

new guinea turned into a four year

odyssey

here malinowski started a revolution in

anthropology

he left behind the colonial settlements

to live cheek by jowl with the natives

his experience would overturn the

victorian notion of the simple savage

and transform the way we look at our own

society

but with the publication of his private

diaries in 1967

a complex truth about the man began to

come out

who really was malinowski

and what drove him to become the founder

and hero of modern social anthropology

[Music]

in 1942 at yale university some battered

notebooks were found on top of a

cupboard

they were the private diaries of

bronislav malinowski

the man who founded modern social

anthropology

for a further 25 years these diaries

were a closely guarded secret

until 1967 when their publications sent

shockwaves through the world of

anthropology

[Music]

his attitude was

rather unpleasant and rather superior

and not an ideal model for younger

anthropologists

the diaries from this hero

was shown to have feet of clay to be a

lustful

indiscreet arrogant

lying

racist at times

he was all the things that he that they

wished he wasn't

the diaries laid bare the dark side of a

revered academic figure

this film reveals a man driven close to

the edge of reason in his passionate

pursuit not only of a new science but of

his own power and prestige

[Music]

london 1910

the bustling hub of the british empire

and the greatest city in the world

that march a poor but well-born young

pole arrived and fell in love

[Music]

my anglo-mania has become something more

akin to a mystic cult worshiping at the

altar of british culture

[Music]

fascinated by england's social structure

malinowski desired to be part of the

upper classes

i both admire and fear the english way

of life

it's elegance and

refinement

indeed

they are the very aristocracy of the

nations

a highly superior nation where one is

only tolerated if one is amusing

[Music]

his surviving daughter and

great-grandson bear out his desire for

acceptance

there's a photograph of him at the

dinner party and he's obviously very

pleased that he's with sir thingamy and

lord whatnot and the duchess of blah and

[Music]

who's to blame him

you okay well you're an american you

can't help yourself

[Music]

without personal wealth to help him on

his way malinowski would have to rely on

the one thing he did have

brains

[Music]

i am determined that i shall be accepted

into this aristocracy

and the one thing i have to profit is my

extraordinary intellect

is this that will make me important

i shall be an eminent scholar

what do you think

[Music]

his brains took him to the london school

of economics where he plumped for the

little understood subject of

anthropology

it means literally the study of man

[Music]

as the british empire expanded it

encountered a world of mysterious tribes

cannibals and curious traditions

the victorians wanted to find a way of

classifying these bizarre and exotic

cultures

collecting objects was part of that

process of making sense of human variety

and the different objects that people

made and used were

indicative in many ways of the sorts of

societies that they had

to victorians the people who made these

objects appeared savage

and what's more these savages performed

magic tattooed their bodies and even

practiced promiscuous sex

their lifestyle sent decent victorian

folk into a spin of moral panic and

terror

and the popular mind a savage was

someone who was at the mercy of their

emotions

wasn't fully in control of the of their

rational thought and therefore were sort

of blown hither and neither by changing

emotional forms

[Music]

right at the heart of the notion of

savagery were both sex and violence

basically

[Music]

the study of these savages and

everything they did was anthropology

its experts were respectable gentlemen

who considered the savage was best

studied from a safe distance

these were known as armchair

anthropologists

people who lived in places like

london oxford new york and and either

didn't travel very much themselves or

didn't travel at all

and what they did was often by writing

letters

was to get a whole series of accounts

from travellers and colonial officials

missionaries around the world about the

customs of the people that they were in

contact with

[Music]

perusing these reports in their

armchairs they formulated a theory on

savage life

the usual idea was

that these people

were so-called primitive people they

were more or less equivalent to the most

ancient of our own ancestors

and so they must represent something

which is the opposite of ourselves

if we are monogamous they must be

promiscuous

if we live in homes they must be nomadic

um

if we are rational people believing all

sorts of rational things they just are

completely enthralled to superstition

believing

um so they are the opposite of ourselves

however we imagine ourselves

off on the trek into the heart of the

never never the expedition is nearing

the country inhabited by the real bad

men of australia wild blacks who have

never seen a flight three historic

beings sprung from a race said to be 500

000 years old

savages seem to be a throwback to a

prehistoric past

and their primitive societies the relics

of man's march towards civilization

almost always it was australian

aboriginal people were seen to be at the

bottom of the the ladder of evolution

and then there were chiefly societies

people like the tahitians and so on who

were part way up and then came the state

societies of the chinese

and then laughable to us a little bit

further up were other european nations

like the italians who are said to be a

bit sort of irrational and emotional and

of course right at the pinnacle of of

evolution where the good old rational

[Music]

in 1910 when malinowski began to study

anthropology it was the australian

aborigines that were under particular

scrutiny

reports told of promiscuity and multiple

sexual partners

it was the aborigines apparent lack of

any family structure that confirmed

their place at the base of social

evolution

but malinowski wasn't impressed with

this conclusion

everyone acquainted with ethnographic

information in general and

that of australia and its aborigines in

particular

knows how ambiguous and confused it is

on nearly every point

keen to get ahead in his new line of

work malinowski took a thorough look at

all the data on aboriginal family life

he looks at all this material at the

australian material he looks at censuses

he looks at photographs

he um looks at descriptions of who are

interacting with whom in the villages

and his research led him to a radically

different conclusion

[Music]

he says well look whatever these people

are telling you

it's quite clear that they are living in

something very much like what we would

call families you have a man with one or

two sometimes three women whom he's

living with on long-term basis

over whom he has more or less exclusive

rights of various kinds including sexual

rights

their children are very close to him

they live together in one

or two adjoining huts they cook together

they eat together well that's a family

it looks like a family it talks about

some family even if it doesn't call

itself a family

this initial research confirmed his view

that anthropology was riddled with

prejudices and lacked rigor

malinowski was one of those who

concluded that anthropology needed a

strong dose of scientific discipline

and with a degree in maths and physics

he had exactly the right credentials

the work of scientifically trained

observers

like myself

once seriously applied to anthropology

will yield results of surpassing value

so far it has been done solely by

amateurs

and therefore done on the whole

indifferently

[Music]

not only was malinowski a scientist

but his peculiarly obsessive personality

was ideally suited to the task ahead

[Music]

malinowski's life was one long struggle

for personal perfection both mentally

and physically

particularly from reading the diaries i

i thought

that he had this really introspective

side where he was i mean i thought his

diary

i think he saw it as a tool he was a

perfectionist for himself yeah yes yeah

he wished to make his life perfect if he

could

he meticulously scrutinized every aspect

of himself

with me the extremism in self-analysis

is pathological

and it leads towards a morbid

exaggeration

first there was his alarmist obsession

with health

he's such a hypochondriac

pill bottles everywhere do you think

that comes from

being sick as a child i think he was

born

born hypochondriac perhaps it's around

one word but it's possible

you know he's he's obviously a sensitive

being you know

putting it mildly

his nervous disposition was so extreme

that malinovsky relied on the somewhat

dubious panacea of the time

regular injections of arsenic

there were also the intricacies of

malinowski's complex mind

there is a craving in me for the

sensational for the abnormal

i suspect ill of others

and imagine dreadful possibilities

he says on one occasion

is i have a fear of pointed objects

sticker phobia i call it

and fur he didn't like

touching fur coats or anything like that

velvet

and anything slippery mud

several times a day he'd rub his hands

with hot water and soap

in short

i suffer from a mania of paranoia and

persecution

and all this was hand in hand with my

poor health and my bad nerves

that perhaps the one feeds upon the

other

malinowski's obsessive analysis of

himself

combined with his scientific mind would

make him the man that could change

anthropology

[Music]

by 1914 the more forward thinking of the

profession were keen on their students

taking the equivalent of an

anthropological gap year

[Music]

for malinovsky this consisted of a grand

tour of australia and its remote

territories

[Music]

leaving behind his beloved mother he set

off on a busy schedule with many

stop-offs

after three months malinowski reached

papua new guinea

[Music]

even today it is a wild looking land of

jungle swamp and mysterious cultures

popular imagination i suppose pepper was

a

was a dark

cannibal ridden

a savage place

i mean a real redoubt of savages

the government was forced saying how

difficult it was you know to pacify this

place

travel writers were reporting on it as

being a rather malaria-ridden

unhealthy place for europeans but

fascinating with these colorful customs

and colorful natives

this dark place was the essence of all

things primitive and a dream come true

for the young anthropologist

but being a sickly self-obsessed

hypochondriac papua new guinea was also

malinowski's own private hell

he knew he was entering into a dangerous

place what word am i thinking more than

anything else was the heat

i have a strong fear of the tropics and

abhorrence of

heat saltiness

over text heart nervousness

there is taste in my mouth and pain

behind my eyes i think i may vomit if i

do i'm sure it is tuberculosis

now perhaps the lack of exercise is at

the root of this condition

or the thin food

i must get more exercise especially in

the morning

and in the evening

arsenic is indispensable but i must not

exaggerate the queening

also a somewhat congested nose and

throat

i'm beginning to believe the hypothesis

that i'm about to die

[Music]

malinowski was expected to tour around

studying a number of different tribes

but off the east coast of papua on the

far-flung archipelago of the trobriand

islands he came to a crucial realization

it was an insight that would help him

transform anthropology

early one morning malinowski joined the

local islanders to watch an ancient

custom

the natives had told him that this was a

sacred ceremony called yoba

with drums and chants they send the

spirits of their ancestors called the

baloma back to a sacred afterworld

the natives reports seem to suggest that

yoba was a solemn occasion which

everyone took very seriously

but that's not what malinowski saw

the priest directing the ritual

is on his own in a corner muttering away

the prayers

and incantations that he's been told and

most of the people are not paying the

blind

blind bit of attention to him

[Music]

everybody just walked off

the only ones left to chase off the

baloma were myself five or six urchins

and ginger the cook and very undignified

we were too

they're chattering away

laughing they're looking after their

children and he says there are a whole

lot of children whosing around small

boys making a big fuss terribly

overexcited

yoga is undoubtedly important but

in its performance it bears no trace of

sanctity or solemnity it was not so much

a religious proceeding

it was a party

the reality he observed bore no relation

to the reports he'd heard of natives

being in awe of the ancient spirits

it was a critical moment for malinowski

i suddenly realized with astounding

clarity

that to understand people you cannot

rely upon what they say they do

instead you must rely upon yourself

watching and seeing

what they do

you realize that people tell you one

thing but do something else not because

they're lying to you

but they're just like a football player

who's giving who tells you explains the

rules of football to you

but isn't really giving you an insight

into how he plays football or into the

tactics and strategy which he probably

can't articulate very well but which can

act out for you which you can see in

action

malinowski realized that anthropology's

tradition of relying only on what other

people say was shockingly flawed

if he was going to fully understand

trobriand culture he would have to get

much closer to native life

[Music]

so instead of traveling on malinowski

decided to stay in the trobriand islands

he gave up his lodgings with the local

colonists and pitched a tent in a

village right amongst the natives

[Music]

malinowski decides to come down from the

veranda go into the village and pitch

his tent there and it's so important

that because

he wanted to move away from the idea of

just having locals come to him to answer

his set of questions a questionnaire

framed in terms of his categories his

understandings his priorities

malinowski wasn't just moving in he

would immerse himself in every detail of

trobriand life in order to get to the

truth about their native culture

as the natives see me every day they

stop being interested or alarmed or even

self-conscious in my presence

i have become part and parcel of their

life

a necessary evil mitigated by regular

donations of tobacco

by living with the natives and taking

part in village life

i am learning the natives point of view

his relation to life and thereby his

vision of the world

from now on malinowski wouldn't be a

mere observer by learning the local

language he would become a participant

observer

malinowski was good at participant

observation because he was such a

determined dog-eared character i think

he realized during his field work that

this was the way forward that he had a

revolutionary technique on his hands

this is going to change anthropology

forever it's going to set a completely

new precedent

[Music]

but what he didn't yet realize was that

he'd also started his own personal

odyssey events conspired to make this

one of the longest field trips ever

[Music]

in 1914 world war one broke out

the british empire was at war with

germany

and what changes things from asking is

this accident being caught in australia

during world war one i and it's really

an extraordinary moment

with europe in chaos his camping trip

would last longer than a few months

apart from the odd trip to australia

malinowski now felt abandoned alone in

the jungle with only the so-called

savages for company

the sun is almost

dipping into the perfectly still lagoon

the woman next door has begun her

wailing

and it is also inexpressibly sad in its

remoteness and detachment from my life

[Music]

i am stranded here

far from all that makes life bearable

[Music]

it is as if i have no place to return to

but there was an upside

forced isolation would allow him time to

really uncover the truth about trobrian

culture

and soon he was getting very close to

the natives indeed

[Music]

a pretty finely built girl walked ahead

of me

i watched the muscles of her back

her figure her legs and the beauty of

her body so hidden to us why it's

fascinated me

at times

i was sorry i was not a savage and could

not possess this little animal

[Music]

for a man who prided himself on

objective precision in his work

malinowski's love life was a chaotic

shambles

[Music]

he would

feel

great gusts of passion and he'd be

jealous at the slightest hint of any

infidelity

very very powerful infatuation screwball

like crushes if you like

he fell in love with every woman i'm

always thinking this is the one yeah i

mean you know the way he writes about

each woman you know i mean you know this

passion and but then there's you know

so many of them you know which one am i

talking about today

you know and at the same time

it's like this mix of being a complete

sort of lecherous yes uh fool and

this romantic people know

you know deeply feels every relationship

this man filmed in the 70s remembered

malinowski's stay in his village

whatever actually happened his gusts of

passion were met with equal gusts of

remorse

even when visiting australia where he

had two girlfriends including his

fiancee elsie he couldn't keep his eyes

off a third

i sat up with one of the older women

she is not stupid but neither is she

cultured

however i found myself

undressing her in my mind and

calculating how long it would take me to

bed her

in short

i betrayed elsie in my mind

and as for mother

i cannot bear to think of her missing me

i am appalled by my lack of moral fiber

my own death would be the best way out

of this model

despite this inner turmoil his work of

participant observation was about to pay

off

six months after arriving malinowski

began to study an ancient tradition that

really intrigued him

he noted that every few months islanders

would build fleets of elaborately

decorated canoes as part of a tradition

known as kula

[Music]

for cooler they set out on voyages

leaving behind friends and family for

months at a time

[Music]

and cooler voyages from neighboring

islands would be awaited with great

anticipation

what you would see over the horizon

these tiny tiny canoes

converging until there might be 60 or 80

or possibly a hundred

you'll suddenly see people on the island

start going into the sea

to meet these canoes and as the canoes

come nearer the people going into the

sea will recognize

individuals on the canoes

[Music]

cooler visitors were treated to great

feasts attracting hundreds of locals to

these celebrations

[Music]

particularly striking were the risks the

islanders were prepared to take for

cooler

as malinowski himself discovered late

one night sailing between islands

we passed very close by a coral island

the sea

smashing against the rocks the islanders

were all shouting trying to control the

craft i was terrified

i started to think of elsie sleeping

peacefully and that i might never see

her again

once the crews of a whole fleet of

trobriant canoes were captured killed

and eaten by the inhabitants of unknown

villages and let's not forget the petals

of simply sailing these seas

the reefs sand banks and coral rocks

waiting to smash the fragile canoes

the horror of it

all in the pursuit of kula

these islanders it seemed risked

everything for cooler

and strangest of all the reward for

these perilous journeys was the exchange

of flimsy shell trinkets

cooler was time consuming and dangerous

all for something that seemed apparently

pointless

malinowski made it his goal to discover

what it was about cooler that was worth

risking your life for

over the following months he explored

cooler from every angle

he questioned the locals

watched the rituals

and tried to make sense of it all

gradually the secrets of cooler began to

unfold

there is such

nonchalance in the men arriving for kura

a nonchalance in the old men receiving

them

they come they sit on the canoe they

chatter and

haggle give in

i eat my rice and kippers and read my

kipling

we talk some more

and gradually i managed to drag out the

information i'm after

the information that he dragged out of

the locals revealed a complex and

sophisticated

ritual first there were the people who

took part

[Music]

only important

men could could actually afford to go on

a cola expedition partly because this

meant commissioning a commissioning a

canoe so it meant some sort of outplay

malinowski soon discovered that cooler

was almost exclusive to the tribal

chiefs and men of rank

these vips were connected by cooler to a

social network that reached far beyond

the trobriand islands

and at the heart of cooler were the

shell trinkets

in order to establish relationships with

other people

you have to sub relationships with

something

and these valuables

are the means through which you

establish relationships

and this means

that people go on large expeditions to

go and fetch valuables from elsewhere

they receive people who bring valuables

to them and the result is if you if you

link up all these relationships suddenly

you find you're in a huge chain

of relationships and this chain of

relationships actually spreads

across a large island

area

malinowski uncovered a complex network

of cooler exchange

covering 12 island groups spanning 200

miles of ocean

he also discovered why the shell

necklaces and bracelets were so highly

prized

each one had a value that came from its

unique history as it passed from person

to person

and from island to island

the value of each object lay in the

renown of its former owners

this is a history of relationships and

what he wants to know is who has had

this before

and to whom he's going to and when he

passes it on his his own name will in a

sense

be part of the history

of of the item

so these weren't simply shell trinkets

each chain of shells was a potent symbol

of power and prestige

malinowski's participant observation had

revealed that far from being pointless

cooler played a vital role in trobrian

society reinforcing the status of the

rich and famous

this is quite a ranked society

and poorer people simply didn't enter

into the kula exchanges so this was

renown and prestige that were there for

those who already had renown and

prestige

i mean sounds familiar

and like a trophy one in battle owning a

piece of cooler

made you a hero

living with the natives for two years

had paid off

malinowski had revealed that an

apparently meaningless native custom

was in reality significant and crucial

to trobrian society

but his discovery came at some personal

cost

on the 11th of june 1918 after four

years away from home

malinovsky received bad news

his beloved mother had died

do not know how i should live through

the immediate future

my life has changed completely

i am cutting through it

the link between my past and my presence

is broken

my life will be forever incomplete

and he stopped writing his diary

he went crying into the bushes

this was a sort of heart of darkness for

him

[Music]

i am alone

[Music]

my heart is pierced with grief now that

mother has gone

everything is now permeated with her

i know i have a

void a black abyss in my soul

all i desire is to die

to go to mother

to join her

in nothingness

[Applause]

deliverance came in november 1918.

the war was over

malinowski could at last return to

europe

[Applause]

in 1922 malinowski published his field

work

argonauts of the western pacific

his detailed descriptions revealed a

fresh perspective of the natives

his message is

they might look very different they

might live in a better climate they

might have more interesting sex lives

but they're very like you and me

[Music]

into his world dominated by class

imperialism and crude racial stereotypes

malinowski introduced the radical idea

that these savages were in fact

sophisticated and rational human beings

the islanders are just like us

conniving

manipulative

industrious

like any viennese businessman

and the constitution of the tribe is

subject to a strict code of behavior and

social niceties

in comparison with which

life at the court of versailles would

seem free and easy

[Music]

is giving a real breathing talking

plausible human being

in place of this old stereotype savage

is just the opposite of what you are

and this plausible human being at

malinowski he's giving you it's not

somebody you admire particularly

necessary any more than you admire your

next-door neighbor but you you recognize

him

i can see what he's up to i can

understand it makes sense to me

because he's rather like me in many ways

[Music]

not only were trobrianders just like us

but behind the apparent strange native

customs their societies were every bit

as complex as our own

[Music]

when i returned to europe i visited

edinburgh castle and was shown the crown

jewels

the curator told stories about how

they'd been worn by this or that king on

such and such an occasion

and as i was looking at them

and thinking how intrinsically tawdry

they were

i had the feeling something similar had

been told me of late

and suddenly there rose before my eyes

the image of a native village on coral

soil and of a brown naked man showing me

long red strings and

worn out objects greasy to the touch and

these strawberry and vegua valuables

are cherished and revered in exactly the

same way as those crown jewels purely

for the historical sentiment that

surrounds them

and malinowski went further

just as cooler shells were equivalent to

our crown jewels

acquiring them was equal to our heroic

sporting victories

[Applause]

and he believed these cultural

similarities applied right across the

globe

shamanism and magic were similar to our

grand religions

maori tattoos were like medals of

achievement

malinowski was very clever because what

he did in a way was he civilized the

savage and savage the civilized

he showed that that they weren't

irrational that they just had different

cultural rules to ours

to many what malinowski was proposing

was nothing short of revolutionary

humanity was the same the world over

and he thought he could reveal why with

a big new idea in anthropology

[Music]

malinowski believed that he'd discovered

the engine that drove all human cultures

and that engine could be found right at

the heart of all of us

what is the deepest essence of my

investigations

the discovery of the native's passions

his motives his aims his essential way

of thinking

and it is at this point that i am

confronted with my own problems

my self-analysis leads me to ask

what is essential in me

he said that everybody everywhere is

driven by the same passions

hunger

fear

vanity

sex

what he began to propose was that all

human cultures had a purpose

every custom could be interpreted as

serving a function in society

and that rituals have evolved to satisfy

our basic needs

he called his theory functionalism

it could be applied to all societies

however sophisticated or apparently

primitive

[Music]

and when malinowski's functionalism was

applied to our own society it promised a

whole new way of seeing our familiar

world

[Music]

today sophie is four years old

she's having a birthday party

[Music]

at first sight a toddler's birthday

party is just about the toddlers it's

all of them having fun and it's about

and it's about gift-giving

in fact there is a deeper social

function to sophie's party

[Music]

in fact of course if you look at it

there's a lot more going on as who's

really inviting home

and there are very clear decisions as to

who is being invited on what basis

[Music]

there's a sense of social obligation if

you have a group of mothers who have

been invited to a toddler's party well

they should feel obliged to invite that

toddler back to theirs

[Music]

malinowski is pointing out how

culturally constituted are so many of

the activities and the ways in which we

live which we would otherwise think are

just purely natural it's the way we do

things

by unraveling different cultures

malinowski had made us reflect more

objectively upon ourselves and our own

society

are we so superior are we so different

don't we just have a large number of

cultural rules by which we order our

society it's just that we start off on

different premises

by 1927 only nine years after leaving

the trobrians

the charismatic young professor was

leading his own department at lse

brilliant autocratic and temperamental

malinowski had a dramatic impact on all

those who came under his spell

people i knew who his students all the

men

hated him

argued with him

but were obsessed with him

the women loved him without exception

all his women students adored him

he used his influence to revolutionize

anthropology

from now on malinowski introduced

the new apprenticeship announcement you

couldn't be an anthropologist in britain

after malinowski without going and doing

a year or two years as a participant of

a observer learning the language in some

pretty exotic part of the world it

became

the initiation ceremony without which

you were never going to be a

professional

and a whole generation of his disciples

spread out across the world promoting

this new anthropology

[Music]

with his success malinowski had finally

finished off victorian anthropology

after malinowski

there was no more of the old armchair

anthropology in british as

it really was like turning a switch that

was the end of this in britain

[Music]

kate fox is a modern day anthropologist

like malinowski she is a participant

observer relying on total immersion in

another culture

traditionally anthropologists are

supposed to do their research like

malinowski did in sort of remote

uncomfortable places with lots of dirt

and dysentery and malaria and mud huts

and so on and i have a bit of a problem

with that because i have sort of

pathetic wimpish aversion to all that

dirt and dysentery and

horrible

killer insects and primitive sanitation

and so on i like to do my research in

cultures with indoor plumbing and where

you can

get a glass of champagne or a decent cup

of tea and do a bit of retail therapy

when the natives start getting on your

nerves that kind of thing

so malinowski would not approve

but anyway participant observation

method is the same wherever you use it

um and essentially i do

in this culture exactly what malinowski

was doing in the tropius

for three years kate visited the horse

races living with the racing tribe

she has faced many of the same problems

that malinowski confronted when he

arrived in the trobriand islands

i think everything about this tribe

confused me at the beginning

you know you walk in here through the

gates you don't know what's going on

everyone is apparently milling about you

know in no particular

with no structure no form to it and you

have no idea what's going on

but certain rules gradually became clear

the sort of tribal

greeting introduction ritual

um i actually that you find out very

quickly you know if you go to the races

you'll find it out your first time the

races i did

the rule is essentially the unwritten

rule is that anyone can basically go up

to anyone and say what do you fancy in

the next it's a kind of standard it's a

bit like the english say oh nice day

isn't it or make some comment on the web

whether we all know that that's a

conversation starter it's not a sort of

request for meteorological data and when

you say to someone at the races what do

you fancy in the 230 you're not really

asking about the horses in the in that

particular race you're saying i'd like

to talk to you will you talk to me and

the response is almost invariably yes

the more she stayed and watched the more

secrets she discovered

at first there seemed to be a formal

tribal hierarchy

stewards and officials were the tribal

chiefs and elders

they set the rules

horse trainers credited with performing

miracles if a horse won were the revered

shamans and witch doctors

but she noticed that at the bottom of

the pile the tribal structure didn't

quite match what she'd heard from the

natives

people would tell me that jockeys you

know are a lower

rank of citizens because you know they

touch their caps when they come in

you'll notice when they come into the

parade ring they touch the cat

to the owner and the trainer

but as kate was watching the small men

in their bright silks a different

picture started to emerge

you see i've been told that jockeys were

you know kind of servants you know that

they were the lowest rung of the sort of

owner trainer jockey hierarchy

um

but actually when you watch them come in

you know they look well aware of their

exalted status you know they're sort of

twirling their

whips and doing this kind of fanfare

announcing their arrival

the owners and trainers immediately all

their attention is focused

on the jockey if you look at people's

feet all the feet are always pointing

towards the jockey

feet are the most honest part of our

body because we're not aware of what

we're signaling and the owners are kind

of leaning down to catch the sort of

pearls of wisdom and actually the jockey

is mostly sort of uttering you know

non-threatening diplomatic platitudes um

but but you know his audience is

riveted participant observation revealed

jockeys were respected and admired

despite the formal racing hierarchy

in this tribe

they are if you like the equivalent of

the young warriors the young braves

a very special elite group

although they hold no formal political

power their talents have a higher value

than wealth or official authority

80 years since malinowski invented

participant observation it still has the

power to reveal fresh insights into

human culture

[Applause]

i mean this is essentially i think my

malinowski is right and you do have to

spend a lot of time

because it's not until you've kind of

hung out and wandered around you know

for

quite a lot a lot of time before you

realize you start to see the patterns

in what's happening in the behavior

um

and that there isn't a particular

technique for doing that it's just

hanging out um

i think someone's called it anthropology

or participant observation deep hanging

out

and i quite like that term because

that's that's exactly what it is you're

hanging out but it's a bit more than

that

participant observation is malinowski's

greatest legacy to anthropology

you see

i relied not only on what these savages

said they did

but on observing exactly what they did

and there lies the essence of my work

[Music]

malinowski's work brought him the status

and glory he'd craved for so desperately

all his life

and earned him professorships in britain

and america

[Music]

bronislav malinowski

died an establishment figure in 1942

founder and hero of modern social

anthropology

then in 1967

came something that brought malinowski's

reputation into question

his personal diaries were published

the man who'd elevated our understanding

of native cultures seem to be every bit

as prejudiced as the victorian

anthropology he'd so criticized

last night i looked in vain for the

fellows from my boat

and again this morning

nowhere to be seen

suddenly i am driven into a state of

white rage and hatred for bronze colored

skin

some believe these outbursts severely

tarnish malinowski's reputation

when i first read the diaries i was

shocked by the attitude that malinowski

reveals they contain a very damaging

picture i think still but particularly

at the time of malinowski's personality

on one occasion i made a joke

and one of the bloody [ __ ] made a

disapproving remark how dare he

how dare he talk to me in such a manner

how dare he a [ __ ] find something in

me to disapprove of

why spend your whole life

writing books and

finding a discipline

if you are not interested in the people

you're meant to be studying

those who support malinowski

point out that it isn't only the natives

that he insults

another way of looking at it which is to

say malinowski

is angry at all sorts of people

and very intemperate

about the australian administrators

about his colleagues about some of his

friends everybody is attacked and above

all about himself

nobody is criticized more

fully and openly and completely than

himself so malnowski's use of

intemperate language

is universal

but perhaps his diaries reveal a truth

at the heart of all anthropology

for all his attempts at scientific

objectivity malinowski was like every

one of us a prisoner of his own time and

culture with all its prejudices

malinowski would no doubt be gratified

to know that he continues both to

intrigue and outrage

but one thing of which he was certain

was his great significance and

contribution to posterity

he really did believe

that he was profit of a whole new way of

thinking about human beings he sometimes

called it the new humanism

he really did feel this was terribly

important for humanity for this new

thing

and a lot of his students believed it

too

and they were it was very exciting

[Music]

because of my work

the study of anthropology

so often mistaken for mere hunting after

curious

or a ramble through the savage shapes of

barbara's custom

crude superstition

anthropology might become one of the

most

deeply philosophic enlightening and

elevating disciplines of scientific

research

you