63 pages • 2 hours read
Argonauts of the Western Pacific: An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea (1922)
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Introduction-Chapter 3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Introduction Summary: “The Subject, Method and Scope of This Enquiry”
The Introduction presents Malinowski’s methods and the topic of the ethnography. In the Trobriand archipelago off the coast of New Guinea, excellent seafarers trade goods along established routes and engage in the Kula, a complex trade system of gifts steeped in magic and tradition. When he first arrives, he struggles to understand Trobriand culture. He studies native technology and tools, and later moves to more quantitative data collection. However, he remarks that this information remains “dead material” and gives no “understanding of any real native mentality or behavior” because he cannot get a “native interpretation” of the information or “the hang of tribal life” (4).
Once alone, Malinowski learns the “secrets” of good fieldwork. First, the ethnographer must live without other outsiders in the studied culture. This allows them to observe ordinary aspects of daily life and eventually to get the “feel” of the culture. Second, one must “possess real scientific aims and know the values and criteria of modern ethnography” (11), which he details later in the chapter. Third, he must use special methods of recording data, including recording objective information on every aspect of life in “charts or synoptic tables” (11). He calls this the “method of statistic documentation by concrete evidence” (11).
Only with these “scientific aims” can ethnology be considered a reputable science and produce accurate results. Ethnographers must clearly distinguish fact from inference in their works and clearly explain their methods. They must give “a complete survey of the phenomena” by recording even very mundane details and avoid “picking out the sensational” (8). This “scientific” approach has shown that natives have rules and customs that govern their behavior. Malinowski remarks that “Ethnology has introduced law and order into what seemed chaotic and freakish” (7) and has transformed for the white observer the “sensational, wild, and unaccountable world of ‘savages’ into a number of well-ordered communities” (7).
While recording facts is of the utmost importance to Malinowski, he also adds that the ethnographer must also attempt to “[penetrate] the mental attitude expressed in them” (14), which is only possible through cultural immersion. He adds that the ethnographer must be attuned to the intimate details of daily life and above all urges the ethnographer to “find out the typical ways of thinking and feeling, corresponding to the institutions and culture of a given community” (17).
Malinowski outlines the three avenues to the “Goal of ethnographic fieldwork,” which is “briefly, to grasp the native’s point of view, his relation to life, to realise his vision of his world” (19). First, the “organization of the tribe and anatomy of its culture” must be clearly outlined through “concrete, statistical documentation” (18). Second, using the “frame” developed by the first, the “imponderabilia of actual life” and “type of behavior” must be made sense of. This is possible only through close prolonged contact. Third, “documents of native mentality” must be collected, such as folklore, magic, and “characteristic narratives” (19). Finally, Malinowski suggests that in reading his account, the reader may feel a sense of “solidarity” (19) with the Trobrianders and, in understanding them, gain insight into their own nature.
Chapter 1 Summary: “The Country and Inhabitants of the Kula District”
Chapter 1 takes us on a boat tour of the Kula district and introduces us to its inhabitants. The tribes who trade within the Kula belong largely to the same ethnic group and live in the eastern part of New Guinea’s mainland and on islands to the east. The book concerns various tribes in this area, which is collectively called the Massim.
We begin on the Mainland in the Southern Massim, near Orangerie Bay, where small picturesque hamlets are tucked into lush trees. The inhabitants of this area are short, fair-skinned, “shy and diffident but not unfriendly” (28), and efficient and industrious manufacturers. The society is matrilineal, with lax rules around sex. They own large canoes that they import from the Northern Massim District.
We move to the Dobu District, a densely populated center of cultural influence, with Dobuan being the lingua franca of all Kula participants. Dobuans are the “general favourites of the whites” and “form the best and most reliable servants” (32). Sorcery here is practiced by women as well as men, and flying witches are feared. Unlike other parts of the Massim, sex rules are fairly strict.
We pass Ferguson island, a volcanic island with villages that are important for trade. Then we reach the island of Sanaroa, where valuable spondylus shells are harvested. We reach the islands of Gumawana and Ome’a in the Amphlett Archipelago, where villages are built on “a narrow strip of foreshore” (36). These tribes, though small in population, are the “monopolists” in the Kula. (36). They make pottery and are “inhospitable and greedy” (36). The pottery is made by women, who have influence here and are important for garden magic.
Chapter 2 Summary: “The Natives of the Trobriand Islands”
We head north to the flat, coral Trobriand Islands, where Malinowski conducted most of his fieldwork. This district is often called by its native name, Boyowa. The language spoken here is Kiriwinian. The village is the main sociological unit. Trobrianders go to war, perform ceremonies, and trade as a village unit. Consensus-based decisions are made by a council of village elders.
Trobriand society is matriarchal. A child belongs to the clan and village community of the mother, and wealth and social position are inherited from maternal uncle to nephew. Women do not serve on the men’s tribal council but play important roles, for instance in gardens.
Space permitting, villages are built in concentric circles with an open space at the center for ceremonies. Surrounding this are yam houses, raised on stilts and decorated with ornamental boards. In a circle around the yam houses are dwellings, each housing a single family of man, woman, and their young children. Two to six teenagers live in each “bachelor’s house” (43).
Each year, about one-fifth of the island is cultivated with yam, taro, and sugarcane. The garden magician, always male, performs rituals for every stage of gardening and acts as garden manager. Therefore, he directs both the work of humans and directs nature through his magic. Magic is a “systematizing, regulating, and controlling influence” (46) in the gardens.
Malinowski refutes the myth of the savage as “primitive economic man” who acts only in “rational self-interest” (46) with the example of Trobriand islanders, who work “prompted by highly complex, social, and traditional nature” (46). From a utilitarian perspective, the energy Trobrianders spend on garden work is superfluous, even resulting in surplus crops. However, working hard in the garden earns social status, fulfilling a social end as opposed to a purely economic one.
Trobriand society is stratified, with the chief at the top. When a chief is present, everyone else must be physically lower than him. This level of deference is uncommon in the region, but the chief’s authority is largely symbolic. However, when he is of a high-ranking clan, he has more power. The four totemic clans are divided into sub-clans that vary in social rank. Members of a sub-clan claim common descent from one ancestress, often a geographical entity like a coral outcrop or cave. Each clan has a headman. The high-ranking headman’s influence extends to other villages who pay tribute to him and are subject to his authority. He exercises this power by taking from each subject village a wife, whose family must supply him with crops. This tribute is repaid through feasts and celebrations.
Magic practice and beliefs are complex and govern nearly every activity in the Trobriands, and diseases and accidents are attributed to supernatural causes. It is common for Trobrianders to see spirits and the dead, but this does not scare them. They fear black magic, practiced by flying witches (mulukwausi) and sorcerers (bwaga’u). The bwaga’u are the source of disease and death, and each district is home to several. Epidemic diseases, like dysentery, are believed to be caused by tauva’u, “non-human though anthropomorphic beings” (59). Tokway are wood sprites who steal crops and “[inflict] slight ailments” (59).
Chapter 3 Summary: “The Essentials of the Kula”
Chapter 3 outlines the Kula, a system of exchange of shell necklaces and bracelets with strict rules. It is carried out by many tribes “inhabiting a wide ring of islands” (62) with differing languages and cultures. Along an established clockwise route, red shell necklaces called soulava are traded. In the opposite direction, white shell bracelets called mwali circulate (62). A soulava is always traded for a mwali, and vice versa. Together, these valuables are called vaygu’a.
In each village only a few men take part in the Kula. When they receive a vagyu’a on a Kula expedition, they keep it for a short time before passing it along after at most a year or two. Though ownership of vaygu’a is temporary, the owner still is able to “draw a great deal of renown” (72) from it. He tells who he got it from, shows it off, and discusses who he will give it to. The Kula is only ever conducted between partners who are bonded for life. Commoners may have just one partner (usually a chief), while chiefs may have hundreds.
The “cumulative effects” of the Kula are a network of relationships across a wide area, and accompanying goods, rituals, and other cultural artefacts move throughout the region in addition to the vaygu’a. Malinowski comments that the natives know only their own roles in the Kula and have no sense of the “bird’s-eye view” of the entire institution or the structure of their societies. The ethnographer must assemble for himself the “picture of the big institution” as a physicist would formulate a theory from experimental data (64).
While the Kula is an economic institution, Malinowski cautions the reader that Western knowledge of primitive economic life is very limited and warns against misconceptions. We might assume that “primitive economics” might consist of trade in “indispensable or useful articles, done without much ceremony or regulation” (65). However, the Kula contradicts this—it is “rooted in myth” (65) and surrounded with magic, is based on a form of trust and credit, and deals in decorative articles that are rarely worn at all.
Malinowski then describes some basic principles of the Kula. First, a gift must always be repaid with a counter-gift, whether after a few minutes or a few years. The second principle is that the “equivalence of the counter-gift” is left to trust. Gifts can never be haggled over; there is nothing to be done if you are repaid with a poor-quality counter-gift. Malinowski points out that these principles refute the myth of the “primitive economic man” who is “untrammeled by conventions and social restrictions” (73). Like any other people, the natives want to gain, but this desire is constrained by clear social rules. Furthermore, in native society more than Western society, “to possess is to give” (74)—it is expected that one will share what they have, the more the higher their rank. Of course, this generosity can be weaponized; if you give a gift that you know cannot be repaid, you can brag about your generosity and hurt your partner’s reputation by complaining that they are ungenerous (74-75).
Malinowski then gives an example scenario: I have two mwali. A partner arrives in my village, and I offer them to him as vaga (opening gift). When I visit next year, if he has a decent necklace, he gives it to me as yotile (return gift). If not, he will give me a small gift as basi (intermediary gift) as a gesture of good faith. The vaga must still be repaid in the future as kudu (clinching gift). If I have several partners, they may try to win my favor by giving kaributu (soliciting gifts) of axe blades or pokala (offerings) of pigs or other foods.
The ceremonial exchange of vaygu’a forms the main part of the Kula, but alongside it occurs regular trade and associated activities like canoe building, magical rites for the safety and success of the expedition, and ceremonial food distributions.
Introduction-Chapter 3 Analysis
The Introduction and first three chapters explain both Malinowski’s methods and the geographical scope and cultural setting of the book. These chapters also introduce the reader to the theoretical considerations that guide the book.
The Introduction has become a classic essay on fieldwork methodology and summarizes Malinowski’s entire philosophy on the topic. Throughout the Introduction Malinowski speaks directly to his reader, who is assumed to be an ethnologist or student of ethnology, and certainly a white European. Malinowski moves back and forth between describing in an adventurous tone his first arrival on the beach and describing serious methodological considerations. This change in style continues throughout the book. He asks his reader to imagine themselves “suddenly set down surrounded by all your gear, alone on a tropical beach close to a native village, while the launch or dinghy which has brought you sails away out of sight” (3). Through rich, storytelling language and sensory details, we are immersed in island life throughout these chapters. In including these details, Malinowski gives us the raw material needed to get a “feeling” of the culture and to draw our own conclusions—a process key to his method. This also allows us to imagine his own learning process during his fieldwork.
It is clear from the Introduction that Malinowski desires for ethnology to be taken seriously as a science and to be practiced like one. This is exemplified by this quote: “The time when we could tolerate accounts presenting us the native as a distorted, childish caricature of a human being are gone. This picture is false, and like many other falsehoods, it has been killed by Science” (8). Malinowski’s hope is that through methods that echo the hard sciences, ethnology can reveal the truth and put a stop to unfair or false simplifications and stereotypes.
These methods require recording data in “synoptic tables and charts” on every aspect of life, and forgoing the temptation to focus on the “sensational, the singular, still less the funny and quaint” (8). However, for Malinowski, this is not enough. He expresses a strong desire for the ethnographer to understand the “native mentality” and “behavior,” not only to analyze the natives scientifically. In urging the ethnographer to also record and seek to understand “the typical way of thinking and feeling” (18), he demonstrates a strong desire for all people to be seen as complex beings with attitudes and feelings that shape and are shaped by their cultural institutions.
Chapter 2 introduces the primitive economic man (PEM), a false yet popular construct of a culturally primitive human who acts solely in utilitarian self-interest, seeking to fulfill his physical needs through the least amount of effort. Malinowski sets about disproving it through various examples evident in the Trobriands. For example, the natives work harder in the gardens than is required to feed themselves, even letting surplus crops rot. This demonstration of abundance, however, gives them social prestige. Furthermore, a trade system like the Kula, which deals in decorative articles that are rarely even worn, would be completely illogical for PEM. Argonauts returns again and again to PEM, and it is clear that this figure represents the antithesis of good research for Malinowski—it is a simplistic preconceived notion that obscures the actual complexity of motivations inherent in a culture.
Chapter 3 gives the essential overview of the Kula. Malinowski discusses both the interpersonal details and how a person experiences the Kula before looking at the cumulative effects of the institution. He emphasizes that any one native doesn’t understand or even consider these cumulative effects, and that it is the duty of the ethnographer to piece together the whole of the institution. To explain the Kula, which may seem illogical to an observer, especially one who subscribes to PEM, Malinowski references similar objects of ceremonial and symbolic importance that would be familiar to a European reader, such as the British crown jewels.
While Malinowski emphasizes the complexity of native cultures and tries to destroy myths such as that of PEM, he still uses terms like “miserable” and “of a lower culture” (35) to describe the natives. This suggests a persistent belief that native cultures are at a lower “stage” or level of evolution compared to Western society.
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