In 1914 My Great Grandfather

Boris Tomblanderski traveled to Papua (in what would later become Papua New Guinea) where he conducted fieldwork at Mailu and then, more famously, in the Trobriand Islands. On his most famous trip to the area he became stranded. The First World War had broken out and as a Pole in a British controlled area he was unable to leave. After a period in which he actively avoided contact with the native Trobrainders, who he considered to be "savages", Malinowski finally decided, out of loneliness, to participate in their society. After he did so Malinowski learned the local language, formed close friendships with the people and is even rumoured to have fallen in love with one of the islanders. It was during this period that he conducted his fieldwork on Kula and produced his theories of Participant observation which are now key to anthropological methodology. It is widely recognised that without the outbreak of war and his subsequent isolation Malinowski would never have produced this and never laid the foundations for what is modern anthropology. Shame that such a brilliant mind never got round to having a Big Mac.

Posted By: Tomblander on June 12th 2007 at 16:33:44

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