Mod 1 - Malinowski on fieldwork

The natives point of view, skeleton, flesh and blood, reflexivity, armchair anthropology,

Define Armchair anthropology

The collection of information by missionaries, travellers, and officials, which was then assembled by anthropologists using reports to create theories and assumptions about the culture. (Hence, the anthropologist creates the theories from an armchair, not from the location itself)

What is the modern understanding of fieldwork

anthropologists should personally collect evidence and remain in sustained contact with the community to produce the final interpretations

What is Malinowski’s key question in this article

How should ethnographic knowledge be produced?

What are the two main initial arguments malinowksi makes

Methodological transparency

Importance of the Native point of view

What does Malinowksi mean by methodological transparency

Distinguishing between direct observation, native statements and ethnographers’ inferences.

allows us to focus less on the perceived strangeness of the culture and more on how the knowledge about them was produced

Define reflexivity

examining researcher context and biases and how they shape their fieldwork encounter and the knowledge produced

What did Malinowksi say about the importance of the Native POV

Understanding the nature of the relationships to life and vision of the world is the ultimate aim of ethnography

how they interpret themselves and give meaning to their social worlds

List the three methodological principles proposed by malinowski

Scientific Aims
Proper Conditions

Specific methods

What does Malinowksi mean by sustained engagement

full immersion in practices, daily life, language for an extended period

helps to reveal the unspoken rules, norms and relations otherwise hidden

list the three dimensions of ethnographic evidence given by malinowksi

skeleton

Flesh and blood

Spirit

what does malinowski mean by skeleton (incl eg)

recurring organisation - institutions, rules, rights and duties

What does malinowksi mean by flesh and blood (icl eg)

social life as lived - routines, interactions and gestures

What does Malinowski mean by Spirit (incl eg)

native formulation - narratives, interpretations and statements

What does Malinowski say about the 3 dimensions of ethnographic evidence and their importance

All of them are needed together to gain accurate interpretation of how the social world is experienced