| Admin Biographical History | Malinowski was born in Cracow in 1884 to Polish parents who were among the szlachta (landed gentry and nobility). He was educated at the King Jan Sobieski Public School and the Jagiellonian University Cracow, where he gained a PhD in Philosophy in 1908. While studying physical chemistry at the University of Leipzig in 1909 Malinowski also attending courses in anthropological psychology and economic history. Having received the Barczewski stipend for training as a university teacher he travelled to London to undertake research at the British Museum and the London School of Economics in 1910 and 1911. He returned briefly to Poland in 1912 to lecture at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Cracow and to visit his good friend Witkiewicz. In 1913 he registered as a research student at the LSE, where he published his first book and in 1916 gained a PhD in Science.
Malinowski took part in the Robert Mond Anthropological Expedition to New Guinea and North-West Melanesia between 1914 to 1916 and 1917 to 1918. Having completed the expedition he returned to Australia in 1918 where he married Elsie Rosaline Masson in 1919, with whom he travelled around Europe from 1920 to 1922. In 1923 Malinowski accepted a Lectureship in Social Anthropology at the LSE. He was promoted to Reader in 1924, and became Professor of Anthropology in 1927 (to 1942).
Malinowski made various trips to Central and South America and to lecture around the world. In 1926 he journeyed to the USA and Mexico by invitation of Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial, visiting Universities and the Pueblo Indians. He was Messenger Lecturer at Cornell University in 1933, and in 1936 lectured at Harvard University and the Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture in Oslo. In 1939 he served as a Visiting Professor at Yale University.
During his career he carried out a range of fieldwork. In 1934 he travelled to South and East Africa to conduct 'survey work' among the Bantu tribes (Swazi, Bemba, Chagga, and Bantu Kavirondo) and from 1941 to 1942 he carried out fieldwork in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. He was also involved with the work of a number organisations and institutions. For instance he was: Corresponding Member, Polish Academy of Science, 1931; Correspondent, Italian Committee for Study of Population Problems, 1932; Member, Royal Academy of Science of Netherlands, 1933; Honorary Member, Royal Society of New Zealand, 1936; Correspondent, Institute for Comparative Study of Cultures, Oslo, 1936; Elected as first Chairman of Polish Institute of Science and Literature in USA in 1942.
Malinowski died in May 1942.
Among Malinowski's publications are the following:
The Economic Aspect of the Intichiuma Ceremonies (Helsingfors, 1912);
Review of Les Formes Elementaires de la Vie Religieuse by E. Durkheim. (Folklore, 1913);
The Family Among the Australian Aborigines: a Sociological Study (London, University of London Press, 1913);
Primitive Religion and Social Differentiation (in Polish, 1915);
The Natives of Mailu (Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Southern Australia, 1915);
Baloma: the spirits of the dead in the Trobriand Islands (Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, London, 1916);
Fishing in the Trobriand Islands (Man, 1918);
Kula: The Circulating Exchange of Valuables in the Archipelagoes of Eastern New Guinea (Man, 1920);
The Economic Pursuits of the Trobriand Islanders (Nature, 1920);
The Primitive Economics of the Trobriand Islanders (The Economic Journal, 1921);
Argonauts of the Western Pacific: an account of native enterprise and adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea (Routledge, London, 1922)
Ethnology and the Study of Society (Economica, 1922);
War and Weapons Among the Natives of the Trobriand Islands (Man, 1922);
The Problem of Meaning in Primitive Languages (In The meaning of meaning: A Study of the Influence of Language Upon Thought and the Science of Symbolism, C.K.Ogden and I.A.Richards. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London 1923);
Crime and Custom in Savage Society (Kegan Paul, London, 1926);
Myth in Primitive Psychology (Kegan Paul, London, 1926);
Anthropology (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 13th ed. 1926);
Lunar and Seasonal Calendar in the Trobriands. (Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 1927);
Sex and Repression in Savage Society (Kegan Paul, London, 1927);
The Father in Primitive Psychology (Kegan Paul, London, 1927);
Practical Anthropology (Africa, 1929)
The Sexual life of Savages in North-West Melanesia (Routledge and Sons, London, 1929);
Kinship (Man, 1930);
Must Kinship Studies Be Dehumanised by Mock Algebra? (Man, 1930);
The Rationalization of Anthropology and Administration (Africa, 1930);
Culture (Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 1931);
Introduction. In The Sorcerers of Dobu: The Social Anthropology of the Dobu Islanders of the Western Pacific, by Reo F. Fortune (Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1932);
Pigs, Papuans and Police Court Perspective (Man, 1932);
Coral Gardens and their Magic (G Allen and Unwin, London, 1935);
The Foundations of faith and morals (Oxford University Press, London, 1936);
Native Education and Culture Contact (International Review of Missions, 1936);
Preface. In We, the Tikopia: A Sociological Study of Kinship in Primitive Polynesia, by Raymond Firth (G. Allen and Unwin, London, 1936);
A Scientific Theory of Culture and Other Essays (University of North Carolina Press, Chaoel Hill, 1944);
Freedom and Civilisation (Roy Publisher, New York, 1944);
The Dynamics of Cultural Change: an inquiry into race relations in Africa (Yale University Press, New Haven, 1945);
Magic, Science and Religion and Other Essays (The Free Press, New York, 1948);
Sex, Culture and Myth (Harcourt, Brace and World, New York, 1962);
A Diary in the Strict Sense of the Term (Routledge & Kegan Paul, London; printed in U.S.A., 1967). |
| Description | Papers of Professor Bronislaw Kasper Malinowski, c1862-c1999, comprising the following:
Material relating to his work in the field, at LSE, Yale and other universities and involvement with external activities, such as:
Papers relating to Malinowski's studies of the Trobriand Islands, [1907-1942] (section 1);
Trobriand Islands fieldwork notebooks and notes, [1915-1931] (section 2);
Trobriand Islands fieldwork photographs, [1915-1931] (section 3);
Envelopes previously containing fieldwork photographs, [1915-1918] (section 4);
Linguistic notes and lectures, based on Trobriand Islands fieldwork [1915-1930s] (section 5);
Seminar and lecture papers, [c1920-1938] (section 6);
Papers concerning Malinowski's students, [c1920-1930s] (section 7);
London School of Economics, Rockefeller Files, [1925-1936] (section 8);
Africa I - International African Institute papers, [1925-1940] (section 9);
Africa II - Travels and research papers, [1930-1940] (section 10);
Africa III - Drafts of publications, [1936-1945] (section 11);
British Broadcasting Corporation talks [1930-1938] (section 12);
Papers produced in the later years of Malinowski's career, largely concerning his teaching at Yale and fieldwork in Mexico, [1935-1943] (section 13);
Papers concerning external lectures and activities, [1936-1941] (section 14).
Material relating to Malinowski's writings, publications, work on particular subject areas, such as:
Papers concerning 'Coral Gardens and their Magic', [1916-1930s] (section 15);
Religion and myth, [c1917-1938] (section 16);
Kinship - Working papers for 'The Sexual Life of Savages', [1917-1938] (section 17);
Kinship - Working papers for a general study of Kinship, [1919-1960s] (section 18);
Kinship - General notes and writing on kinship, [1920s-1939] (section 19);
Early drafts, notes and writings, [1918-1930s] (section 20);
Law, [c1920-1942] (section 21);
War and nationalism, [1924-1942] (section 22);
Culture, [1925-1941] (section 23);
Papers concerning articles for the Encyclopaedia Britannica, [1925-1938] (section 24);
Freedom and civilisation, [1940-1942] (section 25).
Correspondence, printed material, and general papers, such as:
Miscellaneous correspondence, papers and notes, [1907-1975] (section 26);
Correspondence with Charles Seligman, [1912-1938] (section 27);
Printed material, [1913-1963] (section 28);
Correspondence, [c1918-1970s] (section 29);
Correspondence between Malinowski and European and American publishers, [1922-1938] (section 30);
Letters and papers collected together before and after Malinowski's death, [1924-1961] (section 31);
General unfiled papers, [1930-1940] (section 32).
Personal papers, such as:
Diaries and related material, [1862-1918] (section 33);
Personal and family correspondence, [1916-1942] (section 34);
Financial papers, [1919-1944] (section 35).
Additional papers, such as:
Addendum: Additional Malinowski correspondence and papers, [1918-1987] (section 36);
Helena Wayne's research material and collected Malinowski papers, [1908-1986] (section 37);
Helena Wayne's research material and collected Malinowski papers, [c1912-1978] (section 38);
Helena Wayne's research material and collected Malinowski papers, [1912-1999] (section 39).
Helena Wayne's research material and collected Malinowski papers, [c1915-1975] (section 40);
Also contains papers concerning the Malinowski collections at LSE and Yale University [1960-1970s] (section 41). |