As one of the most renowned figures in the history of anthropology, Bronisław Malinowski is recognised as having been central to the development of the discipline, with interpretations of his thought usually drawing attention to his work in founding the approach of functionalism and his innovative method of intensive field research. This book offers a decisive extension of Malinowski’s achievement, referring to the accomplishments of present‑day social sciences and humanities and the debts that they owe to Malinowksi’s oeuvre.
Bringing together eminent scholars in such fields as social anthropology, sociology, law, cultural studies, literary and theatre studies, and art history, this book emphasises the importance of Malinowski’s theoretical and methodological insights as a treasure trove of inspiration for contemporary researchers.
A critical commentary on the life, work, and legacy of Bronisłw Malinowski, it sheds light on his academic work, while personal documents, many of which are not well known – or are completely unknown – in the Anglophone sphere, prove their fundamental importance for understanding his oeuvre, and the intellectual connections between his work and the work of other most prominent intellectuals of the 20th and 21st centuries. It will therefore appeal to scholars across the social sciences and humanities with interests in the history of anthropology and sociology and fundamental questions of theory and research methodology.
PART I. BRONISŁAW MALINOWSKI: KNOWN AND UNKNOWN 1. Grażyna Kubica, Bronisław Malinowski – the (Somewhat Anglicized and Cosmopolitan) Pole: Biographical-Anthropological Reflections on His Polish Identity 2. Patrick Burke, Our Ancestors: Making Sense of Bronisław Malinowski and Elsie Masson PART II. REVISITING MALINOWSKI’S INTELLECTUAL BACKGROUND 3. Petr Skalník, An Argonaut from Krakow: Pre-field Malinowski as a Theorist 4. Krzysztof Łukasiewicz, Bronisław Malinowski in the Laboratories of Leipzig 5. Adam Kuper, Malinowski: A Modernist in His Way PART III. MALINOWSKI’S INTELLECTUAL RELATIONS: NEW INSIGHTS 6. Natalija Jakubova, ‘I Am Not Really a Real Character’: Malinowski, Witkiewicz and the Pitfalls of Making Oneself a ‘Character’ 7. Lena Magnone, Malinowski and the Disciples of Freud: Otto Rank, Ernest Jones and Wilhelm Reich 8. Anna Engelking, Under the Wing of the Rockefeller Foundation: On the Cooperation of Bronisław Malinowski and His Polish Student Józef Obrębski PART IV. RECONSIDERATIONS OF INTERPRETIVE FRAMEWORKS 9. Andreas Lipowsky, Bronisław Malinowski: An Icon of a Body-centric Anthropology? 10. Andrzej Kisielewski, ‘The Gardens Are, in a Way, a Work of Art’: Bronisław Malinowski’s Social Anthropology as Anthropology of Art 11. Mateusz Stępień, Exploring the Intersection of Law, Culture, and Biology: Tensions and Unfulfilled Potential in Malinowski’s Legal Thought PART V. MALINOWSKI AND ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY 12. linus s. digim’Rina, Gimwala and Kula: Malinowski’s Living Ethnography 13. Marta Songin-Mokrzan, What If We Have Followed Malinowski Instead of Staying on the Trobriand Islands? Notes on the Anthropological Multiverse 14. Dariusz Brzeziński, Bronisław Malinowski and the Anthropology of Nostalgia Aleksandar Bošković, Afterword: Malinowski in Context
Grażyna Kubica is Professor in Social Science at the Social Anthropology Section in the Institute of Sociology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków. Dariusz Brzeziński is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the Polish Academy of Sciences and Visiting Research Fellow at the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Leeds.
