Book Description
The founding document of economic anthropology! Bronislaw Malinowski, one of the all-time great anthropologists of the world, had a talent for bringing together in single comprehension the warm reality of human living with the cool abstractions of science. His pages have become an almost indispensable link between the knowing of exotic and remote people with theoretical knowledge about humankind. This volume--originally published in 1922--can be considered the founding document of economic anthropology, and remains the best one to read. It emphasizes the great significance of primitive economics by singling out the notable exchange system of the Trobriand Islands for special consideration. Although the main theme is economic, constant reference is made in this milestone of anthropological research and interpretation to social organization, life and meaning, the power of magic, and to mythology and folklore.
From the Publisher
Titles of related interest from Waveland Press: Bohannan- van der Elst, Asking and Listening: Ethnography as Personal Adaptation (ISBN 0881339873); Malinowski, Magic, Science and Religion and Other Essays (ISBN 0881336572); and Pomponio, Seagulls Don't Fly Into the Bush: Cultural Identity and Development in Melanesia (ISBN 1577661540).