Evan Perreault
Article Annotation 8
1. Malinowski, Bronislaw, perf. Tales From The Jungle: Malinowski. N.d. 12 Feb. 2007. Web.
10 Oct. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f22VsAlOwbc>.
2. Bronislaw Malinowski’s life traveled in many different directions. In 1908 he received a
doctorate in philosophy from Jagiellonian University in math and physics, he later decided to be
an anthropologist after reading Jane Frazer’s the Golden Bough. He also studied physical
chemistry at the University of Leipzig As Well As Science at the London School of Economics.
He participated in extensive fieldwork and professorship at various universities. Some of his
most notable works include Freedom and Civilization and Crime and Custom in Savage Society.
3. Despite Malinowski’s revered work in social anthropology the exposition of his “Tales from
the Jungle” lent a much different view as to his true outlooks in social anthropology. He was
primarily not convinced with the accepted understanding of evolution in native and aboriginal
cultures and this question is what led him into his fieldwork.
4. One of the pivotal advantages Malinowski had in his research was his math and science
degrees that allowed him to apply his idea of scientific approach to his anthropological research.
He argued that scientifically trained anthropologists would yield far superior results to those not
trained because of their ability to be analytical on multiple levels. Malinowski had been sure to
read and understand many of the aspects of culture and life of the areas he would be studying
while in the field, so as to obtain a good comparison between publication and experience.
5. As Malinowski spent time with the tribes in the Trobriand Islands, he witnessed firsthand the
inaccuracies of previously published reports of these peoples. For example when he observed a
ritual that he had read to be sacred, occurring in a party-like fashion, he was amazed at how
wrong these allocations were. He then decided the best way to understand these tribal people was
by immersing himself into their culture and daily life rather than questioning them based on his
own preconceived modes of thought. As he discovered more and more about practices and
traditions within these tribes, he learned the greater source of meaning behind them for example,
Kula in the inter-island web that it represented.
6. “To understand people, you cannot rely on what they say they do, instead you must rely upon
yourself, watching and seeing what they do.”
7. Why was his perspective during his time living among the tribes in the Pacific Ocean so
radically different than his work in established society?
What caused Malinowski to decide to stay in the Trobriand Islands and become a participant
observer with these people?
Did Malinowski ever become so deep within the tribe that he was able to participate in some of
these rank exclusive events or was his participation limited to questioning and living the daily
life with these people?
8. Malinowski’s field research techniques
Ways and lifestyles of tribal people in the Trobriand Islands
His work in Australia and what influence it had on the rest of his native expedition.
Evan Perreault
Article Annotation 9
1. Evans-Pritchard, Sir Edward. "Strange Beliefs: Sir Edward Evans-Pritchard." Strange Beliefs.
N.d. 3 Nov. 2009. Web. 10 Oct. 2012.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q9HyONL_10>.
2. Sir Edward made his way through extensive education at colleges in England including
Winchester College and Exeter College. He began his first fieldwork in 1926 with the Azande.
He published Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among the Azande as well as the Nuer Trilogy.
While in Cambridge he became a professor of social anthropology at the University of Oxford in
maintaining the rest of his career at All Souls College.
3. Unlike Malinowski, Prichard went into his fieldwork with the intent to live among the Azande
People. The primary objective of his trips up and down the Nile was to gather critical
information on the culture, life, and political structure of these tribes and to assimilate with them
to better understand their viewpoint. By seeing what was important to them he could better
understand motives and everyday practices.
4. He believed that primitive peoples similar to those he was observing naturally had different
and inferior minds, as was widely assumed in the day in European culture. Evans-Pritchard
argued that the simpler the society, a larger delta between civilized society and native society
existed, seen primarily through the allocation of value.
5. His skepticism of more advanced thought processes was validated with his study of their belief
in witchcraft and magic. His study of their witchcraft infrastructure revealed the various stages in
various witch doctors and oracles. Evans-Pritchard gain some real traction in his studies of the
Nuer people in the significance of cattle in their culture. Cattle played a role in most aspects of
life and was used as one of the most trustworthy sources of physical compensation.
6. “The government was more or less at war with the Nuer at the time, and I was dumped down
there among them, and there was no grammar, no dictionary, no intelligence, but they saw I was
all alone and accepted me as a guest.”
“The Nuer’s perception of each other as equal beings and gods contrasts with their violent
outlook on all other beings.”
“He shifted the authority from the scientific anthropologist, to the native in the field so that the
object of study now became the authority on itself, and the anthropologist ideally became the
translator.”
7. How did Evans-Pritchard rationalize the Azande peoples’ belief in witchcraft and magic to
what he knew to be as society back in England?
What was the extent of Evans-Pritchard’s falling out with Malinowski ended that influence his
extended stay and professorship in Egypt?
What was Evans-Pritchard’s motivation for joining the military force in Sudan?
8. His book Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande.
Structures of government in tribal societies in Africa
Witchcraft practices and rituals
Evan Perreault
Article Annotation 10
1. Dakowski, Bruce. "The Shackles of Tradition." Strangers Abroad. 1990. Television.
2. Franz Boas, also known as the Father of American anthropology, was a German-American
anthropologist who had a diverse career in both modern anthropology as well as physics
geography. He received his formal PhD in physics from the University of Kiel in 1881 and
continued his occupation as an anthropologist. He wrote several notable works including The
Mind of Primitive Man and Race, Language, and Culture.
3. Joining his interests of geography and cultural anthropology, Boas ventured to the Arctic to
map uncharted territory and study the culture, life, and environment of the Eskimo people. After
spending a significant amount of time in the pole, he returned with a more focused ambition of
studying the cultures on the northwest coast of America. One of the primary points of Boas’
work was to gain as much knowledge possible on Native American and Inuit cultures.
4. Boas formulated, following his studies of tribes in the Pacific Northwest, that there were many
similarities between the tribes and he hoped that these similarities that he found when he moved
from area to area would reveal more about the culture and the way it was shaped. He argued that
language, once interpreted and understood, could provide the necessary information with how a
tribes structure and culture were setup and developed.
5. One of main sources of support for Boas and his research was the material artifacts that he
collected from the people and places he traveled to. Most prominently was his collection of
masks and tools, from which a significant amount of information could be gathered. These
material supplements to his study of culture and the people gave him important insight as to what
was important to them and how it was portrayed in ceremonial and decorative pieces, such as the
masks. His collaboration with Hunt and the Queitcotal people helped him to expand his research
and understanding of their society as Hunt provided crucial support in language interpretation
and transfer of ideas and observations.
6. “The evil as well as the value of a person lies in the cultivation of the heart.”
“Boaz realized that language was more of a means than making yourself understood, he was
becoming aware of the role of language as a vehicle for transmitting cultural identity itself.”
7. What connection did Boas see in his studies of the Eskimo people in the Artic to the native
Americans in the Pacific Northwest?
How did the native people of the Pacific Northwest know the value of an object to be traded by a
foreigner or anthropologist?
How did Boas approach to learning the language of the people, especially with the lack of
cognates or similarities between English and their language?
8. Boas’ research and fieldwork techniques
The potlatch ceremony
The role that language played as a means for expressing culture as well as simple communication