I. Subjective vs. objective knowledge

A. Defining objective and subjective knowledge
B. Anthropology: All knowledge is situated
C. Centrality of fieldwork

 

II. Analysis and data collection

A. Tylor and Morgan as scientific, armchair anthropologists
B. A.C. Haddon's Torres Straits Expedition, 1898-1899

(For a map of the Torres Straits region, click here.)
1. "unprecedently comprehensive anthropological study"
2. ethnology, psychology, linguistics, sociology, dance, color perception, ethno-astronomy, material culture, social organization, physical anthropology, ethno-musicology
3. Four physicians, four social anthropologists, physical anthropologist, linguist, photographer

 

III. Malinowski and scientific fieldwork

A. Credited with establishing fieldwork as central to anthropology
B. Personal data

1. Born 1884 in Poland.
2. Ph.D. in math and physics, University of Krakow
3. Reads Frazer's Golden Bough, becomes anthropologist
4. Stranded in Australia during WWI
5. Three trips to Trobriand Islands over 6 years

C. Society as organism

1. Skeleton: group organization. Charts, statistics, maps.
2. Flesh and blood: imponderabilia of daily life, what people do. Minute observations of daily life.
3. Spirit: Native's point of view, corpus inscriptionum. Collection of statements, narratives, folklore, magical formulae collected in native language.

D. Goal of fieldwork; "to grasp the native's point of view, his relation to life, to realise his vision of his world" (Argonauts, 25).

1. Long-term
2. Immersion
3. Specific location, specific group
4. Avoid missionaries and Europeans

 

IV. Objectivity, Subjectivity, and Scientific Anthropology

A. Malinowski: fieldwork as scientific in its own right

1. systematic collection of materials
2. specificity of fieldwork experience is explicit

B. Malinowski's Diaries: how much subjectivity is too much?

1. Published in 1967 (25 years after Malinowski's death)
2. Racist, sexist.
3. Parallel with Conrad's Heart of Darkness
4. Self psychoanalysis
5. "Macho" aspects of fieldwork today

C. Fieldwork as loss of self

1. Kondo's existential crisis
2. fusion of experience and theory

 

V. Malinowski and Relativism

A. Cultural relativism: suspend our beliefs to learn about others
B. Moral relativism: can't judge one society by another's standards

1. Critique of Moral Relativism
2. Example: Female circumcision, genital mutilation, genital cutting

C. Balancing cultural and moral relativism

 

VI. From Small-scale to Large-scale

A. Urban research in Ho Chi Minh City
B. Fieldwork in shorter chunks