In: Psychology
Bronislaw Malinowski was one of the pioneering anthropologists of the 20th century. A generation of anthropologists looked up to him as the father of positivist anthropology. He championed participant observation as the only way to get into the mind of the "savage." When his diaries were released, it shattered a myth of anthropology- that of the unbiased researcher. How did Malinowski's upbringing, his culture, affect his fieldwork? How did his private diaries function in that fieldwork? How do you think you'd react if thrust into another culture? Or have you been? Do you think you could be an unbiased observer?
Solution::
Bronislaw Malinowski was known for his innovative nature of
examining the everyday life of his subjects along with them which
gave his studies a very unbaised nature as he analysed his
observation in a very detailed way giving importance not only to
his informants but also to their lifestyle. His method of
inculcating the cultural analysis has produced integrated
descriptions instead of loosely classified catalogues of traits,
and has stimulated the fuller recording of case material from
actual behavior as a supplement to the listing of ideal patterns.
This method of Malinowski was included in his personality because
of his upbringing, as when he went to New Guinea and at the same
time World War I broke out and since Malinowski was an Austrian
subject, and hence an enemy of the British commonwealth, he was
unable to travel back to England. This gave Malinowski ample amout
of time to see the his informants, living with the people he
studied, getting to know them personally, participating in their
activities, and conducting his research in the vernacular has since
become known as participant observation