''The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia: An Ethnographic Account of Courtship, Marriage, and Family Life Among the Natives of the Trobriand Islands, British New Guinea'' is a 1929 book by anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski. The work is his second in the trilogy on the Trobrianders, with the other two being '' Argonauts of the Western Pacific'' (1922) and '' Coral Gardens and Their Magic'' (1935).

Summary

In the preface Malinowski says that sexuality "dominates in fact almost every aspect of culture". Malinowski gives a detailed description of the social organisation of sexuality (social rites, partner choice, etc.) "tracing the Trobriand lifecycle from birth through puberty, marriage, and death".Notes for sessions six and seven on the background and world of Malinowski
by William W Kelly Children do not submit to a system of "domestic coercion" or "regular discipline": they "enjoy considerable freedom and

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

". The idea of a child being "

beaten Battery is a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact, distinct from assault which is the act of creating apprehension of such contact. Battery is a specific common law offense, although the term is used more generally to refer to ...

or otherwise punished in cold blood" by a parent is viewed as unnatural and immoral and when proposed by westerners (like the anthropologist) is "rejected with resentment". Things are asked "as from one equal to another; a simple command, implying the expectation of natural obedience, is never heard from parent to child in the Trobriands". The event of a person getting angry and striking another person "in an outburst of rage" sometimes happens, as often from parent to child as from child to parent. In later chapters, the parent-child relationship of the Trobrianders is described with details of their complex

matrilineal Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's lineage – and which can involve the inheritance ...

relationship structure in which the biological parentage is ignored. Based on

ethnographic Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject ...

data, Malinowski argues that the

Freudian Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts i ...

Oedipus complex The Oedipus complex (also spelled Œdipus complex) is an idea in psychoanalytic theory. The complex is an ostensibly universal phase in the life of a young boy in which, to try to immediately satisfy basic desires, he unconsciously wishes to hav ...

is not universal.

Analysis

The book discussed sexuality in matrilineal society, debunking some myths about sexual promiscuity of primitive people. It has also contributed to scientific study of sex, previously restricted due to Euro-American prudery and views on morality; something that has been attributed to Malinowski's Slavic background which made him less concerned with "Anglo-Saxon Puritanism".

Reception

While the book is a scholarly study, upon its publication its provocative title and contents have been said to "provide enough erotic titillation for booksellers to keep it under the counter wrapped in cellophane." Malinowski's argument that the Oedipus complex is not universal has been questioned by

Ernest Jones Alfred Ernest Jones (1 January 1879 – 11 February 1958) was a Welsh neurologist and psychoanalyst. A lifelong friend and colleague of Sigmund Freud from their first meeting in 1908, he became his official biographer. Jones was the first En ...

, and later by anthropologist Melford E. Spiro in his book '' Oedipus in the Trobriands'' (1982).

References

External links

* * Bronislaw Malinowski (1929)
The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia
' Book text from

Google books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...

. * Melford E. Spiro
Oedipus Redux
' Ethos, Vol. 20, No. 3 (September 1992), pp. 358–376 {{DEFAULTSORT:Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia 1929 non-fiction books Anthropology books Books about Oceania Books by Bronisław Malinowski Melanesia Non-fiction books about sexuality Trobriand Islands

Summary

Analysis

Reception

See also

References

External links