BROMISLAW MALINOWSKI

Les croyances relatives à la conception des enfants trouvent, dans les îles Trobriand, archipel de la Mélanésie, une expression originale, dans une culture où règne une grande liberté sexuelle. Pour

"Le crime et la coutume dans les sociétés primitives" ; "Le mythe dans la psychologie primitive" ; "La chasse aux esprits dans les mers du Sud" : ces trois célèbres essais des années 1920 illustrent

"Le crime et la coutume dans les sociétés primitives" ; "Le mythe dans la psychologie primitive" ; "La chasse aux esprits dans les mers du Sud" : ces trois célèbres essais des années 1920 illustrent

Les croyances relatives à la conception des enfants trouvent, dans les îles Trobriand, archipel de la Mélanésie, une expression originale, dans une culture où règne une grande liberté sexuelle. Pour

In Sex and Repression in Savage Society Malinowski applies his experiences on the Trobriand Islands to the study of sexuality, and the attendant issues of eroticism, obscenity, incest, oppression, po

The importance of the subject treated in this study, as well as the prominent part played by the Australian evidence in the problem of kinship, will, it is believed, amply justify a detailed inquiry into the institution of the family in Australia. It is, however, always desirable for a monograph like the present one, besides being a mere collection and description of facts, to have a sufficiently wide theoretical scope. It ought to demonstrate some general principle upon the particular example treated, and to approach the problem from a new standpoint. I wish here shortly to indicate how far a slight and imperfect attempt in this direction has been made. In describing the facts of family life in Australia I have tried to show that even if the problems of origins and development of an institution be put aside and the inquiry be limited to the actual facts (in this case to the actual working of the aboriginal kinship organization), there are plenty of subjects of great theoretical importance, some of which, as yet not fully considered by sociologists. On the other hand, I have tried to show that in dealing with purely sociological problems it is necessary, in order to do justice to the complexity and fulness of social phenomena, to draw into the field of inquiry a series of facts often hitherto partially or completely neglected. The facts of daily life, the emotional side of family relations, the magico-religious ideas of the aborigines about kinship and sexual relations, customary as well as legal normsall these factors must be taken impartially into careful consideration in order to give the full picture of an institution as it embraces living man in a living society. In other words each social institution must be studied in all its complex social functions as well as in its reflexion in the collective psychology.

El libro de Malinowski sobre la vida sexual de los salvajes ha alcanzado en todo el mundo el valor de un documento indispensable para el conocimiento de la sexualidad humana. Muchos puntos trascendentales trata este libro, rico en hechos, parco en comentarios y, por tanto, lleno de sugestiones. Todos debemos recoger y meditar con singular atencion estos documentos de la historia natural del hombre que ponen el necesario contrapeso a la bibliografia actual -demasiado numerosa- acerca de las desviaciones creadas por la civilizacion en la libre expansion de los instintos.GREGORIO MARAÑON (Del prologo a la primera edicion española. Morata, 1932)

Par lexamen dune culture mélanésienne typique et par lanalyse des opinions, des traditions et du comportement de ces indigènes, je me propose de montrer à quel point la tradition sacrée et le mythe p

Nato da una lettura tenuta nel 1925 al Royal Institute of Great Britain, "Crime and Custom in Savage Society" (qui liberamente tradotto come "Delitto e castigo nella societa selvaggia") affronta il problema della presenza o meno di un corpus giuridico nelle societa native e le forze che portano luomo a rispettarne o trasgredirne le regole. Forte della sua esperienza sul campo scaturita qualche anno prima nel celebre "Argonauti del Pacifico Occidentale", Bronislaw Manilowski si pone in aperta polemica con gran parte delle teorie a lui precedenti e contemporanee, che volevano il nativo ora vivere nella completa anarchia, ora rispettare in modo cieco e timorato una lunga serie di proibizioni. Attingendo alla sua personale esperienza nelle isole Trobriand, lantropologo polacco dimostra tramite esempi pratici come la societa degli indigeni non sia ne un paradiso anarchico, ne un inferno di repressione ma, come tutte le societa, viva una contrattazione continua e tuttaltro che statica tra le regole della tradizione e le passioni umane.