Rationality of art and Bronisław Malinowski’s ethnology. The case of the Masawa canoe Cover Image

Racjonalność sztuki a etnologia Bronisława Malinowskiego. Przypadek czółen Masawa
Rationality of art and Bronisław Malinowski’s ethnology. The case of the Masawa canoe

Author(s): Andrzej Kisielewski
Subject(s): Anthropology, Social Sciences, Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu w Białymstoku
Keywords: ethnology by Bronisław Malinowski; primordial art; anthropology of art; theory of art

Summary/Abstract: This article is a kind of journey to the origins of art, to its primordial state. In other words this text can be seen as a kind of archeology of art. The article aims to examine a very famous ethnological work by Bronisław Malinowski titled Argonauts of the Western Pacific. This is a testimony of Malinowski's contact with the most primordial state of art in situ, in direct context of culture with the indigenous villagers from the Trobriand Islands. Some claim that the celebrated Polish ethnologist has written little on indigenous artistic culture, however, if we read his book as an anthropological ekphrasis on art, then we can find very interesting narration on primordial state of art.

  • Issue Year: 2/2017
  • Issue No: XXIX
  • Page Range: 155-171
  • Page Count: 17
  • Language: Polish