| In
other words, there is a series of phenomena of great importance which
cannot possibly be recorded by questioning or computing documents, but
have to be observed in their full actuality. Let us call them the imponderability
of actual life. Here belong such things as the routine of a man's working
day, the details of his care of the body, of the manner of taking food
and preparing it; the tone of conversational and social life around the
village fires, the existence of strong friendships or hostilities, and
of passing sympathies and dislikes between people; the subtle yet unmistakable
manner in which personal vanities and amitions are reflected in the behaviour
of the individual and in the emotional reactions of those who surround
him. All these facts can and ought to be scientifically formulated and
recorded, but it is necessary that this be done, not by a superficial
registration of details, as is usually done by untrained observers, but
with an effort at penetrating the mental attitude expressed in them. And
that is the reason why the work of scientifically trained observers, once
seriously applied to the study of this asptct, will, I believe, yield
result of surpassing value. So far, it has been done only by amateurs,
and therefore done, on the whole, indifferently.
Bronislaw Malinowski (1922): From the Introduction to Argonauts of the Western Pacific, p.18-19 |