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TALES FROM THE JUNGLE: Malinowski and the Trobriand Islanders (263)

16:00, Thursday 28th June, Bragg

Director: Sophie Harris (UK)

Year: 2006

Run time: 60'

Location/Ethnic group: Trobriand Islands

Language: In English

Production/Distribution: pending


This film assesses the contribution of Bronislaw Malinowski, a Polish emigre based in Britain, to the foundation of the modern academic discipline of social anthropology in the early twentieth century. It is based on a series of interviews with leading present-day anthropologists (including Adam Kuper, Jeremy MacClancy, Alan MacFarlane, Marilyn Strathern and Michael Young), archival photographs, voiced-over extracts from the diary that Malinowski wrote during his extended fieldwork in the Trobriand Islands, off the coast of Papua New Guinea and the recreation by an actor of certain crucial moments in Malinowski's personal life.