Malinowski’s Precedent: The Imagination of Equality
Author(s)
Fardon, Richard
Abstract
This article examines the value attributed to ‘Malinowski’ in the history of anthropology. By virtue of congruencies between fieldwork method, theory and writing, an idea of ‘Malinowski’ is able to stand for the egalitarian character of anthropology. This permits anthropologists the illusion of having already coped with equality, while actually avoiding arguments intrinsic to equality in the western societies from which most anthropologists come. The current, purportedly postmodern, privileging of dialogue represents a revision of Malinowskian congruencies in the image of contemporary western pluralism. However, a postmodern anthropology might more appropriately be concerned to deconstruct suppositions of equality in speech or writing.
