The first part of a two volume classic devoted to the agriculture and agricultural rites of the Trobriand Islanders. This work looks at the signigicance of agriculture in the Trobriand Islands.

As part of Papua New Guinea, the Trobriant Islands are located in a bordering sea of the Pacific Ocean. At the beginning of the 20th century the anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski was one of the first to explore the archipelago in the South Sea and ist inhabitants. In the context of his work he discovered that Freund’s psychoanalytic universality thesis regarding the Oedipus complex is not true for the islanders. In this first volume out of three, Malinowsky deals with the tribal economics and social organizations as well as the trobriandan gardening techniques and the magic within this kind of work.

The concluding part of Coral Gardens and Their Magic provides a linguistic commentary to the ethnography on agriculture. Malinowski gives a full description of the language of the Trobrianders as an aspect of culture.

As part of Papua New Guinea, the Trobriant Islands are located in a bordering sea of the Pacific Ocean. At the beginning of the 20th century the anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski was one of the first to explore the archipelago in the South Sea and its inhabitants. In the context of his work he discovered that Freund’s psychoanalytic universality thesis regarding the Oedipus complex is not true for the islanders. In this first volume out of three, Malinowsky deals with the tribal economics and social organizations as well as the trobriandan gardening techniques and the magic within this kind of work.

This is volume II of “Coral Gardens and Their Magic”, dealing with Kilivila terms related to gardening and agriculture. Kilivila is the language spoken on the Trobriand islands, a group of islands off the east cost of New Guinea. This volume will appeal to those with an interest in anthropology and Trobriand culture, and it would make for a fantastic addition to collections of allied literature. Contents include: “Language as Tool, Document, and Cultural Reality”, “The Translation of Untranslatable words”, “The Context of Words and the Context of Facts”, “Th e Pragmatic Setting of Utterances”, “Meaning as Function of Words”, “The Sources of Meaning in the Speech of Infants”, “Gaps, Gluts and Vagaries of a Native Terminology”, etc. Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially-commissioned new biography of the author.

In the Western world, magic has often functioned as an umbrella term for various religious beliefs and ritual practices that seek to influence events by harnessing supernatural power. The definition of these myriad occult and esoteric traditions have, however, usually come from those that are opposed to its practice; notably authorities in religious, legal and intellectual spheres. This book seeks to provide a new perspective, directly from the practitioners of modern Western magic, by exploring how a distinctive mode of embodiment and consciousness can produce a transition from an ‘ordinary’ to a ‘magical’ worldview. Starting with an introduction to the study of magic in the Western academy, the book then presents the author’s own participant observation of five ethnographic case studies of modern Western magic. The focus of these ethnographic case studies is directed towards ideas and methods the informants employ to self-legitimise and self-represent as ‘magicians’. It concludes by discussing the phenomenological implications and issues around embodiment that are inherent to the contemporary practice of magic. This is a unique insight into the lived experience of practitioners of modern magic. As such, it will be of keen interest to scholars of the Occult and New Religious Movements, as well as Religious Studies academics examining issues around the embodiment and the anthropology of religion.

Experiments in Holism Experiments in Holism: Theory and Practice in Contemporary Anthropology presents a series of essays that critically examine the ongoing relevance of holism and its theoretical and methodological potential in today’s world. Contributions from a diverse collection of leading anthropologists reveal how recent critiques of the holistic approach have not led to its wholesale rejection, but rather to a panoply of experiments that critically reassess and reemploy holism. The essays focus on aspects of holism including its utilization in current ethnographic research, holistic considerations in cultural anthropology, the French structuralist tradition, the predominantly English tradition of social anthropology, and many others. Collectively, the essays show how holism is simultaneously central to, and problematically a part of, the theory and practice of anthropology. Experiments in Holism reveals how contemporary attempts to rescale and retool anthropology entail new ways of coming to terms with anthropology’s heritage of holism, seeking to obviate its current excesses while recapturing its critical potential to meet the challenges of our contemporary world.

An understanding of the complex consequences of social processes and social design activities necessitates a holistic systemic perspective, systematised in the classic structural-functional research tradition, which is presented in Functionalist Construction Work in Social Science. In contrast to fragmented discussions of functionalism and functional analyses, the approach here covers a span ranging from ontological, epistemological and primarily methodological aspects of functionalism. The functionalist tradition in social science is placed in a historic context, and problematised from a philosophy of science perspective. Unique here is a detailed account of four classic functionalist research programmes with a discussion of functionalism, not primarily as a worldview, but as systematic knowledge-generating research strategies. In addition to descriptive and causal questions, the importance of a further research question is demonstrated, i.e., the identification of crucial problems of social organisation. Functionalist research strategies and functional analysis are of interest for social scientists and students in sociology, political science, and social anthropology. Moreover, the book is relevant for researchers and students of philosophy of science and social science methodology

Sacraments are powerful actions. With their help, law, religion, and other social practices change our social world.