Argonauts of the Western Pacific: An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea (1922)

This chapter presents a linguistic analysis of two spells and surveys several others to learn which words are thought “to exercise magical power” (334). For Malinowski, analyzing the language of the rites reveals “tenets of belief and dogmas” (334). Each spell is the work of many people who have changed it unknowingly over time through the faultiness of memory. Within each spell are “archaic” words and phrases, as well “linguistic additions from different epochs” (334).

Malinowski presents the Wayugo spell acquired from a Sinaketan headman (335-38) in Kiriwinian and English. The accompanying rite requires chanting the words over the wayugo creeper. Portions are particularly difficult to translate, especially the references to myth and unusual or archaic words. Malinowski notes that magic is not narrative and is not meant to transmit information between individuals. Its meaning must be understood “only in correlation” to its aim of exerting “specific power over things” (339). It isn’t narratively logical but employs a method of “launching words towards their aim” (339), following a magical logic only.

Malinowski explains the parts of a spell. First is the u’ula, meaning “bottom part” or, more figuratively, reason, cause, or beginning. The second part is the tapwana, meaning surface, skin, body, or trunk, and is main part of a spell. The last part is dogina, the tip or end, which means the final part or conclusion. He translates and then interrogates each part of the wayugo spell (see Chapter 6) for its origins, connotations, and references to myths, rituals, and ancestors, and does the same with the kayikuna sulumwoya spell, part of Kula magic. Spells vary in the cadence, style, and attitude with which they are spoken. Within a spell, some sections are strong and melodious, while others are spoken in an ordinary speaking voice.

This linguistic analysis allows “insight into the magical value of words” (347). It shows both how individual words are spoken to “convey magical force” (347), such as through repetition, “key” words, unusual pronunciation, and onomatopoeia; and how the specific words convey ideas through specific phrases and references.

He gives more linguistic analysis and concludes by saying that good knowledge of a native language and of social organization is necessary for understanding the full significance of the spells (365).

This chapter covers exchange within a Kula community, known as the “inland Kula,” focusing on Boyowa as a typical case. In April 1918, To’uluwa (chief of Omarakana, a village in the Trobriands) visits Sinaketa. The chief’s power has been reduced by European influence. Previously, chiefs received payments for festivities that were then redistributed during the ceremonies in the form of food and entertainment, but the amount of wealth and resources is smaller now. There is fear that the Kula will undergo the same unraveling. Malinowski argues that breaking down the social structure weakens the natives and increases their risk of disease. Therefore, for Malinowski, a “wise administration” (by Europeans) would govern alongside the chief and use the old laws and customs as much as possible to maintain their “joie de vivre” (367).

To’uluwa arrives in Sinaketa without much fanfare, observing the traditional taboos. When Malinowski meets him later, he complains about the “offhand treatment” he received in Sinaketa. He received no necklaces even though the Sinaketans had brought “over 150 pairs of armshells” from Kiriwina (369). The Sinaketans had become rich since they began pearling, for which they receive tobacco, betel, and vaygu’a from the white men. For the Sinaketans, To’uluwa is a “pauper” (369). Disappointed, he returns home to Omarakana, the “centre of the Trobriand inland Kula” (369), which remains important despite To’uluwa’s waning influence.

Kiriwina and Sinaketa are separate Kula communities but are “not divided by sea” (370), so the Kula between them is quite different from the overseas Kula. For instance, there is no canoe preparation or launch. Malinowski distinguishes between the overseas Kula between districts, as described in other chapters (overseas Kula); the Kula among “distinct but contiguous” Kula communities (contiguous intercommunity Kula); and transactions within a Kula community (intracommunity Kula). In contiguous intercommunity Kula, there is minimal associated trade because they come from the same island and have access to similar resources. Some beauty and charm magic is performed in relation to the Kula, but the ceremony is nothing approaching the overseas Kula. In intracommunity Kula, vaygu’a are exchanged individually, often after big expeditions to elsewhere. No magic is performed for this, and while there may be some ceremonies, there is no large public gathering.

Malinowski describes a typical scene. To’uluwa returns from a small expedition to Kitava and brings back mwali. Upon his arrival, people greet him, and he tells about his haul. The next day men bring soulava to To’uluwa as vaga and expect an immediate yotile from the chief’s store of mwali. While in a competitive overseas Kula, the visitors only receive vaygu’a and do not bring any to give. In the inland Kula, gifts are brought by inferior men to superior-ranking men. The determining factor is the relative social position of the two partners. Men of inferior rank initiate the exchange by bringing gifts to men of superior rank.