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

Argonauts of the Western Pacific: An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea (1922) is an ethnological monograph by Bronislaw Malinowski, a leading anthropologist of his time. It concerns his research in what was then called “Melanesian New Guinea,” which is today known as the Kiriwana island chain, northeast of New Guinea. The work focuses on the trade, magic, and cultural traditions of the Trobriand people on the archipelago, centering around a trade phenomenon called the Kula. Malinowski’s work is considered foundational to the modern field of ethnography and the first field study. Argonauts of the Western Pacific is the first in a trilogy on the Trobriand people. It was followed by The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia in 1929 and Coral Gardens and their Magic in 1935.

This guide references the 2005 reprint published in the Taylor and Francis eLibrary.

Argonauts centers around a trade phenomenon called the Kula. This consists of the circulation of two kinds of jewelry—bracelets made from white shells and necklaces made from red shells—among islanders throughout the Trobriands and the greater region. The necklaces and bracelets each move through the islands in distinct routes. They are a kind of social currency that hold no monetary value and are only ever exchanged for each other.