0:011 (tribal singing)

0:382 - (translated) It used to be that humans could see the spirits of the dead.

0:433 But one day an ancestor spirit returned from Tuma,

0:474 the land of the dead.

0:515 The spirit woman sat under her sister's house

0:566 and asked her sister to serve her some broth.

1:007 The sister carelessly splashed the soup down

1:058 and burned the spirit.

1:089 The spirit admonished her sister, "Now you have lost it.

1:1110 "From now on we shall be like two halves of a single coconut,

1:1311 "one with eyes and one without.

1:1612 "I will be able to see you but you will never again see me."

1:1913 (slow electric guitar)

1:5914 (camera shutter clicks)

2:1415 - [Voiceover] Every family has a legend

2:1716 and every legend has a hero.

2:1917 In my family the legend was my great grandfather

2:2318 Bronisaw Malinowski.

2:2519 One of the most famous anthropologists in history.

2:3120 In 1915 he arrived in the Trobriand Islands

2:3421 off the coast of Papua New Guinea

2:3622 and was among the first social scientists to live with the tribe

2:3923 and study their culture.

2:4224 The books he wrote about the Trobriand Islanders

2:4525 defined how people did anthropology for generations.

2:5426 But as Malinowski's story came down to me in bits and pieces

2:5927 it actually wasn't clear if he was the hero or the villain.

3:0528 After his death in 1942,

3:0829 no one bothered to put a headstone on his grave.

3:1230 It sat unmarked for 24 years.

3:1731 A controversial figure in anthropology,

3:2032 he's also a source for controversy in my own family history.

3:2833 - The way I remember it and the way it came through to me

3:3134 was that Malinowski was a figure worth idealizing.

3:3835 - The history of anthropology was in it's infancy

3:4236 as he was becoming a student.

3:4337 - Before him people went in and did survey work

3:4638 rather than staying in one place for any length of time,

3:5039 which he did.

3:5140 That influenced a whole new generation of anthropologists,

3:5441 after that, myself included.

3:5542 We don't just go and sit separated from the community.

4:0043 We get our hands and feet dirty at the same time.

4:0344 - He touch so many central topics in anthropology.

4:0745 It stimulated the whole field of anthropology.

4:1046 It stimulated people to go out and do field work.

4:1247 You know I just can't imagine how

4:1448 modern anthropology would be,

4:1649 or that it would exist without Malinowski.

4:1950 It just doesn't seem to me it would.

4:2351 - Oddly enough there wasn't much talk about it

4:2652 as far as I can remember growing up.

4:2853 We weren't really introduced to Malinowski.

4:3054 I mean, nobody said well this, your grandfather

4:3355 was a great man and here are his works.

4:3756 You should know them and understand them and read them.

4:3957 Nobody said anything like that.

4:4258 - While I don't, I'm sort of embarrassingly

4:4559 ignorant of a lot of Malinowski's work.

4:5160 I knew of him, of course, much more as this

4:5561 huge looming presence in the family,

4:5862 than from any familiarity with his work.

5:0163 - I haven't read any of his books from front to back,

5:0564 except for the diaries, the English version of the diaries.

5:0865 - He was kind of a distant, distant figure.

5:1566 - [Voiceover] This is the first time my father and I have

5:1767 really talked about his views on Malinowski.

5:2068 For the most part, my dad and all of his siblings seem to be

5:2369 disconnected from this part of their family history.

5:2670 He died before they were born

5:2871 and only fragments were passed on.

5:3072 - I definitely see him as kind of

5:3273 a negative force in the family.

5:3474 Obviously it began with his own children, you know.

5:3875 My mother and my two aunts.

5:4176 - From my earliest memories,

5:4377 he was always there, although he was dead

5:4778 as the great god of the family, the Great Man.

5:5279 The purveyor of the Malinowski Curse, what can I say.

5:5680 (slow guitar)

5:5781 - [Voiceover] The Malinowski Curse,

6:0082 I'd heard about it more than once,

6:0283 enough to make me to consider believing it.

6:0684 There are those in my family who think that

6:0885 my great grandfather's legacy has crippled all

6:1086 of the following generations.

6:1387 - When I think of how I came to know Malinowski,

6:1988 I came to understand it indirectly through Jozefa.

6:2789 - [Voiceover] Malinowski had three daughters,

6:3090 and my grandmother Jozefa was the eldest.

6:3491 She was born in 1920,

6:3692 just after he returned from the Trobriand Islands.

6:4293 When I was growing up, she never talked about him.

6:4594 And I never questioned

6:4695 why she wouldn't want to talk about her father

6:4896 and this famous part of our family history.

6:5997 Several years ago she passed away

7:0298 and my family gathered to scatter her ashes

7:0499 in the place where she had grown up.

7:13100 I decided to film it.

7:15101 And is often the case behind the camera,

7:18102 I felt like an outside observer.

7:22103 - Ok, we're-- - [Voiceover] With rest.

7:23104 - We're going to put Jozefa to rest here

7:25105 in Oberboatsen in the soil she loved.

7:29106 Where she spent her childhood.

7:31107 - [Voiceover] But this time it was my family.

7:34108 Saying goodbye to my grandmother

7:36109 in the only way they knew how.

7:39110 - And may she rest in peace.

7:42111 Ashes to ashes.

7:44112 Dust to dust.

7:48113 - A moment of silence and.

7:52114 - [Voiceover] I found myself questioning

7:54115 how we part with our dead

7:56116 and how they live in our lives once they're gone.

8:04117 With my grandmother's death,

8:06118 all the stories she never shared about Malinowski are gone.

8:11119 And I can only piece together who he was

8:14120 from those who are left.

8:17121 (slow guitar)

9:02122 - Other people, around the world

9:03123 although they do things that seem strange and peculiar to us

9:06124 they make sense.

9:08125 Malinowski understood this profoundly,

9:11126 and I think he's one of the first anthropologists

9:13127 to actually understand that.

9:14128 Probably because he was the first anthropologist

9:17129 to actually sit down for so long

9:18130 asking what's going on in this place.

9:22131 Why are people behaving this way?

9:23132 - He was there for a long stint, many months,

9:28133 and was able to observe much more

9:30134 than survey anthropologists before him.

9:33135 So, he was doing groundbreaking fieldwork methodology.

9:37136 As well as, intellectual engagement with that fieldwork.

9:42137 (drums beating and tribe speaking foreign language)

9:48138 - Welcome to the Trobriand Islands,

9:50139 the Guineans are your hosts,

9:52140 I'm Bronisaw Malinowski, I'm studying these people.

9:56141 Who are you?

9:57142 - Uh, Indiana Jones, we're travelers from Europe.

10:01143 We came by way of Java--

10:03144 - [Voiceover] I first became aware

10:05145 that my great grandfather was a big deal

10:06146 when I turned on the TV when I was in sixth grade

10:09147 and there was Indiana Jones shaking his hand.

10:12148 In my mind, he became the hero.

10:14149 On par with my generation's iconic adventurer,

10:18150 but I didn't understand what he really did.

10:21151 - Listen sir, all we want to do is get back to civilization.

10:24152 - This is civilization.

10:26153 - A civilized civilization.

10:28154 - You can't read anything that Malinowski publishes

10:30155 from Argonauts on,

10:33156 without realizing that one of his goals

10:35157 is to make these people seem like real life human beings.

10:38158 With real life motivations

10:40159 and he's trying to understand them at that level.

10:44160 And I think he really sets the stage for

10:47161 the anthropological project that has followed.

10:51162 (slow music)

11:23163 - [Voiceover] I began reading Malinowski's books

11:25164 well aware that I was one of the few descendants

11:27165 who's taken an interest in his work.

11:31166 I'm amazed by the topics he takes on.

11:34167 Mythology, sex and magic rituals.

11:37168 Spirits of the dead.

11:39169 Flying witches and sorcery, to name a few.

11:43170 These are books that have been read

11:44171 in anthropology classes for decades.

11:48172 They have titles like "Crime and Custom"

11:51173 and "Sex and Repression in Savage Society".

11:55174 When I think of the word savage,

11:57175 I think of something wild, violent, uncontrolled.

12:03176 What did he mean by savage?

12:06177 Was that word just part of the daily vernacular

12:08178 of that time?

12:09179 Or is Malinowski saying something more?

12:15180 (waves crashing)

12:34181 Almost 100 years after Malinowski,

12:37182 I'm on my way to the Trobriand Islands.

12:41183 I'm with Linus digim'Rina,

12:43184 the first trained anthropologist from these islands,

12:46185 and he'll be my guide in exploring

12:48186 what people think of Malinowski's work.

12:56187 I have no idea what kind of reaction I'll get,

13:00188 considering it was my great grandfather

13:02189 that made their ancestors famous as savages.

13:08190 (speaking foreign language)

13:19191 - It is true that I'm the first anthropologist

13:21192 from the Trobriand Islands,

13:24193 and from the Trobriand Islanders themselves,

13:26194 I will be the most closest to the works of Malinowski.

13:29195 Because he wrote about my own society,

13:31196 it also raised my curiosity to see how he saw things.

13:35197 It made me read Malinowski,

13:37198 in a different way I suppose,

13:40199 but I was certainly very conscious of the fact

13:43200 that I was reading Malinowski critically,

13:46201 not from the sense of anthropology,

13:48202 but from the sense of a Trobriand Islander's perspective.

13:51203 (fast electric guitar)

13:55204 The island of Kiriwina lies 90 miles off the coast

13:58205 of mainland Papua New Guinea, in the South Pacific.

14:02206 It's 30 miles long and has a population of about 12,000.

14:11207 On his first field trip in 1915,

14:13208 my great grandfather lived in Omarakana

14:16209 along side the chief of the island, To'uluwa.

14:21210 Malinowski predicted that after To'uluwa's death

14:23211 the chieftaincy would die out,

14:27212 but today, a chief still rules the island.

14:32213 Daniel Pulayasi is three generations descended from To'uluwa

14:38214 just like I'm three generations from Malinowski.

14:44215 - (translated) Malinowski did well because he didn't just go

14:49216 anywhere on the island looking for somewhere to settle.

14:54217 When he arrived

14:57218 he went directly to the chief of Kiriwina, To'uluwa

15:00219 and lived with him here.

15:05220 People were wary of making jokes about Malinowski

15:10221 because their knowledge did not come from the chief.

15:17222 Malinowski attained enough to outwit the local villagers.

15:23223 After all, he got his tutoring from the source, To'uluwa,

15:29224 not the footpaths or sideshows.

15:48225 - [Voiceover] On his second field trip in 1917,

15:51226 Malinowski stayed in the village of Obulaku, on the lagoon.

15:56227 Linus knows of an elder there

15:58228 who has stories to tell about him.

16:06229 - (translated) Whatever you might like to ask about

16:10230 Malinowski, I am happy to oblige

16:13231 as it may be our last chance.

16:16232 I was a tiny kid when he recorded the magic

16:19233 of our sacred stone.

16:22234 The stone has power over food abundance and famine.

16:28235 When chiefs of Omarakhana call for hunger everywhere

16:33236 I can charm ginger roots and spit them through the village.

16:37237 so the spirit woman returns to her stone house

16:41238 to anchor the food.

16:43239 Malinowski used to take notes

16:46240 and pictures when he came here.

16:51241 After telling tales with the women,

16:57242 he would dish them out tobacco and cigarettes.

17:06243 - [Voiceover] Most likely,

17:07244 this elder never laid eyes on my great grandfather.

17:11245 He would have to be at least 95 years old to remember him.

17:16246 But somehow Malinowski has become part of his living memory.

17:22247 - (translated) After I die,

17:24248 no one in the village will remember him.

17:28249 Not one of hem even glimpsed this white man.

17:35250 Furthermore, he is dead and gone.

17:55251 - I suspect that had I met him, I wouldn't have like him.

17:58252 No, I would've been scared of him.

18:00253 No, he could be very prusk and tough and challenging,

18:05254 and overbearing I suppose.

18:08255 - I think that he would have been a hard taskmaster.

18:12256 He was by his students own accounts.

18:15257 He was somebody who demanded

18:17258 that they are on top of their intellectual thinking.

18:20259 He would suffer no fools.

18:22260 That's just the man he was.

18:23261 - Egocentric, yah, he was.

18:28262 - Clearly it was the type of egomaniac that could

18:35263 remain enduring and you could forgive him of all things.

18:41264 I remember Rosemary Firth telling me,

18:43265 what a wonderful dancer he was.

18:46266 - I mean there's one story after the other

18:48267 that I have in my notes and stuff about him in America.

18:54268 And just sort of seducing women away from the men

18:56269 they were with to go to another party with him.

18:59270 Which is not what people usually do,

19:01271 you know, in a sort of academic society,

19:03272 but off they went,

19:05273 they just couldn't resist Bronio you know.

19:09274 - [Voiceover] My great aunt Helena is the one family

19:11275 who's taken up Malinowski's legacy.

19:15276 She's the youngest of his three daughters

19:17277 and the last surviving.

19:20278 I never really knew her well, because she lives in London.

19:25279 Years ago,

19:26280 she began collecting her father's papers and writings.

19:28281 Gradually building and archive of his entire life's work.

19:33282 - Well, sitting on this veranda here,

19:36283 I could hardy be nearer to him

19:38284 I remember by my mother lying on her her chaise lounge

19:43285 and I was sitting almost where I'm sitting now

19:46286 and my nose in a book

19:47287 and he came up the steps from the front field,

19:51288 from the garden and he came over to her

19:54289 and he sat down on the end of her chaise lounge

19:58290 and he said in the most wonderful tone of voice

20:01291 "how are you darling

20:03292 "how are you "el-sue-shoe""

20:04293 which was his sort of a pet name,

20:06294 and then they started to talk, murmuring,

20:09295 I don't think he was even aware that I was here,

20:11296 and it filled me with a great feeling of joy somehow.

20:16297 It was so lovely to hear him talking like that to her.

20:21298 - [Voiceover] As I talked to Helena,

20:22299 I find that her stories keep returning to he mother.

20:27300 My great grandmother Elsie Masson

20:30301 fell for Malinowski in 1917,

20:32302 when he was on a break from a field trip.

20:36303 Over the next year they forged a relationship

20:39304 through hundreds of letters sent on steam ships.

20:45305 - When I started doing the letters,

20:47306 there were about 2,000 letters.

20:52307 I read them through and I felt that somehow rather

20:57308 this is what I must do.

20:59309 I must edit these letters and get them out,

21:03310 because my mother comes through so beautifully

21:05311 and my mother was so little known to my father's colleagues.

21:09312 - [Voiceover] Long after both her parents had died,

21:11313 Helena found a trunk filled with their letters.

21:16314 Pouring over their words, she found a new version

21:19315 of the parents she had only known as a 10 year old girl.

21:22316 - Once I was sort of in it, taken up with it,

21:26317 it was just like being in another world, one says, you know.

21:30318 I was really there with them

21:33319 and I began to see how their relationship was

21:36320 and how it developed.

21:39321 (slow electric guitar)

22:23322 - [Voiceover] Reading the letters

22:24323 is like reading a Victorian Romance novel.

22:27324 They're of a time I'll never know,

22:31325 but the more I read,

22:32326 the more I'm aware of the distance between them.

22:36327 There were so many letters

22:38328 because they spent so much time apart.

22:41329 - I think for all three of them,

22:43330 Malinowski was as distant figure because he wasn't there.

22:46331 I mean, they were in Oberboatsen

22:48332 with their mother and the nanny,

22:52333 and he was, during the semester anyway,

22:53334 always somewhere else.

22:55335 They never actually had this man as a father, you know.

22:58336 Just as this father figure.

23:00337 - There were three daughters.

23:01338 Their mother got sick with multiple sclerosis

23:04339 and Malinowski bought a house in northern Italy

23:08340 and put the three daughters there with their dying mother

23:11341 and went off to pursue his career.

23:13342 The huge overwhelming sadness of those three girls,

23:17343 watching their mother slowly degenerate

23:20344 with multiple sclerosis is thing that I keep thinking about,

23:24345 and I think has had reverberations down

23:27346 the generations in the family.

23:30347 (electric guitar)

23:40348 - [Voiceover] At one point in my great grandfathers career

23:43349 he was obsessed with the presence of ancestral spirits.

23:48350 He wrote about it in endless detail.

23:51351 The baloma, or spirits, are part of an endless cycle

23:55352 of life and rebirth within a clan.

23:59353 They live on a small island called Tuma,

24:01354 15 miles off the coast of the mainland waiting to return.

24:08355 Ancestors have a role in everyday life,

24:11356 as if they were another family member.

24:13357 They eat at their tables, lie under their beds,

24:16358 and every magic formula invokes the name

24:18359 of an ancestor who passed it down.

24:23360 In my upbringing, we never talked about an afterlife.

24:27361 And my ancestors definitely couldn't be located on a map.

24:32362 Malinowski barely made his way into family dinner conversations.

24:42363 - (translated) In a way, my father knows Malinowski.

24:48364 He did pay visits to my father's father.

24:51365 He used to make rounds through villages.

24:57366 Collecting ancestral histories of village groups.

25:05367 He also collected magical spells,

25:11368 and rituals on hunger, abundance and the like.

25:21369 - [Voiceover] Malinowski's work made the Trobrian Islands

25:23370 a mecca for the study of culture.

25:26371 Anthropologists, film crews and tourists

25:29372 have all followed in his footsteps to get a glimpse.

25:34373 In the 1970's, Bunemiga was an informant

25:36374 to one such anthropologist, Annette Wiener.

25:40375 - (translated) Annette's hut was here next to me

25:43376 on her first trip.

25:45377 Then over there and then there.

25:49378 She barely paid us for our help.

25:52379 She asked for stories and magic.

25:54380 She was interested, so I gave them to her.

26:01381 - (translated) Did people want to be paid?

26:03382 - (translated) She never gave us any money.

26:08383 So I never gave her the full magic,

26:10384 only the root, never the branch.

26:13385 - (translated) How typical of you old folks.

26:17386 Did you ever ask her about it?

26:20387 - (translated) No, I was too inhibited.

26:21388 - (translated) Rather embarrassing?

26:23389 - (translated) I didn't want to be seen as a beggar.

26:28390 - (translated) Do you think her work has any value?

26:33391 - (translated) No. - (translated) No?

26:37392 - [Voiceover] What does this say

26:38393 about my great grandfather's work.

26:41394 Why did he think it was valuable?

26:48395 In 1914, Malinowski arrived in Australia

26:51396 to news of armed conflict in Europe.

26:54397 He watched from afar as his homeland

26:56398 of Poland became a casualty of World War I.

27:02399 What he thought was going to be a short visit

27:04400 for a conference, became a four year stay.

27:08401 Two of which were spent in Papua New Guinea.

27:13402 The concern at the time,

27:15403 all the European thinkers were trying to make sense

27:17404 of how could a society, you know,

27:20405 basically blow up in their faces during the first World War

27:25406 and I think he was very much concerned with

27:27407 trying to show that society actually did make sense

27:30408 and this was an aberrancy, rather than a pattern.

27:34409 - The majority of anthropologists in America

27:37410 were doing this summer field work

27:40411 with American Indian groups,

27:42412 which was basically salvage ethnography.

27:45413 You sit down with an old man

27:47414 and find out what the customs were of those people,

27:50415 and so Malinowski presented a totally different

27:54416 way of doing things.

27:55417 You go out there to a living community

27:58418 and you understand how things are connected.

28:02419 - You came to the field without a specific agenda,

28:06420 what the anthropologist was supposed to be doing.

28:08421 Now Malinowski of course,

28:09422 had gotten on the bad side of the governor.

28:12423 The governor thought he was extraordinarily arrogant.

28:14424 So he had planned to sabotage Malinowski's career

28:18425 by making him only go to the Trobriand Islands.

28:22426 - Malinowski ends up being stuck in one place

28:24427 looking at one particular community

28:26428 and spending more than two years there.

28:30429 - [Voiceover] Malinowski's extended stay

28:32430 distinguished him from other earlier anthropologists,

28:35431 and made him the leading voice

28:36432 in the British School of Anthropology.

28:39433 At the same time as Malinowski,

28:41434 Franz Boas was leading the charge in the United States.

28:45435 These two figures and their groundbreaking work,

28:48436 solidified anthropology into a discipline.

28:54437 - He just wanted to put a new kind of anthropology on the map.

28:59438 You need to live among the people,

29:02439 not in a house on the edge of a settlement,

29:05440 not with the missionaries, not with the traders.

29:07441 His image for that was live in a tent.

29:10442 That you learn the language

29:11443 and you learn it well enough to learn to converse,

29:14444 and listen into people, because you learn a lot

29:16445 by just listening to their conversation.

29:19446 Share some of their rituals.

29:20447 Dance with them, sing with them, if you can.

29:23448 I mean, they're going to laugh at you,

29:25449 but these are the tolls,

29:27450 so what, I don't mind making a fool of myself.

29:31451 (rhythmic clapping and guitar)

29:41452 - [Voiceover] I'd been trying to imagine

29:42453 being a Trobriand Islander

29:44454 and too all of a sudden have a strange man in my village.

29:48455 Asking me questions about my everyday existence.

29:51456 Challenging my beliefs.

29:53457 Taking photographs.

30:01458 As I travel around the island, the reactions to our camera

30:05459 are fascination, annoyance.

30:18460 As I look at Malinowski's field photographs,

30:21461 I wanna know how each person was feeling

30:24462 as they pose for the camera.

30:25463 Or turned around, told how to stand,

30:29464 like specimens under a microscope.

30:45465 - Some people feel that Malinowski should not have

30:50466 recorded on the sexual behavior, sexual practices,

30:55467 sexual activities of the Trobriand Islanders,

30:57468 because that it's more or less promoted a negative view.

31:00469 He portrayed the Trobriand Islanders as peoples

31:04470 I don't know, starved with sex or abuses sex

31:07471 and look like sex objects to the rest of the world.

31:12472 - That's directly opposite,

31:14473 we Trobriand Islanders love sex

31:18474 and it's a customary kind of thing,

31:22475 it's to go with the culture itself.

31:24476 - Well put it the other way.

31:26477 How do you feel being described as

31:30478 being a Trobriand Islander, coming from the islands of love.

31:33479 - Proud of it.

31:34480 I mean, you don't hide it.

31:36481 It's a, the society loves their poets, are free.

31:40482 It's a kind of life style.

31:43483 Well, I don't see it as thing

31:45484 where you can argue on moral issues or moral basis.

31:51485 It is the society that we have our own moral values.

31:56486 (rhythmic clapping and guitar)

32:08487 - [Voiceover] My great grandfather published

32:10488 the "Sexual Life of Savages" in 1929

32:13489 and it launched him into international fame.

32:16490 Helena always said that the title alone

32:18491 paid for her college education.

32:23492 - This is June of 1929 and it's headed "To Elsie",

32:27493 and this is Daddy and he says

32:29494 "My book is sold in Paris on the boulevards along side

32:33495 "The Well of Loneliness"."

32:34496 Which you don't know, but which was all about lesbianism,

32:38497 "and "Lady Chatterley's Lover" a pornogram written by D. H. Lawrence".

32:45498 - [Voiceover] Behind the provocative title,

32:47499 I find a straightforward description of Trobriand sex life.

32:53500 Malinowski describes his informants pursuits for love

32:56501 and beauty, as we follow their stories of early sex life

32:59502 through marriage, all the way to death.

33:02503 He lays out the very open sexual practices

33:05504 of the Trobrianders.

33:07505 Taking what could be called exotic and having it make sense.

33:12506 (rhythmic clapping)

33:32507 - There is patuyous that they call it.

33:35508 That's when all the females set a time

33:40509 and then they meet the male from another village.

33:44510 - By then the word had already gone around,

33:46511 where all the young men know,

33:49512 So that they will all meet at the beach

33:51513 or that certain place.

33:52514 - [Voiceover] And the men bring beetle nuts.

33:55515 - And then the men bring beetle nuts, mustard and

33:58516 then they will share with those females.

34:01517 (speaks foreign language) and then from the time on,

34:04518 from the time, the leader will just stand up

34:08519 and he will start to pair off,

34:10520 "you go with this man", "you go with this man".

34:13521 So, you be friends.

34:14522 - All the ladies you find now, you see on their chins

34:17523 you would see like little scars.

34:19524 - Scars, little scars.

34:21525 - When the bite them they have sore,

34:23526 and then they can go off to the next boyfriend

34:26527 or the same boyfriend and even though it's sore,

34:28528 they'll bite them one more time.

34:31529 - Sort of like a, instead of getting a pen and you know

34:36530 get your teli' on the paper,

34:38531 how many men you sleep with

34:40532 or how many women you sleep with,

34:42533 and then they have it on there, yah, cheeks.

34:47534 - Maybe teli' or maybe their just too fond of them

34:51535 because, oh, the same boyfriend

34:53536 can just put how many marks on there,

34:55537 and they say, I'm glad it's not,

35:00538 I mean it's not practiced now,

35:02539 they say that they look pretty.

35:05540 (rhythmic clapping and guitar)

35:12541 - [Voiceover] While browsing through Malinowski's

35:14542 field photographs, I discovered a series of shots

35:17543 that I had never seen before.

35:19544 Two men theatrically performing the act of sex.

35:25545 Malinowski couldn't have photographed a man and a woman.

35:29546 So he went with the second best choice.

35:31547 A simulation of the event between two men.

35:37548 How did he persuade them to do it?

35:41549 What were these pictures for?

35:43550 What was this work for?

35:52551 - He made me a little upset when he came up with the title

35:56552 "The Sexual Life of the Savages".

35:58553 That's the only comment I have.

36:02554 Just that "savages" made me a little bit upset,

36:05555 but when I read it, I believe he wasn't talking to us.

36:12556 He was talking to somebody, maybe, in the Western world.

36:16557 He was trying to prove to them, that's what I can gather

36:20558 or maybe it was just my, sort of,

36:22559 self to justify his intention was good.

36:28560 But what I thought maybe he was trying to convince

36:31561 those ones in the west that we are not

36:34562 really savages after all.

36:37563 I don't know, he's not alive, so I wouldn't ask him.

36:52564 (slow music)

37:05565 - Nobody knew Malinowski kept something

37:09566 which can me named, really named a diary.

37:16567 - The diaries were published by his second wife

37:19568 and there was a lot of criticism about Malinowski

37:22569 because of what was discovered about this man

37:25570 that he had had such an image of being this wonderful

37:29571 anthropologist, totally in tune

37:31572 and in a mental space with the so called natives.

37:35573 Where as in the diaries it was revealed from his own hand

37:39574 that he was, he felt that they were rude,

37:42575 that they were ignorant, that they were, you know

37:46576 not the people that come crossing as ethnographies.

37:50577 - Malinowski did not intend for his diaries

37:51578 ever to be published.

37:53579 It's always been very interesting to me how she would

37:55580 allow them to be published

37:58581 knowing that it would tarnish his reputation in some way.

38:01582 - The most shocking example is the use of the term, a Polish

38:07583 term, czarnuchy, it was translated into English as niggers,

38:13584 and imagine, late 60's and you have the book,

38:18585 diary of a famous student of culture, let's say fighter

38:23586 for freedom and in his personal, deep thinking,

38:29587 he thinks about blacks as niggers.

38:43588 - If Valetta had shown it to me, I would have gone into

38:47589 action with a lawyer, you know,

38:48590 'cause I could have stopped her.

38:49591 Anyhow, now it's too late.

38:51592 It was done, nothing can undo it.

38:54593 And you know, it was very badly received at first

38:57594 and I was really so angry.

39:01595 - I think people's immediate reaction was

39:03596 "oh, this man is no longer the idol",

39:07597 he is now a man of clay feet.

39:09598 - He was a man of a temper.

39:12599 He lusted after the young girls, after all he's a man.

39:16600 I think people were a bit shocked.

39:21601 (slow electronic piano)

39:42602 - [Voiceover] As I read the diary, from page to page,

39:45603 I don't know how to feel about Malinowski,

39:48604 on so many days, he's a racist tyrant

39:51605 and I'm shocked and disgusted with him.

39:55606 On other days he's fighting his feelings of alienation,

39:58607 longing to be anywhere but there.

40:01608 On others, he's pathetic and vulnerable,

40:03609 and I feel sorry for him,

40:06610 but some of this statements are so shocking,

40:09611 it's hard to feel anything but anger,

40:12612 and this is my ancestor, revealing his most savage side.

40:18613 - He's a larger than life personality

40:20614 and for those people who would have reacted against it,

40:24615 any opportunity to cut him down,

40:26616 the Tall Poppy Syndrome we say here in Australia,

40:29617 they would have launched into it and enjoyed that,

40:32618 being able to find some chink in the armor,

40:36619 and the diaries were that, provided that chink,

40:40620 and it was easy for people to criticize

40:43621 and drop down his character, character assassination.

40:49622 - I had a completely different reaction to the diary,

40:52623 than a lot of other anthropologists.

40:54624 Ok, so he was, we idealized him, but he had

40:58625 this other side, and he was actually

41:01626 expressing his forbidden impulses in a diary,

41:05627 which was a good way of doing it.

41:08628 - And my god, what an honest document it is

41:12629 and you know he keeps wanting to "ransack the bottom

41:16630 of his soul" he says, or something like that.

41:20631 Oh, to further look into the furthest corners of my mind.

41:22632 - It's such a normal thing for him to be

41:25633 revealing himself in that way.

41:27634 Those diaries were never meant to be published

41:30635 and they probably shouldn't ever been published.

41:32636 I would hate that my diaries ever get published,

41:35637 'cause it's your opportunity to reflect on

41:38638 how you're feeling on any particular day and--

41:41639 - [Voiceover] All the scholars I've spoken to

41:43640 can place the diary in it's context.

41:46641 The frustrations he was up against.

41:49642 The period in which it was written.

41:54643 But it's hard to include their statements,

41:56644 because I feel like that lets him off the hook.

42:00645 There is a relentless honesty in the diaries.

42:05646 Page after page he evaluates his every thought and action.

42:10647 Obsessed with understanding himself.

42:14648 Was it this obsession that drove him to study other people?

42:20649 He writes about his sexual desires.

42:23650 His relationship with his mother.

42:24651 His relationship to God.

42:27652 All topics that came to life in his books

42:29653 through the humanity of the Trobrianders.

42:34654 - I find it interesting to read about his work and think

42:37655 oh, he's my ancestor.

42:39656 I'd like to meet Malinowski and you know,

42:42657 and understand why, for instance,

42:45658 he decided to study people.

42:49659 For me, the whole concept of anthropology is such

42:51660 a weird, bizarre, absurd phenomenon.

42:56661 "Hello, I'm going to study you."

42:57662 You know, I find myself drawn to it

43:03663 because I want to understand people

43:05664 and I want to understand myself

43:06665 and you know I feel like,

43:08666 I'm just a lot like most other people, so I don't know.

43:16667 - [Voiceover] The one who's most like Malinowski

43:18668 in my family, is my identical twin brother, Daniel.

43:23669 When he was 19, he went to India

43:25670 and ended up living there for three years.

43:28671 Learning Hindi and Sanskrit and studying the culture.

43:33672 He's now a scholar of Eastern Religion.

43:38673 He won't admit it, but the more I read about Malinowski,

43:41674 the more I see him in my brother.

43:44675 His intellectual curiosity.

43:46676 His interest in other cultures,

43:47677 and his obsession with self improvement.

43:52678 But maybe it's easier to recognize Malinowski in my twin,

43:55679 than in myself.

43:59680 - I definitely have always thought that rigorous scholarship

44:03681 and learning about cultures, learning about ideas,

44:05682 history, those things have always seemed important to me.

44:10683 The question is whether I'm gonna ultimately really feel

44:15684 like I'm approaching the subject manner in the way

44:18685 that I really care about it.

44:20686 Which is more in line with going for things

44:22687 that are more experiential level,

44:25688 rather than just intellectualizing them.

44:27689 I don't really feel like I get that from

44:30690 the legacy of Malinowski, but it might you know in some

44:34691 generational way had, you know, been fathered down

44:38692 from Malinowski, those values.

44:40693 Thank you.

44:45694 - He had a sort of boyish or adolescent love

44:48695 of shocking people and saying something

44:52696 which you normally don't say in public

44:54697 or you don't say it in front of ladies,

44:56698 gentlemen and the like,

45:00699 and he did it, almost on purpose and it was part of him.

45:05700 Some people do carry on a sort of adolescence sense

45:07701 of humor to the day they die.

45:09702 I've know others and they think they're very funny.

45:14703 They have remarks and their jokes and others don't.

45:17704 - To me the Malinowski curse is a lot of intelligence

45:23705 and no common sense

45:25706 and an unearned condescending grandiosity

45:32707 over layered over crippling insecurity.

45:36708 So that would sort of be my take on it.

45:39709 - I think that David has the worse of the Malinowski curse

45:43710 and I'm second.

45:44711 He's a bigger know-it-all than I am.

45:47712 The reason I say that is

45:48713 because he hasn't quite grown out of it yet.

45:52714 - Been a know-it-all all my life.

45:54715 You know, just providing plausible explanations

45:56716 for things is very useful,

45:58717 even if their not accurate.

46:02718 - I don't know.

46:03719 I don't really know if Malinowski was a know-it-all,

46:05720 to tell you the truth.

46:07721 I certainly know I am,

46:08722 but I'm a know-it-all with a grain of salt.

46:11723 - I think I certainly got a little of it.

46:14724 I mean I've worked very hard to do voodoo

46:18725 and undo the curse, but it's a long process.

46:24726 - [Voiceover] I think know-it-all is an easy

46:26727 packaged way for my family to acknowledge

46:28728 an entitled arrogance, which by all accounts

46:31729 has been passed down from Malinowski.

46:34730 But is often the case in my family,

46:36731 sarcasm is used to cover up deeper feelings.

46:39732 - Here's this huge big psychological nightmare cloud

46:43733 from hell hanging over the whole family

46:45734 and, you know, big fucking deal.

46:49735 - [Voiceover] The real curse is more subtle.

46:51736 A few generalizations ago, Malinowski abandoned my

46:55737 grandmother and her sisters,

46:58738 and that pain has been passed down,

47:00739 all in the name of a career,

47:03740 And none of them has read his work

47:05741 or figured out yet whether that career had any value.

47:12742 - Two decades earlier when the Cambridge Expedition was

47:15743 in the Torres Strait, Rivers was worried about, finding out

47:18744 if they experienced pain the same way we did.

47:21745 I mean these were the questions that were

47:23746 contemporary questions for them.

47:26747 So he was pricking their arms and legs with pins and things.

47:29748 Malinowski's not asking any of those things.

47:31749 He's trying to show how they are real human beings.

47:35750 Sometimes the things that they value,

47:36751 that has no value to us,

47:38752 for them it's terribly important,

47:40753 and he try's to show why it's important,

47:43754 and why it can be the center of their lives.

47:48755 - He was particularly interested in how change

47:53756 how modernization, how colonization was going to

47:57757 impact on these societies.

48:03758 He developed the theory that societies are like an organism

48:08759 and that if you take off or change or affect a particular

48:13760 part of that organism, it's going to have a flow on affect.

48:17761 So if you take off one arm, i.e. the economic side

48:22762 of society, then it's going to have an effect on

48:24763 their religion, on their, definitely on their exchange,

48:27764 on their political structure, on their kinship,

48:29765 on those other parts of the organism.

48:34766 - [Voiceover] In his diaries, Malinowski rails

48:37767 against the impending forces of change,

48:39768 Western influence and most of all Christianity.

48:45769 In a society where magic and spirit worship

48:48770 were the main religious beliefs,

48:50771 he saw Christianity as a force of destruction.

48:57772 Today, almost 100 percent of the island is Christian

49:01773 and I feel like I'm glimpsing some of what he predicted.

49:06774 - (translated) How did you become a Christian?

49:09775 - (translated) In Port Moresby,

49:12776 there was a new kind of evangelical Christianity.

49:17777 I didn't like it and I refused to join.

49:20778 But one day I went anyway and I was having severe hip pains.

49:25779 I could barely walk,

49:27780 so the preacher prayed over me and healed me.

49:30781 Then he asked for those willing to give

49:35782 their lives to Jesus Christ.

49:38783 I was so deep in thought without a care

49:39784 for village life or my own wealth.

49:43785 I was in another world.

49:45786 It was then that I became a Christian.

49:50787 - I do realize the extent of the influence

49:55788 of Christianity into the Trobriand culture

49:57789 or if not the people themselves now,

50:00790 especially their behavior and the way they think.

50:03791 I think it's role is far to great,

50:05792 that it does not realize how great it is.

50:10793 - If I was with Malinowski at that time,

50:13794 I would be in a better position to criticize what he wrote,

50:16795 but some of the things, like I said,

50:18796 we, today, have been denied of knowing

50:21797 because when Christianity came in,

50:24798 some of those things were relinquished by our people.

50:27799 Were discouraged.

50:28800 Some people don't have any identity now,

50:33801 because they have lost their culture.

50:37802 So we are sort of living a photocopy western life.

50:43803 We even live in a photocopy Christianity too.

50:48804 Living someone else's life.

50:51805 But who's culture is this?

50:54806 - (translated) Do you have any magic spells

50:58807 and do you practice magic?

51:03808 - (translated) Practice magic?

51:05809 You've come to the house of magic!

51:09810 - (translated) And the spells

51:10811 that you have "in your stomach",

51:13812 will you pass them on to anybody?

51:19813 - (translated) No, no one at all.

51:20814 See my grandchildren?

51:22815 Not one wants to come for my magic.

51:25816 They are more interested in Christianity.

51:27817 It shall live and die with me.

51:30818 - The priests or the church

51:32819 was very strong against tradition and culture.

51:35820 They condemned totally the culture itself.

51:39821 Without Malinowski's writing in relation to culture

51:43822 and tradition and practices, the present generation

51:47823 would probably not have, would have no clue.

51:49824 No idea of what used to be at that time,

51:52825 during the time of Malinowski.

51:55826 - All this about the life here has been recorded,

51:58827 and that's very, very good for the island.

52:02828 Like I said, maybe one day, we will lose all this

52:10829 and then at least we have some record somewhere,

52:12830 that our children may look back and see life was here.

52:20831 - When I was on the north coast,

52:22832 I talked with all the old men about

52:25833 traditional friendship relations.

52:26834 It would often happen that the young guys would talk

52:28835 about some of these topics with me

52:31836 and as an outsider I wouldn't really usually have

52:33837 any standing at all, except that I had the trump card,

52:36838 I had talked with their elders.

52:39839 Now, many of those old men have passed on

52:41840 and now I am a living embodiment of the knowledge

52:45841 of these old men

52:47842 and Malinowski surely would be seen in that way.

52:49843 Now the other problem, is of course,

52:51844 what I remember and know is biased by

52:53845 what questions I was asking

52:55846 and I wasn't getting the whole story,

52:56847 I was only getting what I was asking

52:57848 and what they were telling.

52:59849 - [Voiceover] So you've been reading

53:00850 the "Sexual Life of Savages"?

53:02851 - Yes, a little bit of it from time to time.

53:05852 I wanted to read a bit of it,

53:08853 to also know the names of those people who have died

53:13854 a long time and then to trace up, you know,

53:16855 which line I belong to.

53:17856 When the men get together,

53:19857 their stories will be strictly just men

53:22858 and ladies will not be around to hear.

53:25859 I guess I can't imagine Malinowski in his tent

53:28860 with all these, Ala, Takulabaki and others,

53:32861 the sense of thought what would come,

53:34862 and Malinowski would just ask straight forward questions,

53:37863 you know, and I can imagine maybe them giggling

53:41864 behind the tent and then coming up to say their story

53:45865 or something, their experiences.

53:49866 - Except that, as soon as they see that Malinowski

53:52867 finished his dinner, then they would just,

53:55868 both of them would just walk into his tent,

53:59869 and then they would sit down

54:00870 and start telling all sorts of stories,

54:02871 and then sometimes when the stories

54:04872 become so funny to Malinowski,

54:07873 then he would just turn his back,

54:10874 pretending that he didn't show an interest to their stories,

54:15875 but the next effect, he didn't want to show to

54:17876 Takulabaki and Ala that he was really laughing inside.

54:23877 - [Voiceover] Malinowski seemed so alive to Lydia and David.

54:28878 His work gives them a vision of their culture,

54:30879 from 100 years back,

54:32880 but it's through his eyes

54:34881 and no one I've spoken to on the island

54:36882 has read his diaries.

54:38883 They see a man who has played a part

54:40884 in preserving their culture.

54:45885 I go back to the diaries, turning the pages

54:48886 looking for the man who wrote with such

54:51887 deep respect for Trobriand culture

54:53888 and I can't find him.

54:58889 - He was very important to me

55:00890 and I was, as I told you, sort of his favorite

55:03891 because he thought that I was this

55:05892 poor, pathetic unwanted child.

55:09893 I was, I was, there was no reason for my existence,

55:12894 but, I mean he meant it because I was the third girl,

55:15895 you know, and as far a Pol' of his vintage,

55:19896 I was absolutely useless.

55:25897 (slow music)

55:49898 - I think there's kind of a juxtaposition when you

55:52899 think of Malinowski, between the historical figure

55:58900 you know this man of great accomplishment intellectually

56:03901 and the human figure.

56:05902 This man who, you know left his daughters feeling

56:11903 undervalued or unappreciated.

56:15904 Here they had this powerful figure in their lives,

56:19905 but he wasn't engaged in their lives.

56:24906 - You can't like put it all on Malinowski,

56:26907 what does he have to do with it?

56:28908 You know we're Americans and we, you know

56:30909 sure we like to argue.

56:33910 - I'm talking about our mothers.

56:36911 Talking about the Helena and Jozefa phenomenon.

56:39912 They were the daughters of this great man,

56:42913 but they didn't get any support, emotional support,

56:45914 I'm speaking, they didn't get any emotional support,

56:47915 and he died suddenly

56:49916 and his second wife left with everything.

56:51917 So, they went from this condition in England

56:53918 where they, all these important intellectuals came

56:56919 to the house and they were acknowledged as part

56:58920 of this elite group,

57:00921 to being in the United States without a penny.

57:03922 And the only thing that they had to assert

57:05923 was their intellects and their status

57:09924 as related to this great man.

57:13925 - It's very strange, because being plunked

57:15926 into a new society,

57:17927 never been to America, hardly new anything about it,

57:20928 and then we had to start be parceled out

57:23929 with strangers, strangers, strangers.

57:25930 I still think that was very wrong of Daddy,

57:28931 he should have worked out something better than that.

57:31932 If Valetta had been a different person,

57:33933 it would have been different.

57:34934 - All three of the daughters expressed immense

57:36935 direct criticism of Valetta, the second woman.

57:39936 She was the villain.

57:41937 She was the evil stepmother, always growing up.

57:43938 I mean, all the the stories you ever heard were about

57:45939 her evil stepmotherness.

57:47940 The story is literally that she stole the family silver.

57:51941 You know after the war, Valetta allegedly wrote her brother

57:54942 and her brother immediately went to the bank

57:56943 and got out the family silver and sent it to Valetta

57:58944 who then absconded to Mexico with it.

58:01945 She took all of Malinowski's papers and stuff as well

58:03946 and kind of left the three daughters of Malinowski hanging

58:08947 in space, wherever they were.

58:12948 - I think he was of a very powerful figure obviously

58:15949 in his daughters lives.

58:16950 Their huge psychic connection to him was just always there.

58:22951 Like this 800 pound gorilla in the family

58:25952 and it's in our DNA.

58:29953 - Family dynamics do reproduce generation after generation.

58:33954 I mean, look at your mother and her mother.

58:36955 - Don't put it on Malinowski man.

58:38956 I mean, put it on the girls.

58:40957 You know, Malinowski had nothing to do with it.

58:42958 He was like, just a guy, he studied, he introspected.

58:46959 Sure, I'm sure he was an elitist.

58:47960 - He treated women badly, he didn't value women

58:50961 for their intellectual capacity--

58:51962 - [Voiceover] Why should he? - and ah.

58:53963 - Well did he have good reason to, probably not.

58:56964 - [Voiceover] Well he had three daughters

58:57965 and they didn't feel valued.

58:58966 That's important.

59:00967 - [Voiceover] I'm just kidding Dad.

59:01968 - I know, but I'm telling you, this is important.

59:03969 It's not independent of Malinowski's relationship

59:05970 to his three daughters.

59:07971 It's a product of his relationship to his three daughters.

59:09972 - Maybe, or it's just a great myth that you've all created

59:11973 to blame your problems on someone.

59:13974 - Yeah, and so luckily there's nobody for you to blame

59:16975 your problems on but yourself so--

59:17976 - [Voiceover] Exactly. - get it in check.

59:18977 - I'm the only one here that will say, will admit

59:20978 that I'm completely responsible for my own actions.

59:23979 - Karmic theory is pretty much

59:25980 the most conservative theory out there.

59:27981 It says everything pretty much should remain status quo,

59:33982 but you have to take responsibility for it yourself.

59:36983 I mean I can tell you exactly what karma says about

59:39984 inheritance, it say's "your only inheritance is karma".

59:44985 That's it.

59:47986 - [Voiceover] One of the first films I ever made

59:49987 was a portrait of my brother in India.

59:52988 Doing a sort of Buddhist pilgrimage.

59:55989 Somehow he has connected with this very foreign tradition

59:58990 and it's given him a way to make sense of the world.

60:03991 - The whole theory they all have is that,

60:05992 Jozefa was emotionally debilitated by means

60:10993 of her relationship with her father

60:12994 and because of her complete lack of being in touch

60:16995 with her emotions, all of them also had those difficulties.

60:20996 Karmic theory, it says that none of them can blame

60:24997 their mother for the fact that they got into that situation,

60:29998 but rather they have to take responsibility

60:31999 for the the fact that they were born to her,

60:361000 as a result of their previous actions.

60:391001 I think putting it all on Malinowski is,

60:431002 I thinks it a waste and I think it's wrong,

60:471003 and anyway, he's a ghost.

60:501004 (slow guitars)

61:111005 - They go to the pool to wash the face of the living

61:141006 and enter into the place of the dead.

61:171007 I was there one time when there was death here,

61:201008 on the island.

61:221009 You and I would be sitting down talking away and midday,

61:271010 all of a sudden, up comes, just like in bodily form,

61:321011 your grandmother or my grandmother,

61:351012 all dressed up for a sing-sing.

61:391013 (slow guitars)

62:031014 And then at night you would lie down

62:061015 and there would be sounds of conch shell being blown,

62:101016 drums beating, coming up, all these things happen.

62:161017 So I don't deny

62:181018 that our heaven has no spirits existing there.

62:221019 I used to, but now I know, I've been there

62:241020 and seen all these kinds of things happen.

62:501021 - [Voiceover] The Trobriand Islanders of 1915 knew

62:531022 exactly where their ancestors went after death

62:561023 and then they'd return to insert themselves

62:591024 in the wombs of women while bathing in the lagoon.

63:031025 Insuring that every child was a reincarnation

63:051026 of a long dead ancestor.

63:101027 I see traces of Malinowski in my brother.

63:131028 I see his living presence in the Trobriand Islands

63:171029 and in the generations of anthropologists that followed him.

63:211030 I also see the painful legacy he's left with my family.

63:251031 To me, that's an after life.

63:321032 - I don't remember actually ever blaming Daddy for

63:411033 how he was with my mother, until I read his letters.

63:451034 That was when I did begin to see that he didn't

63:471035 give her enough time and attention, really,

63:501036 but he could have,

63:521037 and that his letters became sort of thinner in content

63:571038 and he tried hard, but he was moving away from her,

64:001039 and she knew it, you know,

64:021040 and that was so wrong, in my opin--

64:061041 but that came later to me.

64:081042 - [Voiceover] Elsie started to experience symptoms

64:101043 of her illness just after Helena was born.

64:151044 Over the next 10 years, for most of Helena's childhood,

64:191045 she slowly withered away.

64:251046 - Elsie wrote on the subject,

64:261047 "I'm still proud and pleased with the further opening

64:291048 "out of your career, Darling.

64:311049 "Also, very sad, because I feel how you will need

64:351050 "a wife to be beside you, to help actively and socially,

64:381051 "instead of a dragging invalid and I think Darling that

64:421052 "it would really be better if I were not here."

64:451053 That's the first and last time she ever said anything like that.

64:501054 And then he went on and said, he did answer it once.

64:531055 "Your sweetest short letter came this morning.

64:561056 "There was a sad touch about it, when you speak

65:001057 "about yourself as a dragging invalid,

65:021058 "it made me feel how absolutely untrue this is.

65:061059 "In my career, I need not push socially anymore.

65:101060 "The only thing I want is this interest which you have

65:131061 "in my work and your inspiration.

65:141062 "I shall always be sitting at your bedside Darling."

65:171063 Now that's an attempt, but it's really not enough, to me.

65:221064 For her to receive that, when she opened her soul

65:261065 and said "I think I should die, that would be best",

65:301066 and he sort of cobbled together a few lines,

65:331067 and I'm sure that he meant these when he wrote them,

65:361068 but, huh, that's it.

65:541069 I remember coming into his study in London,

65:571070 he was sitting at the desk, I looked down

66:001071 and the desk drawer, one of the small drawers was open,

66:051072 and there was a picture of a tomb,

66:091073 and I knew at once it was Mummy's,

66:111074 and I turned to him to say "Oh, is that Mummy",

66:151075 or something like that, and he looked at me

66:171076 and almost with anger he shut that drawer,

66:191077 and he wouldn't talk to me about it.

66:221078 As if though it never happened,

66:241079 and I've never got over that,

66:261080 I mean I never understood why he didn't talk to me about it.

66:291081 He never talked to me about Mummy,

66:321082 come to think about it after that time.

66:371083 - [Voiceover] Helena was 10 years old when her mother died

66:401084 and she wasn't allowed to go to her funeral.

66:461085 Malinowski wrote volumes about grieving

66:481086 and mortuary rituals a cross cultures

66:521087 and he didn't allow his own daughters

66:541088 to mourn their mothers death.

67:011089 - Once you're dead, then judgment, that's all.

67:051090 When God takes back his spirit, the body goes

67:101091 and becomes dust again until judgement day.

67:131092 That's what the bible says.

67:151093 Now I know, our heaven, is full of demons.

67:211094 It's not the godly heaven.

67:231095 All these counterfeit spirits are coming from there.

67:271096 They come in with all these deceptions

67:291097 to take your mind away from the goal, from God.

67:351098 - (translated) Are you practicing magic?

67:371099 - (translated) No, we have given up an become Christian.

67:401100 I burnt my father's magic spells

67:431101 on village affairs and abundance.

67:491102 I also burnt my uncle's magic systems for gardening powers.

67:561103 - (translated) Do you think your descendants

67:581104 would benefit from knowing all of your achievements

68:021105 or should they forget them?

68:111106 - (translate) I think they should remember my deeds.

68:151107 - [Voiceover] (translated) But you burnt the books.

68:171108 - (translated) Indeed I did.

68:191109 - [Voiceover] (translated) So you essentially destroyed yourself?

68:241110 - (translated) You're correct.

68:261111 If I only still had those books they would serve

68:301112 as a reminder to my descendants of my deeds.

68:401113 (scratchy recording of tribal singing)

68:491114 - [Voiceover] Malinowski's writings document

68:511115 how magic is passed from generation to generation

68:541116 in the Trobriands.

68:581117 This haunting voice is a wind magic spell

69:001118 that he recorded in 1917.

69:031119 These recordings now live deep

69:051120 in the vaults of the British Library.

69:091121 (scratchy recording of tribal singing)

69:201122 My great grandfather died of a heart attack

69:221123 on May 16, 1942.

69:271124 His second wife left the country

69:291125 and his daughters went back to their lives.

69:411126 - Think this is it.

69:481127 See this was 1942 when he died,

69:501128 it was 1966 when I came here in the fall

69:551129 as an undergraduate and one day in October

70:001130 I thought "Oh, I'm going to go find Malinowski's grave"

70:021131 and I went and tried to look it up in the newspaper

70:071132 and went to the University archives

70:091133 and couldn't find any record of where he was buried.

70:111134 So, I thought "I'll just call the cemetery".

70:141135 The first cemetery on the list was the Evergreen Cemetery

70:161136 and I dialed in and I said

70:191137 "I'm looking for the grave of my grandfather."

70:211138 and he said, "What's his name?"

70:231139 and I said

70:241140 "His name is Malinowski, Bronisaw Malinowski."

70:261141 and he said "Well is that the Yale professor?"

70:281142 and I said yes it is.

70:301143 He said "Well I don't have to look that one up.

70:311144 "I just put a headstone on that grave this morning."

70:341145 That was 24 years after he died.

70:381146 The day I called looking

70:401147 a headstone had been put on his grave.

70:431148 You know, later on, when I look back on it I thought

70:451149 well maybe he was calling out to me

70:471150 from his grave or something like that.

70:511151 - [Voiceover] It wasn't a family member who was responsible

70:541152 for placing the headstone, it was a former student.

71:021153 - (translated) How touching that a real ancestor

71:041154 of yours was working here long ago, taking photographs.

71:091155 And now that it is over,

71:121156 his descendant recalls and comes all the way here.

71:191157 I am one of the few on the island who holds magical power.

71:271158 But now my breath is about to end.

71:331159 When I die, that will be it,

71:361160 but now the family has recorded it

71:381161 through the white man's cassette player.

71:431162 We met yesterday

71:471163 and the children recorded the spell on cassette.

71:541164 When I am gone this thing will speak on my behalf.

72:041165 - [Voiceover] What is a legacy?

72:081166 Malinowski is infamous for the racial stereotyping

72:111167 found in his diary.

72:131168 The deep human insight of his work,

72:151169 gets lost in the sensational,

72:181170 and there's this sensationalism in my family, too,

72:231171 but somehow he can hold all of these contradictions.

72:321172 - What mattered to him was his work.

72:341173 That was his religion, really.

72:361174 Thinking he was bringing something to mankind

72:381175 which was so important.

72:411176 Maybe it was?

72:421177 I mean I think it was more than just being

72:441178 a good anthropologist, you know.

72:451179 It's teaching great many things from anthropology,

72:501180 which are important and how people do get on

72:531181 in the world and how they look after their families

72:551182 and how they look after themselves

72:571183 and what they believe in,

72:591184 'cause they all have beliefs.

73:011185 - [Voiceover] Over the past seven years I spent hours

73:041186 talking to Helena.

73:051187 - He was a gadfly.

73:071188 He said things that shocked people, interested people.

73:091189 - [Voiceover] I've always admired her sharp intellect

73:121190 and knowledge of family history.

73:141191 - She got that money.

73:161192 What they wanted--

73:171193 - [Voiceover] She was the person I went to

73:191194 after my grandmother died to hear untold stories,

73:221195 but the last time I went to interview her,

73:251196 her grasp of the family story was slipping away

73:281197 due to dementia.

73:311198 Can your sort of describe their love affair

73:331199 and how that happened?

73:361200 You sort of came through it through the letters, right?

73:391201 So how did that hit you, their love affair?

73:431202 - Uhm, I'm now trying to put my mind only

73:461203 on when they met and why it was so doubly important.

73:541204 Uh, she was, now I've really sort have gone on,

74:001205 seen like this.

74:041206 (slow rhythmic music)

74:071207 - [Voiceover] There are questions I have

74:081208 that will never be answered.

74:141209 We do what we can to piece together the perspectives.

74:211210 At least this is part of the story.

74:241211 A new dimension to something as elusive as a ghost.