Ethnographers before Malinowski: Pioneers of Anthropological Fieldwork, 1870-1922 edited by Frederico Delgado Rosa and Han F. Vermeulen (published by Berghahn Books in 2022) presents both, an ethnographic as well as archival research of alternative histories that remain missing from the official records and mainstream discussion of Anthropology. This attempt contributes towards the rich historical and theoretical underpinnings of Anthropology; that occurred before the much-celebrated accounts of Malinowski’s work. This book is a product of the EASA’s 16^th Biennial Conference held in Lisbon (Portugal). The foreword by T.H. Eriksen presents the details about what precedes the “Malinowskian revolution,” ranging from Radcliffe-Brown’s and River’s work on the Andaman Islands to Haddon’s Cambridge Anthropological Expedition (1898-99). In the process, Eriksen paves the discussion around ethnography, anthropological theories, methodologies and kinship genealogies. He also emphasizes the role of the Royal Anthropological Institute (1907) that produced the methodological handbook where Rivers extensively discussed the anthropological genealogical method in great detail. However, this remains completely neglected in Malinowski’s work of 1922 and thereafter. The diverse history of genealogical methods and typology of kinship systems goes back to the writings of LH Morgan, similarly, traditions of evolutionism, and Boasian cultural relativism from the US to functionalist microsociology in the UK are broadly discussed.

The well-structured and streamlined themes – are started by discussing the “Other Argonauts” – by F.D. Rosa and H.F. Vermeulen; editors of the book. They go beyond the discussion of ethnography as a central theme in Anthropology but question the dichotomy between writing culture (Clifford, 1986) and the pre-Malinowskian era and argue for “compassionate readings of older texts through a critical and creative combination of historicism and presentism” (pg. 2). Most importantly, the history of anthropology is seen to be containing layers of meaning, style and content for open-ended readings, where assumptions between ethnography, travelogues, expeditionary surveys and fragmentary descriptions are at stake. Nevertheless, the editors are successful in putting together different schools of thought and traditions in anthropology in the chapters.

Part I – “In Search of the Native’s Point of View,” Malinowski’s way of ethnographic monographs that existed between 1870-1922 is discussed in detail. Chapter 1 focuses on Franz Boas’s work on Central Eskimo (1888) where his disciplinary disposition and upbringing (in a German-Jewish family) opened him to cultural differences in a fieldwork setting, and understood his informants more than merely researching “primitive” people. Stockings refer him to as having contributed in varied field, ranging from ethnography to ethnology, including folklore, archaeology, biological anthropology and statistics. Chapter 2 focuses on KL Parker, who as a white settler in Wales describes participant observation and has been deemed innovative in her quest to understand the importance of the indigenous Australian culture. Chapter 3 is dedicated to Edward Westermarck’s work on North Africa (Morocco) which emphasized the origins of ethical and moral behaviour that continues to be taught in anthropology, the pioneer of modern kinship studies and founder of the anthropology of morality. His work has been systematically overlooked as his individualist theoretical orientation stood contrary to the structural functionalism that was being embraced during the period.  

Part II – “The Indigenous Ethnographer’s Magic,” unveils collaborative ethnographic fieldwork where the informants and the collaborators’ role is transversal. For instance, Chapter 4 focused on Callaway’s deconstruction of the religious system of Amazulu that pioneered textual transliteration but also as evidence to build general theories of the origin and nature of religion.  His work stitched together multiple authors and voices, intertextuality and transparency in revealing the power structures of colonialism. Similarly, Chapter 5 focuses on a decade-long relationship between a New Zealand ethnographer and his Māori collaborator that resulted in an ethnographic monograph under the guise of a tourist’s guidebook. Chapter 6 focused on the relationships between the ethnographer and her collaborator that resulted in the masterwork, The Omaha Tribe (1911), which pens rich details of privileges and entitlements and prioritizes the subject’s view. This was way ahead of their times and stands undisputed as a prototype for collaborative research.    

Part III – “Colonial Ethnography from Invasion to Empathy,” offers discussion around ethnographic accounts whose colonial dimensions are particularly salient like intimate observations between missionary ethnography and interference in indigenous traditions. Thus, emphasizing the methodological and political diversities in ethnographic practices of the late 19^th and early 20^th century. Chapter 7 discussed Bourke’s invasive ethnography in capturing sacred scenes of the Hopi community against their will, using which the author discusses positive lessons for the Post-Bourke era. Chapters 8 and 9, where the authors explore the writing of French missionaries that demonstrate the complexities around Catholic ethnography to ideological conundrums and oppose the war narratives that were going around between Ashanti and the British colony, respectively. Thus, adding multiple layers within the pre-Malinowskian framework.

Part IV – “Expeditionary Ethnography as Intensive Fieldwork,” focused on bringing out the fact that extensive surveys did not precede intensive fieldwork. The subsequent chapters elaborate on the simultaneity of the process resulting in sound methodological reflections and rich descriptions of the anthropological field. Chapter 10 elaborates on the accounts of a Portuguese explorer who stressed the importance of being an insider through learning the native language and came out as a person with privileged conditions to pursue intensive ethnographic fieldwork. While the last two chapters provide methodological interventions. Chapter 11 paves the way for Czaplicka’s account of expeditionary ethnography that included engagement and reflexive portrayals of the events, as she respectfully followed the nomadic rhythms of the Tungus; and Chapter 12 discusses ethnographic accounts of German ethnologists who documented his experience in the Amazon Basin but also provided methodological reflections and stationary models of fieldwork.

To conclude, the book is an attempt to bring out much of the unknown ethnographic processes of the 18^th and 19^th centuries that existed long before Malinowski drew our attention towards them. It remains unfortunate that they continue to be at the margins and outside the scope of the history of Anthropology. Although the book does not discuss beyond what is already known in the field of anthropology, it is an interesting and thorough archival work that brings forth the forgotten ethnographers and ethnologists. Also, what remains missing in the book is the impact of these pre-Malinowskian traditions in the emergence of the discipline (that is infamously seen as a colonial enterprise) across countries. Nonetheless, the writing is lucid with rich archival information and will be immensely useful for advanced anthropology students. The narrative style can hold the attention of the reader for long.

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Ashwin Tripathi is a doctoral candidate in Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Gandhinagar.