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COMMENTAs RAINreaches ts sixth birthday,two pointsabout editorialpolicy maybe made:1. With he same aimsas a good salad,to be slim and crisp,RAIN seemsfit tosurvivethe decadeof scarcity'.We believethat most thingsworth saying n the1980'scanbe saidin a short articlewithreferences.Weask contributors o emulate

the style of Maineor LucyMairratherthanthose of Frazeror Levi-Strauss.2. 'Understand he greatpowers byreadinghistory,but understand heThirdWorld hrough iterature,whichrevealswhat the socialsciences con-spireto obscure'.Thisrebuke s thrownout by a professorof history, J. R. Vin-cent1, in a recent TLS article;hecontinuesby decrying developmenttheory' as 'abody of economicthoughtwhichproceedsas thoughthe issues n

the most politicallyandreligiouslycon-scious societiesof the worldcouldbetreated n secular enns'. Socialanthro-pology hasnot subscribed o that fallacy.But its influencehasnot been strongenough.Some of the weaknessesareinstitutional:RAIN ought to be abletohelp anthropologicalnstitutionsbecomestronger,both in Britainandworldwide.J.B.1. 'Viewpoint',LS, 21 December1979,p. 157.

MALINOWSKIANAON READINGA DIARYIN THESTRICTSENSEOF THE TERM:OR THESELF MUTILATIONOFPROFESSORHSUParis ashions n structuralist ndpost-structuralistiterarycriticismwith theircontrived erminology, sexy in-jokes,andprivate eudingareprobablynot mucto the taste of readersof eitherRAINor theAmericanAnthropologistbut,in one respectat least, they representasalutary nnovation. In the past, pub-lishedtexts havefrequentlybeen treatedas if they weretelephonelinesby meansof whicha readerhas directaccess to thementalprocessesof an originalauthor.By contrast,JacquesDerridaandhiscompatriots reatauthor, text, and readerasseparateentities. No doubt the textis what it is because of the consciousintentions andunconsciousmotivationsof the authorbut any significancewhichthe readerextractsfromthe text at alaterpoint in time is put thereby himself.There s no necessaryconnectionbetweenwhat the text means to the readerandwhat it originallymeant to the author.A clearexampleof this kind of trans-formationaldiscontinuityhasjust beenprovidedby the publicationof Profes-sor Hsu's1978 PresidentialAddress othe A.A.A. in which he delivereda savageattack on the 'ethnocentricism' f Malin-owskias supposedlyrevealed n thepagesof the now notoriousA Diary intheStrict Sense of the Term 1967).It is quite clearthat the 'Malinowski'whom ProfessorHsuhasthus dis-covered s a dummy,inventedby Hsu

himself,whichbearshardly any rela-tionshipto the fleshand blood Malin-owskiwho wrote the originaldiariesandwho at one time Hsu'steacher.

CULTURAL BIASby

MARY DOUGLAS

R.A.I. Occasional Paper,?2.50 postpaid, 25%discount to Fellows.

That thismightbe so could be sus-pected in any casesincethe Malinowskiwhom Hsu describesas pp. 529-30 ofhis paper,on the basis of hispersonalrecollection(whichis alsomine), isstrikinglyunlikethe 'Malinowski'whohas been denouncedon pp. 517-26 onthe basisof citationsfrom A Diary...But close attentionto Hsu'smethodologwill showjust how suchdiscrepanciesarise.Throughouthis paperHsuwritesasif the English ext of A Diar ... whichhe is dissectingwas writtenby Malin-owski. The reality s not so simple.A Diary... consistsof English rans-lations of two separate ournals:- (1)20 Sept 1914-3April 1915. At the endof this period Malinowskihad not yetbegunhis Trobriand esearches; 2)28 October1917-18 July 1918, by whicttime he is tired andill and longing toget away from fieldwork altogether.Neitherdocumentcoversthe periodMay 1915-May 1916 which wascentralto Malinowski'smainTrobriandfieldwork. Onthe basis of such spas-modic evidenceHsu feels entitledtoassureus that 'Malinowski everseemedto relateto his natives ashumanbeingswho mightbe his equalsand trustedcolleagues' p. 521).But evenif we ignoretheirincom-pletenesswhat do thesejournalsreallysay?Both documentswere 'written nPolishwith frequentuse of English,wordsandphrases n German,French,Greek,Spanishand Latinandtermsfromnativelanguages Malinowski'shandwritingwasdifficultto read. Oftenin the case of half legible words,it wasnot clear whichlanguage hey werefrom'(p. 299). So far aspossible theoriginal ext was firsttranslated nto plainEnglishby Norbert Guterman,whosecompetence was in Polish, assistedbyMarioBlick - a diligent ibraryworkerwith no first handknowledgeofMelanesia.Finally Malinowski'swidow,ValettaMalinowska,ells us that 'incorrecting he proofs I have tried toassure he closestpossible adherence oMalinowski'spersonaluse of Englishwords andphrasingn which languagein the latter part of his life, he expressedhimselfwith suchfreedom.'(p. viii).I assume hat all concernedwere, bytheirown lights, attempting o behonest,but therewasclearlyplenty ofroom for misrepresentation!One such

distortion s manifest.The pagesofA Diary... are iberallybespatteredwithitalicswhichHsu and othershaveassumed o correspond o underlinedemphases n the original ext. Thisisnot so. A facsimilepageof the originaljournalentry for Sunday22 April 1918andMonday23 April 1918 is reproducedas the frontispieceof A Diary...(p. ii). The comparableEnglish extappearsat p. 260. The only underlinedexpressions n the originalare the firstdateNiedziela22/4 and one mi (not).In translation he date appearsas'Sunday,4.22' without italicsbut thefollowingexpressionsareitalicised:(1) just anotherethn. experience,(2)laurabada,3) bwayma,(4) wagas, 5)niggers, 6) cove, (7) supposedtheft of,(8) a flashof insight,(9) not, (10) niggers,(1 1) kayaku. The editorialpractice sconsistent but misleading.Referencetothe facsimilepageshows that: (1), (6),(7), (8) areitalicisedbecausethey werewrittenin English n the original; 9)because t was underlined n theoriginal; 2), (3), (4), (I 1) becausethey are 'nativewords'.Thisleaves(5)and(10). In both casesniggers s atranslationof 'nigrami', Polishslangtermwhichcertainlycould not havecarried, n 1918, the special oadedmeaningwhich the word 'niggers' onveysto Americanreaders n the 1970s. Justwhy niggers houldalwaysbe printed nitalic in A Diary . .. is unclear.Themostgenerousexplanation s that Gutermantherebyintendedto indicatethat histranslationwasinexact, or perhapsjust that the wordis non-standard olish.In any case,in the context of p. 260 ofA Diary..., the word 'nigrami'wouldseemto havemeantnothingmorecontentiousthan 'blacks'!

Hsudoes not cite thisparticularpassagebut at p. 529 he makes a greatsongabout a neighbouring ntrywhichappearsat p. 272 of A Diary.. . andwhichincludesthe phrases bloodynigger', onthe spot', 'nigger',all in italic. Inprinting he relevantquotationHsuadds('emphases n original')but theemphasesarenot in Malinowski's riginal!By analogywith p. 260, it seems ikelythat 'bloodynigger'and 'on the spot'areprinted n italicbecausethey wereinEnglishn the original,while thesecond nigger' s in italicbecause tagain epresents he slangterm 'nigra'.In any case, the printedtranslation,as interpretedby Hsu,is palpablyaradicaldistortionof whateverMalinow-ski originallywrote.Here s anotherexampleof Hsu'smethod.

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In the entryfor 21 January1915,veryearlyin Malinowski'sield-workingcareerwhenhe was still at Mailu,Malin-owski chides himself for his impatience.The English ranslation p. 69) has:'InmanyinstancesI haveactedunfairlyandstupidly . . .'. Immediatelybeforethis passagewe have: 'At momentsIwas furious at them, particularlybecauseafterI gavethem theirportionsof tobacco they allwent away.Onthewhole my feelingstoward the nativesaredecidedlyto "Exterminate he brutes".'InA Diary. . . this lastphrase s printedin italicsbetweenquotationmarkswith a capitalE at the beginning.Hsu(p. 518) quotes his passage,cuts out theself-rebukewhichfollows, omitsthequotationmarksand the capital etterandadds:'(emphasis n original)'!Somuchfor scholarship!But in theprocess of bowdlerisationMalinowski's

private ronic oke is entirelydestroyed.Afterall ConradwasMalinowski'smodeland'Exterminateall the brutes' s thefamousphrasewith which MrKurtz,the off-stage hero'(?) of HeartofDarkness,deleteshis benevolentseven-teen pagereportto the 'InternationalSociety for the Suppressionof SavageCustoms'.Conrad's toryhasbeendescribedas 'amasterpieceof thetragedyof moraldesolationanddefeatedegoism'.Malinowski s makingjust that point abouthimself.Thosewho hope to readMalinowski'sprivate ournalswith intelligenceneedto be educated n other fieldsbesidessocialanthropology! MistahKurtzhe dead'.But evenwithout going into the liter-aryharmonicsof the matterit shouldbe obviousthat 'Exterminate he brutes'waswritten in Englishbetweenquotes

in Malinowski's riginal ext andthat iswhy it is printed n italic quotes inA Diary. . . Taken n conjunctionwithwhat followsit seemsclear,at the veryleast, that Malinowskiwasheremockinghimselfof his inexperienceand badtemperMy own viewhas alwaysbeen thatA Diary... shouldnot havebeen pub-lishedin the firstplace. Sinceit doesnow exist as aprintedtext, the carrioncrowsof anthropologyareentitledto peck it about asthey choose. But thosewho engage n this unsavoury ctivityneedto appreciate hat the corpsewhichisthus dissected s not that of Malinow-ski but theirown.PF4m..-,4 T ___Hsu, F. L. K. 1979. 'The Cultural Problem ofthe Cultural Anthropologist', AmericanAnthropologist81; 518-532.Malinowski, B. 1967. A Diary in the StrictSense of the Term, New York: HarcourtBrace & World.

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VACANCIESAUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF ABORIGINAL STUDIES

VISITING RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP, 2-3 YEARSeither at postgraduate level ($4,200)or at postdoctoral level ($16,291421,265)

Applications are invited for appointment to a Visiting Fellowship to under-take a comparative time-and-motion study of Australian Aboriginal women'sfood production techniques. It is expected that research will be carried outwith different Aboriginal groups in different environmental situations andwill focus both on the sociological and economic aspects of the productiontechniques as well as on the roles of women in the general economy in thegroups concerned.Field expenses incurred during the project will be paid by the Institute.A successful postgraduate applicant will be based at the university in whichhe/she is registered; a successful postdoctoral applicant will be based at theInstitute (but superannuation will not be paid). In either case the successfulapplicant will be expected to have qualifications in anthropology includingeconomics.Applications, together with the names of three academic referees,should be forwarded to the Senior Clerk, Australian Institute of AboriginalStudies,P.O.Box 553, CanberraCity,A.C.T.2601, Australia.Closingdate: 29 February1980.

AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF ABORIGINAL STUDIESVISITING RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP, 2-3 YEARS

either at postgraduate level ($4,200)or at postdoctoral evel ($16,291421,265)Applicationsare invited for appointmentto a VisitingFellowshipto under-take a study of AustralianAboriginalperceptionsof their materialposses-sions. The researchwill focus on Aboriginalviewsandconcepts regardinghepreservation/curation f materialobjects. It is hoped that the project willalso be able to comprise a study of the techniquessuitablefor the physicalpreservation f at leastsome classes of objects.Field expenses incurredduring he projectwill be paidby the Institute.A successful postgraduateapplicantwill be basedat the university n whichhe/she is registered;a successfulpostdoctoralapplicantwill be basedat theInstitute(but superannuationwill not be paid). In either case the successfulapplicant wvillbe expected to have qualifications in either anthropology(particularlymaterial ulturalstudies)and/orpsychology.Applications, together with the names of three academic referees,should be forwarded to the Senior Clerk,AustralianInstitute of AboriginalStudies,P.O.Box 553, CanberraCity,A.C.T.2601.

Closingdate: 29 February1980.

ATKINS RESEARCH&DEVELOPMENTrequireaSENIOR SOCIAL SCIENTISTwithin the EnvironmentalConsult-ancy of the W.S. AtkinsGroup

A senior Social Scientist is requiredto manageand develop the activitiesof a small group of specialistswhoare concerned with the relationshipbetween the environmentand com-munities and individuals, and withthe social impact of developmentprojects. He or she would beexpected to promote this work bothin the UKand,especially,overseas.The social science group, whichhas been established for five years,carries out consultancy assignmentsand research for central and localgovernment, international agenciesand privateclients. The groupformspart of a larger inter-disciplinaryteam which is concerned with theassessment of the impact of agri-cultural,industrialand infrastructuredevelopments hroughout he world.Applicantsshould be experiencedprofessionals in one of the relevantsocial sciences (sociology, psycho-logy, social anthropology)who haveworked in applied research orconsultancy. We shall be lookingfor a desire to promotethe practicalapplicationof social science and forthe initiative necessary to achievecommercial success. Experience indeveloping countries and a know-ledge of Spanishor Frenchwould be

valuable.A five-figure salary and otherbenefits would be negotiated. Thepost is based in Epsom and reloca-tion expenses would be paid if amovewerenecessary.Please write or telephone to theDirectorof the EnvironmentalCon-sultancy: R. A. Waller, AtkinsResearch& Development,WoodcoteGrove, Ashley Road, Epsom,SurreyKT18 5BW. Telephone Epsom26140.