Early and Late Functional Analysis: Bronislaw Malinowski’s Baloma: Spirits of the Dead and Clyde Kluckhohn’s Navaho Witchcraft : With a Supplement: Some Subsequent Studies of Witchcraft with Special Reference to Attempts to Distinguish between Social, Cultural, and Psychological Phenomena

doi:10.4324/9781351291200-8

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Early and Late Functional Analysis: Bronislaw Malinowski’s Baloma: Spirits of the Dead and Clyde Kluckhohn’s Navaho Witchcraft

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ABSTRACT

In the 1920s and 1930s anthropological functionalism was only one of several varieties. Versions of functionalism could be found in philosophy, sociology, physics, engineering, and architecture. Bronislaw Malinowski provides a series of demonstrations of how the beliefs are functionally related to other features of culture which require some certitude or guarantee; in particular, garden magic and pregnancy. Like Malinowski's Baloma, Clyde Kluckhohn's Navaho Witchcraft is a somewhat neglected work and often criticized for its innovative boldness. Malinowski's was a commonsense inquiry into relationships of parts, arising out of his observations in the field and his asking of questions about linkages of observed phenomena. Kluckhohn acknowledged the help of various personnel at the Na-vaho agency, and of course Kluckhohn had been in contact with the Indian Service on applied matters affecting the Navaho for some time.