You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
This is the concluding instalment of Dr. Malinowski's criticism of Freud's use of the 'Oedipus complex' in relation to savage societies. Instead of the repressed desire 'to kill the father in order to marry the mother', the wish in the matrilineal complex of Melanesia is 'to marry the sister and to kill the maternal uncle'. Malinowski proceeds to show that this
matrilineal complex can also be traced in the myth, legend and folk-lore of the Trobriand archipelago. In discussing disease and perversion the author was unable to find any traces of neurosis in these islanders. In the neighbouring Amphlett Islands, inhabited by people similar in race, custom and language, but differing in social organization and possessing a code of strict sexual morality, he found a community of neurotics. The Trobrianders, on the other hand, show a minimum of perversions. This of course is in accordance with Freud's correlation of sexual perversions with repression. Homosexuality only occurred in the Trobriands under the influence of the white man's morality, as occurs in a mission station.
In their dreams and day-dreams these natives differ from other savages. They dream little and show small interest in these dreams. It is suggested that this may be due to lack of repression and to their extraordinary licence in sexual matters. In questioning the natives on the subject of erotic dreams it was found that the only affective response was produced in association with dreams of the sister. Although brother-sister incest is most reprehensible, a breach of clan exogamy is considered smart and desirable owing to piquant difficulties in carrying it out. Stereotyped modes of abuse include three incestuous expressions directed against the mother, sister and wife, the worst insult being the saying: 'Cohabit with thy wife.' Reference to lawful sexuality in coarse language mortally offends the sensitive Trobriander. This discloses the fact that one of the main forms of abuse lies in t