all have some light shed on our own (25).
In other words, Malinowski does not want the reader merely to gaze distantly in wonder at a strange people, but rather to join in the lives of those people in ways that connect the reader's and the islanders' lives in meaningful mental and emotional ways.
One of the most essential points of Malinowski's study is the exchange system known as the Kula. This system is "of extensive, inter-tribal character; it is carried on by communities inhabiting a wide ring of islands, which forms a closed circuit" (81). Malinowski uses the example of the soulava, long red-shelled necklaces, and mwali, white-shelled bracelets, which move in opposite directions around this ring:
Each of these articles, as it travels in its own direction on the closed circuit, meets on its way articles of the other class, and is constantly being exchanged for them. Every movement of the Kula articles, every detail of the transactions is fixed and regulated by a set of traditional rules and conventions, and some acts of the Kula are accompanied by an elaborate magical ritual and public ceremonies (81).
Reading Malinowski's intriguing and detailed account of the islanders' exchange system leads the reader to reflect on his parti
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