It Takes More than Fieldwork to Become a Culture Hero of Anthropology. The Story of Rafael Karsten

The biographies of two pioneers in anthropology, Bronislaw Malinowski & Rafael Karsten, are reviewed in an attempt to understand why the former became a kind of culture hero while the latter remains to this day an obscure figure. It is argued that Karsten's inability to promote his work in the way that Malinowski did, the institutional circumstances within which each man found himself, & Karsten's severe criticism of colleagues all contributed to his lack of fame. Each of these factors is considered in turn, with reference to biographical materials. 30 References. D. M. Smith