‘Noble Savages’ and the ‘Islands of Love’: Trobriand Islanders in ‘Popular Publications’

Abstract

A closer look at the history and quality of the contact between European and non-European cultures overseas from the early days of colonialism in the fifteenth and sixteenth centwy till now reveals that this contact has been characterized from the very beginning by the conviction of dominant superiority of the Europeans with respect to the representatives of the overseas cultures.3 This conviction manifests itself in between two extremes: overseas cultures experience(d) either intolerant damnation or pitiful recognition of their forms of civilization as being inferior with respect to European standards. The claim of European cultural supremacy was based on the military superiority of European weapons and warfare. However, it was also the ideological justification for turning the contacted cultures into colonies to be exploited commercially by the respective European power. Finally, this European position also justified activities to 'civili~e' these inferior cultures. It is evident that this conviction of European superiority made any attempts to understand some of the characteristics of the contacted cultures extremely difficult. It is interesting, however,