Final answer:
Bronislaw Malinowski was a significant anthropologist who advanced ethnography and fieldwork methods, famously studying the Trobriand Islanders and their complex cultural systems.
Step-by-step explanation:
Bronislaw Malinowski was a pioneering anthropologist known for his work in ethnography and for being one of the first anthropologists to practice long-term fieldwork. His most famous work, Argonauts of the Western Pacific (1922), is an ethnographic account of the Trobriand Islanders, covering their trade systems, social structures, and cultural practices. Through his fieldwork and subsequent publications such as The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia (1929), Malinowski challenged prior evolutionary theories about so-called primitive societies by demonstrating the complex cultural systems present within them. He is considered a key figure in developing the functionalist approach in cultural anthropology. His focus on the Trobriand Islanders brought to light the kula ring, a ceremonial exchange system with no practical function apart from reinforcing social status and trade relationships. Malinowski's work underlined the importance of understanding the internal logic and functions of cultural practices within their specific social contexts.