Oedipus in the Trobriands

Spiro challenges the argument of Bronislaw Malinowski that the matrilineal society of the Trobriand Islands produced a psychological constellation -- a matrilineal complex -- different from Freud's Oedipus complex and the generalization regarding the restrictive provenance of the Oepidus complex to which it gave rise. Spiro undertakes a reanalysis of Malinowski's data and shows that there is enough to suggest the presence of a strong Oedipus complex. Melford E. Spiro is professor emeritus of ant