Abstract
Using biographical bibliographical sources, especially Wayne (1995b), in the frame of the history of anthropology, this chapter contributes to trace the presence of Bronislaw Malinowski (1884–1942), his wife Elsie R. Masson (1890–1935), and their children in Oberbozen and Bozen in the 1920s and 1930s. It focuses on the houses where the family lived, such as the villa they bought in Oberbozen, and the flats they rented in Gries (Bozen), highlighting the historical and sociocultural context of these places. Drawing on the correspondence of the couple, published by their daughter Helena Malinowska Wayne (1925–2018), on some of their writings, and on newspaper articles of that period, this article describes both the local and the cosmopolitan social networks in which the Malinowskis were involved during the time they spent in Oberbozen and Bozen. It reconstructs the relations of the couple with friends, relatives and colleagues who used to visit them, as well as those with new friends, acquaintances, and neighbours in Oberbozen and Bozen, paying special attention to Elsie Masson’s relationships and to her critique of the Fascist regime, looking at the Malinowskis’ family story within the context of the history of this Alpine region.