MEAD, MARGARET.   Term Paper ID:30656 Click to get this paper

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Paper Abstract: The life and career of the anthropoligist. The status she received in the field of anthropology. Controversy over her data and research in Samoa. Her field trips. Her theories of adolescence based on her work with primitive women in Samoa. Other fieldwork. Her careers as anthropologist, museum curator, University teacher, writer, lecturer. Paper Introduction: MARGARET MEAD Born on December 16, 1901, Margaret Mead became one of the world’s leading anthropologists, and her fame became worldwide with the publication of her book “Coming of Age in Samoa”. However, despite the good reviews the book received, and the status she achieved in the field of Anthropology, her career was beset in later years with controversy over her data and research in Samoa. In 1925, she went on “her first field trip, to undertake a ‘study in heredity and environment based on an investigation of the phenomenon of adolescence among primitive and civilized peoples.’ Her task, as she described it, would ‘involve working almost entirely with women, and should therefore add appreciably to our ethnological information on the subject of primitive women.’” (Howard 1995 1) Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. As Cote (1998) points out that Mead's bookwas not a handbook on free love, "although Mead did provide misleadingembellishments when it came to writing the book for the general public."(p. REFERENCES Cote, J.E. "Much ado about nothing: The 'fateful hoaxing' of MargaretMead" Skeptical Inquirer Nov-Dec 1998 v22 n6 p29(6) Howard, J. Freeman's critics, and supporters of Mead, point out that Mead was nottotally unprepared for the society she was going to study, and that reportsabout sexual activity had been described and annotated since the islandswere discovered by Captain Cook. Whatever the reason, Mead's reputation grew because of thisbook, and, for the most part, her studies and field trips yielded valuableinformation. However, in the pages of Skeptic Magazine (2 1)Shankman continues to try to determine why "intelligent people" continue tosay bad things about Margaret Mead. Australian anthropologist, Derek Freeman launched a rathervicious and even personal attack on Mead. In 1925, she went on "her first field trip, to undertake a 'study inheredity and environment based on an investigation of the phenomenon ofadolescence among primitive and civilized peoples.' Her task, as shedescribed it, would 'involve working almost entirely with women, and shouldtherefore add appreciably to our ethnological information on the subject ofprimitive women.'" (Howard 1995 1) When she returned to New York after some five and a half months, sheaccepted a job as assistant curator at the American Museum of NaturalHistory. Freeman then summedit all up by saying that this hoax was translated by Mead into a society-wide practice. He cites noted intellectuals like ErnstMayr, Niko Tinbergen and Richard Dawkins "as well as science writers likeMartin Gardner, Robert Wright, and John Pfeiffer, and academics in thehumanities like Bruce Mazlish and Mary Lefkowitz." (Shankman 5 ) In part these scientists (so claims Shankman) were hoodwinked by thelarger scope about which Freeman wrote, including his assertion that heclaimed "to speak the truth on behalf of Samoans, representing hisinterpretation pf Samoan sexual conduct as authentic, the result of decadesof careful thought and years of field work, while he portrays Mead as ayoung, naпve anthropologist who did only limited fieldwork and was 'hoaxed'by innocent Samoan lies which she then published as truth." (Shankman 5 ) Again, as the lengthy Shankman article points out (2 1) Mead hadbecome a celebrity, and there is nothing like proving an idol has feet ofclay. "Margaret Mead" Dictionary of American Biography,Supplement 1 New York: Charles Scribner's Sons Howard, J.: "Margaret Mead, 'self-appointed materfamilias to theworld'" Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Sept. She had an association with that Museum until her death in 1978.But, it was the publication of her work in Samoa in 1928, entitled Comingof Age in Samoa, which first brought her world-wide attention. However, despite the good reviews thebook received, and the status she achieved in the field of Anthropology,her career was beset in later years with controversy over her data andresearch in Samoa. In particular the adolescentpuberty rites- both naпve and in some cases incestuous created more of astir than the actual facts of discoveries within a primitive nearlyuntouched civilization. Following World War II, Mead returned to the South Pacific,specifically to Manus where she had worked twenty-five years earlier. (Shankman 49) Ofcourse, Freeman had an advantage. Unfortunately, Gardner based his report entirely on Freeman'sversion of events, and was apparently unaware of the notoriousunreliability of Freeman's representation of the work of others." (Cote1998 29) Critics have been fully aware for years of the limitationsof Mead's Coming of Age in Samoa. MARGARET MEAD Born on December 16, 19 1, Margaret Mead became one of the world'sleading anthropologists, and her fame became worldwide with the publicationof her book "Coming of Age in Samoa". 1984 v15 p118(18) Shankman, P. It is further thought that because Mead was a liberal, both in termsof science and humanitarianism, she was a good target for conservatives.Nevertheless, TIME Magazine named Margaret Mead as one of the greatestscientists of the Twentieth Century, while Freeman (in 1996) was awardedthe prize as Australian Skeptic of the Year. So, the Freeman book, published by Harvard,made headlines. "Lowell D. Holmes, for example, said he thought Mead's account'remarkably reliable, and both he and Eleanor Gerber readily saw, in thesimple passage of time, explanation enough for any discrepancies."(Turnbull 33) In recent years, there have been other arguments about the reliabilityof anthropological data, most recently a furor about studies in the Amazon.But, as some critics were quick to point out "Mead, at worst,misrepresented her subjects; she did not incite, sicken, and corrupt them"(Shankman 2 1 48) Controversy, however misplaced, creates more headlines than mereanthropological discoveries. She continued to write and lecture, and to teach at ColumbiaUniversity and at Fordham, until her death from pancreatic cancer in 1978.Her status seemed secure, and her books were continually in print and usedin anthropology courses as outstanding contribution to the understanding ofprimitive societies, and how they both were similar to, and collided with,Western civilization. Her early field work may have been hurried and imperfect, but hergenerous view of human nature endures..." (Howard 1984 118) What wasFreeman's book and his argument, calling Mead's work "a myth" all about?Freeman claims that "Margaret Mead was an avowed cultural determinist,under the heavy influence of people such as Franz Boas and Ruth Benedict,two of the most important early figures in American cultural anthropology."(Turnbull 1983 32) According to Freeman, Mead "dismissed biology, ornature, as being of no significance whatsoever...and claimed thedeterminism, of culture, or nurture, to be absolute." (Turnbull 32) It is interesting to note that some of the contemporary anthropologistFreeman cites as helping him prove that much of Mead's work was flawed byproducing works that were contrary to Mead's findings actually praised herwork. Freeman, despite all the brouhaha about his book byhis critics, continued to assert that he had the facts."It appeared that the controversy would die out in academia until Freemanannounced in the late 198 sa that he had 'crucially important new evidence'that resolved the controversy." (Cote 31) What Freeman referred to,according to Cote, were statements made by Fa'apua'a Fa'amu, an elderlywoman who had been one of Mead's age-mate Samoan friends during her 1925-26study. Almost immediately, the story waspicked up by newspapers, magazines and television. 31) So, it would be fair to ask whether an anthropologist has the rightto "embellish", or whether it needs to be established that a book iswritten for anthropological study, or a different sort of book for thegeneral public. Cote (1998) refutes a Martin Gardnerarticle in the "Skeptical Inquirer" which claimed that "Freeman had'irrefutable evidence' that Mead was 'the gullible victim of a playfulhoax'. "Requiem for a Controversy" Altadena CA: Skeptic Spring2 1 v9 i1 p. According to this woman,Mead had believed, as a result of the conversations the three had on thatday, that she had discovered a free love society where the community didnot attempt to curb the sexual activity of adolescents. He was talking on TV and radio and givinginterviews to the print media, while Margaret Mead was dead. According to this now elderly woman, she and a friend perpetrated ahoax on Mead when they were on an outing together. 48 Turnbull, C.M.: "Margaret Mead and Samoa" The New RepublicMarch 28, 1983 v188 p32(3) As Jane Howard (2 1) points out "In this year of the Margaret Meadcentennial we may be abler to remember Margaret Mead as something more thanthe object of Freeman's faulty critique. There were many others who rose to Mead's defense, and articles fromthe time of Freeman's book to the present continue to try to prove Freemanas a jealous man who wanted to earn publicity for himself at the expense ofan anthropological icon. James E. It was not until five years after her death, in 1983, that controversybegan to swirl around Mead's writing, especially her research in Coming ofAge in Samoa. Nobody questions the fact that thisrather slender volume was a mere entrйe to a world most people (includinganthropologists) had never visited or studied. Now,she was determined to find how the war had changed and affected the peopleof New Guinea. Freeman, then anemeritus professor at the Australian National university, came to the U.S.to appear on talk shows before the book was available. Of course, every one (especially our parents and grand parents) knowthat one of the reasons the Mead book was popular because it dealt withadolescent primitive love, and a lot of readers bought the book believingthat they were going to find a sort of pornographic description of asociety they could only imagine. Even after the publication of thismilestone book, she worked for an additional fifty years, and between 1925and 1939 alone, "she conducted fieldwork in six different cultures in theSouth Pacific, authoring popular and professional works on almost all ofthem." (Howard 2 1 5) If there is a lesson to be learned from the now 18-year old controversy it is that arguments reported first in the media arethose most likely to be believed by popular readers and the moreprovocative the claim, the more attention it will draw. Therefore, shecould not respond. This attack "inspired a year ofworldwide forums and discussions, and aroused spirited defense of hercareer. In fact, Harvard sent an advance copy to the New York TIMESwhich "ran a front page story that appeared before the book was availableto the public, let alone anthropologists. Her theorywas that if Samoan adolescence could get through puberty without pain orclumsiness, so could Americans and Europeans." (Howard 1995 2 In 193 , shewrote Growing Up in New Guinea (she wrote thirty-two books in all) Anotherof her landmark anthropological books was Sex and Temperament in ThreePrimitive Societies (1935). If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.