Analysis Of Margaret Meads Coming Of Age In Samoa

On August 31, 1925, Margaret Mead arrived in Pago Pago, American Samoa to conduct ethnographic research on a particular problem. Prior to her arrival in American Samoa, Mead with the guidance of her mentor Franz Boas, decided to investigate the lives of adolescent girls in Samoa as a focal point of her research. Mead chose this subject matter due to her speculation that the period adolescence within the United States during the 1920s was filled with stress and a period of turbulence; therefore, Mead hypothesized that stress felt by American youth resulted from the American cultural environment. Through her investigation adolescent girls, Mead aimed to test the validity of the claims of adolescent behavior being a physiological determinant.†¦show more content†¦Coming of Age in Samoa received support from scholars within the field; however, dissonant voices emerged as well. Most notably the dissident opinion of New Zealand anthropologist, Derek Freeman generated the most famo us controversial debate among the sciences: The Mead-Freeman debate. Thus, in this research paper I will focus on Margaret Mead’s prominent work Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilisation, while juxtaposing the work of Derek Freeman Margaret Mead and Samoa: The Making and Unmasking of an Anthropological Myth. By using these two primary works as well as other works that stemmed from the Mead-Freeman debate, I will analyze the running debate on the nature versus nurture concept and its application within Samoan society. MEAD’S SAMOA: THE FIELD WORK 1925-1926 In order to properly assess the nuances of the Mead-Freeman debate, one must go back in time to the Ta‘Å « of 1925-1926 the time of Mead’s ethnographic field research in order to thoroughly evaluate Mead’s interpretation of Samoa. The Samoan archipelago consists of nine inhabited islands in the South Pacific between 13 ° and 14 ° south latitude 168 ° and 173 ° longitude west (Orans 1996). The Samoan archipelago is divided betweenShow MoreRelatedCritical Analysis Of The Mead-Freeman Debate1283 Words   |  6 PagesNature versus Nurture Controversy: Critical Analysis of The Mead-Freeman Debate Research Topic Outline In 1983, Derek Freeman challenged Margaret Mead’s 1928 ethnographic work Coming of Age in Samoa, Freeman asserted that Mead’s conclusion of adolescent behavior conflicted with important facts within the social sciences. Freeman’s critique sparked an intense controversy in anthropology regarding the concept of nature versus nurture. Freeman claimed that Boasians’ insisted on separating cultural determinismRead MoreThe World s Culture And Traditions1881 Words   |  8 PagesBefore Mead, detailed immersive field work was not a common practice, and at the time the book was published the idea of living with native people was fairly ground breaking. Mead’s fieldwork was done entirely in the Samoan language, because few, if any at all of the natives spoke English. I believe this to be the best way to study a culture. Total emersion into another society’s culture and traditions would be the only way to truly grasp the concepts with in a culture. Alt hough difficult as it mightRead More From Unilineal Cultural Evolution to Functionalism Essay1048 Words   |  5 Pagesfamous exponent of the school of Culture and Personality is Margaret Mead. Margaret Mead was a student of Franz Boas and Ruth Benedict. Though in the course of her career she would eclipse the fame of her tutors, particularly the latter. Mead’s first field study was on the Pacific Island of Samoa, where she studied the lives of the adolescent girls in that culture. From this field study, she produced her famous work Coming of Age in Samoa (1949). In this work, she investigated the relationshipRead MorePower Of Culture On Public Displays Of Affection1423 Words   |  6 Pagesof affection, a park located in North Vancouver, Canada was chosen for my observation sessions. As evident through comparisons of Margaret Mead’s book Coming of Age in Samoa and Dorothy Holland and Margaret Eisenhart’s novel, Educated in Romance: Women, Achievement, an d College Culture, the portrayals of romance and affection varies from location to location. In Samoa, Mead depicts a culture that enables liberal and indulgent views of romance and sexuality while in the American South, Holland andRead MoreEssay on What Is Anthropology? How Is It Done?2374 Words   |  10 Pagesbones; so, she can contrive and test ideas about the origins of humans by studying the remains of living things (Shell 1991:37). Zihlman went to Miami University of Ohio, where she decided to major in anthropology after reading Margaret Meads book, Coming of Age in Samoa (Shell 1991:38). Since Miami University didnt have an anthropology department, she transferred to the University of Colorado (Shell 1991:38). After graduating in 1962, she went to do graduate work at Berkeley (Shell 1991:38).