October 15-17: Margaret Mead
| ANTH 565: ETHNOGRAPHY AS SCIENCE AND LITERATURE October 15-17: Margaret Mead |
|
CLASS HOME PAGE CLASS SCHEDULE |
October 15: Coming of Age in Samoa Margaret Mead was one of the most prolific ethnographers of all time, the author of 91 books listed in the UW library (probably about 60 different works because of multiple editions), about 14 of which could be counted as true ethnographic monographs. She was also a prominent public intellectual, writing a column for Redbook and appearing on all sorts of TV shows. And she was controversial among anthropologists, some of whom claimed that her ethnographies were good literature but bad science. For today, read her most famous work, and her first published book, Coming of Age in Samoa. This book made her not only famous but rich, having become a best-seller while she was away in New Guinea doing further fieldwork. Write a review that might appear in a popular magazine of some sort, emphasizing the lessons Mead draws for Americans from her study of Samoan society. In class, we will discuss how her literary style contributed to the popular reception of her book. October 17: Critiques and defenses In 1983, after Mead died, Australian anthropologist Derek Freeman published a devastating critique of Mead's work, claiming that her work was ideologically biased, scientifically unsound, and tricked by natives. The rush was on. A search for Margaret Mead AND Derek Freeman in the journal American Anthropologist on JSTOR turned up ninety-six articles. So in addition to the selection from Freeman, read 2-4 of these, or more if you get hooked, and then post a comment saying what you think of the controversy. You might want to write who you think was right, or why we can't tell, or something about the nature of scholarly polemic. Up to you. In class, we can continue the discussion. There is of course a lot more to Margaret Mead than we can cover in one week. Those interested in probing more deeply are well-advised to read Blackberry Winter, her autobiography, and/or With a Daughter's Eye, a joint biography of Mead and Gregory Bateson by their daughter, Mary Catherine Bateson. |