Coming Of Age By Margaret Mead - 965 Words

Through Margaret Mead’s ethnography, in the book Coming of Age in Samoa, we learn about the lives of women in Samoan culture. Young girls of Samoan culture have very little freedom in the beginning of their lives. Girls are expected to take care of the infants in their families until there is a younger and more capable girl that can provide care. Taking care of the babies in the family is a Samoan girl’s main responsibility as a child. The author further explains, â€Å"She also develops a number of simple techniques. She learns to weave firm square balls from palm leaves, to make pin-wheels of palm leaves or Frangipani blossoms†¦But in the case of the little girls all of these tasks are merely supplementary to the main business of baby-tending† (Mead 20). At a young age women are expected to attain skills in certain household tasks that help provide towards their Samoan families. Weaving is a household task that a Samoan girl is required to learn and become very skilled at. She learns different techniques and styles of weaving which help Samoan families throughout their everyday duties. Usually the older women of the household teach the younger girls how to weave. When a girl is 13 or 14 she is expected to weave a ‘fine mat.’ â€Å"The fine mat represents the high point of Samoan weaving virtuosity† (Mead 24). This ‘fine mat’ takes about 1 to 2 years to complete. Often these ‘fine mats’ are not finished until a girl is about 19 or 20 years of age. It is considered â€Å"aShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Margaret Meads Coming Of Age In Samoa1227 Words   |  5 Pages31, 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 adol escent 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 hypothesizedRead MoreCritical 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 Strengths And Weaknesses Of European Ethnography And / Or Science1283 Words   |  6 Pagescaused for the heavy sexualisation of the islands. Others observed the Pacific Islands as a place of savagery. These views of the Pacific became strengthened and/or weakened by the works of American and European Explorers and Ethnographers such as Margaret Mead. In effect, western thought unavoidably affects the Pacific people by how they view oneself and that of the western world. Western perspectives of the Pacific Islands have a wide spectrum from the beginning with Magellan’s contact with the GuamRead MoreComing of Age in Samoa1724 Words   |  7 PagesComing of Age in Somoa Margaret Mead s Coming of Age in Samoa, which was actually her doctoral dissertation, was compiled in a period of six months starting in 1925. Through it, people were given a look at a society not affected by the problems of 20th century industrial America. She illustrated a picture of a society where love was available for the asking and crime was dealt with by exchanging a few mats. This book helps one to realize the large role played by social environment. OneRead MoreComing of Age in Samoa1229 Words   |  5 PagesMargaret Mead’s book â€Å"Coming of Age in Samoa† is an anthropological study of a â€Å"primitive† group of people under completely different cultural conditions than people of western society, namely America. She chose to study a group of adolescents in the South Sea Island of Samoa, a place where one might study a people: â€Å"Whose society has never attained the complexity of our own.† Mead attempts to determine whether or not the experience of turbulence and difficulty during the time of puberty and adolescenceRead MoreEssay on coming of age in samoa1705 Words   |  7 Pages Coming of Age in Somoa Margaret Mead’s â€Å"Coming of Age in Samoa†, which was actually her doctoral dissertation, was compiled in a period of six months starting in 1925. Through it, people were given a look at a society not affected by the problems of 20th century industrial America. She illustrated a picture of a society where love was available for the asking and crime was dealt with by exchanging a few mats. This book helps one to realize the large role played by social environment. One ofRead 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. Although difficult as it mightRead MoreThe Cultural Anthropology : Margaret Mead890 Words   |  4 Pageslife. So, with my newfound love for cultural anthropology I decided to write about one of the most influential female anthropologists. I decided to write about Margaret Mead. I want to discuss her early life. Then, move on to her life as an anthropologist. Lastly, I would like to discuss her contributions to today’s cultural anthropology. Mead was brought into this world on December 16, 1901 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was brought up in a household full of social scientists. Her father was aRead MoreCritical Annotation of Watson Reading and Commentary Reading1765 Words   |  7 Pagesintellectuals are making judgements and evaluating the level of significance that actions have for community members particularly on social and cultural side of anthropology (Watson, 1999). In retrospect, observers should give clear details about their gender, age, general education orientation and marital status. Anthropologists usually encounter various challenges in their pursuit for information and data especially in recording of emotions and study of effect (Watson, 1999). The American anthropology has beenRead MoreGed 210 Unit 1 Examination Answers960 Words   |  4 Pagesrituals of warfare and celebration in the South Pacifi †¢ contrasting models of cultural diffusion. 1. Margaret Mead got most of her information on the behavior of adolescents in Samoa from: †¢ accounts of travelers and missionaries. †¢ newspaper accounts and government reports. †¢ watching ethnographic films. †¢ interviewing young women. 1. The central object of Mead’s study, Coming of Age in Samoa (1928), was to determine whether or not: †¢ kinship patterns in Samoa could be attributed to diffusion