Margaret Mead


Margaret Mead

December 16, 1901 – November 15, 1978

 

American Cultural Anthropologist

 

 

 Sign: Sagittarius

Strengths: Outspoken on controversial social issues, World traveler

Weaknesses: The governor of Florida called her a “dirty old lady”

Special Features: Named “Mother of the World” by Time Magazine in 1969

 

Margaret Mead was a prominent cultural anthropologist who spent her career studying a number of social issues including gender roles, child rearing, education, sex, war, and peace. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Barnard College in New York and continued on to Columbia University where she received her Masters degree as well as her Ph.D. During the course of her education Mead became close friends with anthropologists Franz Boaz and Ruth Benedict who encouraged Mead to pursue a career in anthropology. Mead published her first book, titled Coming of Age in Samoa, in 1928 and it became an instant best seller. The book was based on her field research among adolescents in the South Pacific. She later published two other related books titled Growing Up in New Guinea and Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies. Mead remained active throughout her life working as an activist, an author, an educator, and an interpreter of foreign cultures for the American people. She received numerous accolades during the course of her career and her work has had a lasting influence on the field of anthropology. In 1978 Mead passed away from cancer.

 

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

-          Coming of Age in Samoa (1928)

 

-          Growing Up in New Guinea (1930)

 

-          The Changing Culture of an Indian Tribe (1932)

 

-          Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies (1935)

 

-          Male and Female (1949)

 

-          New Lives for Old: Cultural Transformation in Manus, 1928-1953 (1956)

 

-          Continuities in Cultural Evolution (1964)

 

-         Culture and Commitment (1970)

 

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