MEAD, Margaret

Probably the most widely published and read of 20th century cultural anthropologists. Her field work in Samoa and New Guinea with its implications that sexual behaviour and norms are socially malleable may explain some of the initial interest, but the quality of her ethnographic observation, as of her collaborators, together with the wider applications of her perspective added to to her reputation – and drew  detractors. Her interest in collective human diversity led her to speak of ‘transcultural continuities’. She was also an active Episcopalian.

Life

• Biography of Mead
• Illustrated Library of Congress biography of Mead
  

Writings

• Mead's work in Papua New Guinea
• Coming of Age in Samoa

Video

Margaret Mead on intergenerational education (5 mins)