Cultural Anthropology

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Margaret Mead : An Anthropologist who made a difference

Margaret Mead was one of the most appreciated and renowned anthropologist of all times . She was not only an anthropologist but also a prolific writer as well . There have been other anthropologists who have played their part in the development the discipline of Anthropology but what distinguishes Margaret Mead from others is that she believed in reaching the masses . She was of the view that until and unless the studies and findings were communicated to the

masses , there was little use of carrying out researches and field work related to the subject of Anthropology . For this very reason , she has written over more than 40 books and various articles and research s . However , this essay will only focus on one of her very earliest works named as Coming of age in Samoa ' and the criticism that it had to face later on from Derek Freeman (zheng 1999

In one of her most significant works , Coming of age in Samoa Margaret Mead carried out a research in some villages of Samoa to test the hypothesis that "much of what we ascribe to human nature is no more than a reaction to the restraints put upon us by our civilization (Boas 1928 . This was a proposition stated by Boas , who acted as Mead 's mentor , and therefore Mead set out for Samoa to test the hypothesis . Her study was carried out in three villages of Samoa and comprised...