Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilisation - Softcover

Margaret Mead was born in Philadelphia on December 16, 1901. She studied with professor Franz Boas and Dr. Ruth Benedict at Columbia University before earning her Master's Degree in 1924. Mead set out in 1925 to do fieldwork in Samoa. Prior to departing for Samoa, Mead had a relationship with the linguist Edward Sapir, author of the book Language, 4871875296, also reprinted by Ishi Press. Sapir was the linguist who had translated the language of Ishi in Two Worlds A Biography of the Last Wild Indian in North America, ISBN 0923891013 . From the publication of her first book, "Coming of Age in Samoa," in 1928, in which she described the values of adolescent lovemaking in Samoan society, Dr. Mead's name became associated with sexual theory. A good deal of her subsequent writing contended that sexual repression worked against healthy maturation of the young and against successful marriages. Her anthropological studies also covered other topics and were generally highly regarded as making her an expert in the sociocultural life of primitive peoples. Some, though, were reserved about the seeming contradictory nature of her material. "She illustrates the principle of eclectic circuitry," one critic said. The number of Dr. Mead's scientific and popular lectures was staggering--110 in one sample 12-month period--and each was different. Her popular lectures, delivered usually to overflow crowds, were sometimes on rather esoteric subjects. "Acculturation Among the Iatmul Tribe of New Guinea" was one of them. ("For years I have been able to guarantee audiences a good address by using words that aren't in home dictionaries," she once said.) Margaret Mead based upon her research and study of youth on the island of Ta'u in the Samoan Islands, primarily focusing on adolescent girls. The book launched Mead as a pioneering researcher and as the most famous anthropologist in the world. Since its first publication, it has been the most widely read book in the field of anthropology. The book has sparked years of ongoing and intense debate and controversy on questions pertaining to society, culture and science. It is a key text in the nature and nurture debate, as well as in discussions on issues relating to family, adolescence, gender, social norms, and attitudes. Margaret Mead died in New York Hospital on November 15, 1978.

Coming of Age in Samoa (1928) launched Mead's career as an anthropologist, which was reaffirmed with the 1930 publication of New Guinea. In both volumes she theorizes that culture is a leading influence on psychosexual development. She also surmises that the so-called civilized world could learn a lot from so-called primitives. Essential volumes for academics.
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