Margret Mead
Chapter 1: Introduction
Writer discussed topics of adolescence and the different factors that can play a part in shaping a child's adolescence. She then proposed an experiment where he took a relatively modest culture and subjected a child to it to see how it affect their adolescence differently than in Europe and Asia. She talks about how Samoa life is different and formalizes his reasoning for writing the book and performing the experiment.
I think that this opening chapter was very informative as to the approach the author is going to take in doing this research. The most interesting part to me was the fact that she chose a completely neutral culture that has never been visited or studied by westerners. Definitely makes me want to keep reading currently.
Chapter 2: A Day in Samoa
This Chapter mead gives us a rundown of a basic day in Samoa. Everyone gets up early and everyone seems to have a set understood job: boys begin to fish, women do small jobs of lighting fires and weaving, men meet to figure out the days activities and girls tend to younger girls of the village. As the day sets in and the sand gets hot everyone goes to more shaded activities such as cleaning and coconut gathering until the sun dips and the fishing and planting continue, the work stops at night the evening meal is had and young couples go out for a little while, some will fish by torch others will play and dance, sometimes the village does not stop until midnight.
The chapter while very short did give a basic idea as to what everyone does on a given day. It seems that everyone in the village understands that everyone must do a job to keep the village moving in the correct direction and that in order to be accepted by the elders must put forth as much effort as they can. In this chapter we are not quite revealed as to the specific of the girls actual contribution we just get an overview and sometimes a few specifics as to the girls. I suppose this is necessary for the overall view of the book but it seems like it was left out.
Chapter 3: Education of the Samoan Child
In this chapter we are shown what kind of education a child in Samoa goes through on a daily basis. All children start with the duty of watching a smaller child amongst them and teaching them the ways of the tribe. Some girls are required to carry the smallest children around until they can walk. Once boys reach a certain age they are taught skills and girls tend to children until puberty where they then learn to cook, weave and perform other small tasks for men. Women then learn to carry things and support the men and even learn to fish to an extent. They talk about how they do these tasks in order to impress the elders and men so that they may get a husband as no boy would want a women with no skills.
This chapter actually focused more on the work of a girl than did the second chapter. This chapter actually gave me an idea what of a girl will do during the day and provided a lot of incite as to how the people think about work ethic and skills. Women are put under extreme pressure to learn skills very well because of the importance placed on marriage. The thing that is strange to me is how children are forced to take care of each other and this is seen as a burden. Very different from how we think about it.
Chapter 4: The Samoan Household
This chapter we find out about how Samoans treat each other in regard to housing and family. There is a large ranking system that each house follows where they have a head of household to whom the house belongs. This person can decide who gets to stay and who must be leaving. However he will not refuse a child who seeks refuge as children do not have a set household and go around from house to house throughout their childhood. We then also find out about the system of hierarchy that each family observers. In fact there are positions of prestige and power that each girl carries in that she might be chosen to be a princess which is a very revered position and she is used as a figure head for the village. Not all girls are able to be chosen and a lot of it has to do with family hierarchy. This also plays an important space in marriage as you must marry someone within your general division.
I think this is an interesting system for any peoples. It is an interesting idea that there is not only an idea of who you like for marriage but also who you are ABLE to marry because you do not want to marry someone below you in status. Going backwards even further, I think it is interesting that children are not confined to one household. It seems like children are given a lot of free reign and if they do not like the people that they are living with they can simply find a new household and stay there until they are dissatisfied and then move on. Could you imagine if one of your children just decided to go live with their friends for a few weeks? I guess it is different because they will see them everyday but it is still an interesting social system.
Chapter 5: The Girl and Her Age Group
Chapter 5: The Girl and Her Age Group
In this chapter the author talks about how the Samoan girl associates with her individual age group and how age plays a large function as to who you "hang out with" in their culture. Essentially each group is divided into cliques based on their age and they do not much associate with anyone outside of their group. As girls grow up that transfer age groups based on confirmation from older tribe members and the amounts of responsibilities that they are entrusted with. Girls do not associate with their former groups because it is seen as an embarrassment and most of the time once a girl joins an "older group" she wants to get in good with them and be treated as an equal. It is an unspoken system for the most part and boys and adults play a similar role but most of the social structure of the people is very unspoken and simply accepted.
I find this very interesting as much of our culture (especially in the twenty first century) is based, sometimes almost completely, around social interactions. Many times groups simply form because the people feel like they have something in common and just want to be able to have people to associate with. We take for granted ideas such as age, gender, nationality etc. While these do play factors, in general groups will be of people of similar backgrounds and interests and much of the other personal information is largely ignored. We also do not share the stigma of being in a group that we feel is "below" us or "different" from us. In the cases that these situations do exist they are largely the person's personal view or a view of their already pre-established pier group.
Chapter 6: The Girl in the Community
Girls and boys in the community are mostly ignored as children. As we have seen in past chapters the children get to do their own thing and live wherever they want and their only real responsibility is to take care of the other children and adapt them to the Samoan way of living. Once the girl begins to grow up she is slotted for a responsibility and some of the higher rank ones were discussed. She could do everything from being the right hand of the chief representing the guild and tending to his needs. She could be a princess and be a figure head of the tribe greeting guests and entertaining them. Some girls are workers who run errands and dance for guests when requested. Others are simply forgotten and are just simple workers and are expected to do the duties of anyone else to keep the tribe going.
I think this chapters was quite eye opening simply to see how the differences between men and women are quite vast and rather what one would expect for the 1920's before the notion of women having rights was generally accepted. The thing that interested me most is how one girl would be chosen to be like a princess and would be a representative of the tribe when going to visit other groups or having visitors to their tribe. Even more surprising than that to me is how there are some women who are entertainers and will dance for guests or the chief whenever requested. To me this seems like a demeaning job but for them I am sure it is quite a position of honor.
Chapter 7: Formal Sex Relations
In this chapter Mead looks at how sex is regarded in the community and how it is treated with respect to pleasure, companionship, and marriage. They regard this much differently than we do and in cases of marital sex treat things entirely a different way. When a boy is interested in marriage there is no formal courtship but he does spend time with her and one of his friends and simply be very shy and coy. Young boys and girls also attend dates but they are scheduled very early and are very informal with no gifts and basically scheduled sex meetings. They also have very interesting ways as to how incest, older/younger sex and marital infidelity are handled. Incest is completely forbidden and the offender is asked to leave. Rape is regarded as acceptable but the person is taunted and disgraced and infidelity is done by having the man and his friends disgrace themselves in front of the other mans house all day until he forgives them and then invites them in for Kava. Very similar to formal relations, sex is also largely based on class and age, and both are considered in matters of dating and marriage.
It is interesting how the idea of sex changes from culture to culture. Some cultures find things very acceptable that others would regard as an outrage. If some of the activities that occur in Samoa occurred today the people would be called barbarians and primitive. They would be shunned by our society and people would treat them as lower forms of intelligence. IT is also interesting that people are not allowed to date whoever and must be rather selective. The thing that interests me MOST is how there is no courtship and you must get a confidant to talk you up and be your showman while you are shy and never really make a move until a time of marriage. I guess there really is no phenomena of divorce and once you marry someone you are together forever. I think at the least it is a good thing that family members are never regarded as mates and that there is a completely different way to even talk to your family members than potential mates.
Chapter 8: The Role of the Dance
This chapter takes us through how dancing plays a part in the lives of the person in Samoa. Dance is something that is highly celebrated and of the only activities that everyone in the tribe regularly participates in. There is a number of different dances that everyone learns and a lot of this is through imitation of someone who is comfortable and familiar with the dance and this is one of the only activities that tribe members participate in without ridicule. Anyone is able to be the center of attention and they are allowed to dance however they want or with whoever they want. There is a lot of music made with hands, mouths, and other forms of noise makers and the tribe definitely celebrates and has fun with the activity.
This is interesting because it seems that this is so much different how everything in the tribe works with respect and honor and centering around each person being in their role and not in anyone else. There also seems to be the idea that anyone can basically do what they want. Boys can dance like older men, girls can dance with elders and even the really high ranking individuals are allowed to be expressive and dance however they want and with whoever. I thought this was one of the more interesting chapters because it wasn't as much quantitative and almost like a pure documentary of how the tribe acts.
Chapter 9: The Attitude Towards Personality
In this chapter we look at how attitudes of the tribe are developed and how people perceive others personalities and quirks. In fact people realize that other people are different fundamentally from them but they either pass it as a generality or just talk more about the traits of the person than their actual personality. Mead even talks about how she had to taboo certain words amongst the children in order to get the answers she wanted to questions such as "tell me about x...". Many attitudes about people are also influenced heavily be the persons rank and status. If the village has three wise elders than those of lower rank say "they are wise, and very good". It is interesting how nothing is included in their personality but again more about their physical description, rank and then some good comments about them. It goes to show how the village really is a single unit and a whole and they all look out for each other.
I think the most interesting part of this is how Mead had to really pry in order to get anyone to tell her intimate things about themselves or others. They would not openly talk about another or an event and certainly would not say anything bad about another or someone of higher rank. Even more interesting is how boys would get away with mischief and similar to Americans now they will shrug this off and say "boys will be boys". When someone asks us about another based on our relationship with the person we try to tell good do bad things but when asked they almost will give you a description and tell you how good the person is regardless of the relationship. I suppose it isn't something that we commonly ask. If you were to ask me about my roommates I'd prolly just complain about their band they're forming. It again speaks to the cultural differences their tribe holds and their beliefs about living in a community.
Chapter 10: The Experience and Individuality of the Average Girl
This chapter we find out more about how Samoans and, in particular, Samoan girls regard intercourse, learn about sexual activities and their process of "sex education". In fact, many girls in Samoa learn very early about the relations of a man and woman and very early in life are first exposed to activities of masturbation and in some cases sex. In fact, virgin girls seek their first mate to be an older experienced boy who more understands what he is doing so the experience is less painful and more pleasurable the first time. Mead tells us in depth stories and experiences of a few different girls including their casual approach to homosexuality and how as age increases so do the desires to courted by a man and the desire to be intimate. While most girls will end up getting married there are some with strong homosexual tendencies that lead rough lives and have to be very quiet about it. Most girls who seem to have lost their way usually end up living with the chief and doing various tasks for him.
This was interesting to me in the sense that while some things in their culture are drastically different as far as view points go, some things are similar in ways. Older women less interested in love, younger girls idolizing older boys. Boys wanting to be strong and good for the woman they are with. Even the fact that girls who are very into homosexual activity have a harder life than others. It is interesting how their culture is so much different and yet in many ways the same to ours. I think that their views are a little muddled and for the most part it seems like each person has their own view and essentially the elders are the ones who decide what is right and wrong, however they do have a very set belief system that is being a little changed by religion.
Chapter 11: The Girl in Conflict
In this chapter we see how the Samoan girl is treated in times of conflict. When she becomes temperamental and how the different age groups are expected to react and act whenever there is a conflict in their group. For girls for the most part this is seen as a bad thing because a girl who acts out and does not seek repentance or a girl who publicly elopes and runs off with another boy is seen as less of a marriage value. The author then tells the cases of a few different girls in the group and how their decisions and their whole lives are based around the household and looking like a good mate for marriage.
First off...this chapter was not 7 pages. I think its interesting that the girl in this case is mostly exiled from the group and even starting at about the age of 14 is exiled from her group of younger friends as she starts to learn ll the skill she will need to be, essentially, a housewife. However I do find this rather irritating because I think we have hit the part of this book where it feels like there is the same info being given to us over and over and we are just focusing on the stories of the individual girls. I am really beginning to lose interest and just want to learn more about the culture and not so much about isolated incidents. Part of this might have to also do with the fact that I am REALLY tried right now.
Chapter 12: Maturity and Old Age
In this chapter we are shown how the role of the girl in her group changes as she gets older. Girls are forced more and more as they get older to get married and a twenty plus year old girl is pressured and ridiculed more and more by her family and her community to marry. This is mainly because of the ability of the girl to find a mate goes down but also because the girl becomes less desirable and the family must provide more to a man the older she gets. Obviously this is different for the matai as she is set up to be married by the family and usually to a prince. There is also the stigma that as adults in Samoa get older sex becomes more of a taboo and an older girl and woman is less desired as older men are content to stay home and older women gather to talk and sip kava.
This chapter is quite a it different in that it doesn't expose us to anything new but simply just shows us an aspect of life and how it is different than ours. We know about how a girl is treated differently as she gets older but in this case we get to see how this also affects her ability to be married and what this means for the girl in the community. It is interesting how this inevitably leads into what older people really do in the community and ultimately concludes with almost a cute story about older people. I think the most interesting part is how vividly different our culture is now and how we used to be similar to this. Fifty years ago sex between older people was taboo and now it is encouraged. It makes me wonder if Samoa has changed and if this idea is still true or not.
Chapter 13: Our Educational Problems in the Light of Samoan Constraints
This chapter was a bit different, Mead even says this in the first paragraph, this chapter focuses on European conflicts of education and how they would be seen or perceived in Samoan culture. Mead actually talks about individual conflicts in Europan societies and then talks about how the situation would be so much different in Samoan culture. How it would be handled differently and how even the different structure of the family being what it is and how it affects girls. She also kind of gives an overview of the whole first twelve chapters talking about different aspects of the culture and how they interact. The chapter was rather long and covered a lot of problems but did so to see the vastness of differences and talk about certain girls in particular.
I am not quite sure why this chapter is here or why it is in the spot it is in. It seemed like Mead was trying to end the book but there is clearly more there. Perhaps she also understands the length of what she has written and needs ample time to conclude the book. In all the book was rather strange and it was interesting at the same time in how everything was described and explained to the lay audience. One would not expect some of these things or the amount of information Mead covered, however it was all good information and really helped to explain the culture.
Chapter 14: Education for Choice
In this final chapter Mead takes us in a totally different direction and talks about how the Samoan culture is evolving and how it is becoming so much different from outside influence. She talks about the changes in customs and daily life due to religion and education. She talk about how a woman's role changes and how this has affected their society. She even asks questions reflecting on some of their customs and comparing them to European society. She does a good job of wrapping up a very involed book and summaraizing the different aspects of her study and what she did to stay true to the data.
I found this as a good closing chapter. I really wasn't overly involved in it because I am rather tired of this book and ethnography can be rather dry at times. I think it is interesting how much religion and education have changed their lives but also how much they have not affected. It is interesting to see the vast amount of differences from our culture and to see her strait comparing them nearly action for action. I find it hard to think that there are some cultures who still behave as they do and haven't adapted to 20th century customs and beliefs but I would really like to know what has changed if anything in their society today. Most interesting to me is still the system of social order and how there is a defined chief and head of household.
Appendix II: Methodology of the StudyI find this very interesting as much of our culture (especially in the twenty first century) is based, sometimes almost completely, around social interactions. Many times groups simply form because the people feel like they have something in common and just want to be able to have people to associate with. We take for granted ideas such as age, gender, nationality etc. While these do play factors, in general groups will be of people of similar backgrounds and interests and much of the other personal information is largely ignored. We also do not share the stigma of being in a group that we feel is "below" us or "different" from us. In the cases that these situations do exist they are largely the person's personal view or a view of their already pre-established pier group.
Chapter 6: The Girl in the Community
Girls and boys in the community are mostly ignored as children. As we have seen in past chapters the children get to do their own thing and live wherever they want and their only real responsibility is to take care of the other children and adapt them to the Samoan way of living. Once the girl begins to grow up she is slotted for a responsibility and some of the higher rank ones were discussed. She could do everything from being the right hand of the chief representing the guild and tending to his needs. She could be a princess and be a figure head of the tribe greeting guests and entertaining them. Some girls are workers who run errands and dance for guests when requested. Others are simply forgotten and are just simple workers and are expected to do the duties of anyone else to keep the tribe going.
I think this chapters was quite eye opening simply to see how the differences between men and women are quite vast and rather what one would expect for the 1920's before the notion of women having rights was generally accepted. The thing that interested me most is how one girl would be chosen to be like a princess and would be a representative of the tribe when going to visit other groups or having visitors to their tribe. Even more surprising than that to me is how there are some women who are entertainers and will dance for guests or the chief whenever requested. To me this seems like a demeaning job but for them I am sure it is quite a position of honor.
Chapter 7: Formal Sex Relations
In this chapter Mead looks at how sex is regarded in the community and how it is treated with respect to pleasure, companionship, and marriage. They regard this much differently than we do and in cases of marital sex treat things entirely a different way. When a boy is interested in marriage there is no formal courtship but he does spend time with her and one of his friends and simply be very shy and coy. Young boys and girls also attend dates but they are scheduled very early and are very informal with no gifts and basically scheduled sex meetings. They also have very interesting ways as to how incest, older/younger sex and marital infidelity are handled. Incest is completely forbidden and the offender is asked to leave. Rape is regarded as acceptable but the person is taunted and disgraced and infidelity is done by having the man and his friends disgrace themselves in front of the other mans house all day until he forgives them and then invites them in for Kava. Very similar to formal relations, sex is also largely based on class and age, and both are considered in matters of dating and marriage.
It is interesting how the idea of sex changes from culture to culture. Some cultures find things very acceptable that others would regard as an outrage. If some of the activities that occur in Samoa occurred today the people would be called barbarians and primitive. They would be shunned by our society and people would treat them as lower forms of intelligence. IT is also interesting that people are not allowed to date whoever and must be rather selective. The thing that interests me MOST is how there is no courtship and you must get a confidant to talk you up and be your showman while you are shy and never really make a move until a time of marriage. I guess there really is no phenomena of divorce and once you marry someone you are together forever. I think at the least it is a good thing that family members are never regarded as mates and that there is a completely different way to even talk to your family members than potential mates.
Chapter 8: The Role of the Dance
This chapter takes us through how dancing plays a part in the lives of the person in Samoa. Dance is something that is highly celebrated and of the only activities that everyone in the tribe regularly participates in. There is a number of different dances that everyone learns and a lot of this is through imitation of someone who is comfortable and familiar with the dance and this is one of the only activities that tribe members participate in without ridicule. Anyone is able to be the center of attention and they are allowed to dance however they want or with whoever they want. There is a lot of music made with hands, mouths, and other forms of noise makers and the tribe definitely celebrates and has fun with the activity.
This is interesting because it seems that this is so much different how everything in the tribe works with respect and honor and centering around each person being in their role and not in anyone else. There also seems to be the idea that anyone can basically do what they want. Boys can dance like older men, girls can dance with elders and even the really high ranking individuals are allowed to be expressive and dance however they want and with whoever. I thought this was one of the more interesting chapters because it wasn't as much quantitative and almost like a pure documentary of how the tribe acts.
Chapter 9: The Attitude Towards Personality
In this chapter we look at how attitudes of the tribe are developed and how people perceive others personalities and quirks. In fact people realize that other people are different fundamentally from them but they either pass it as a generality or just talk more about the traits of the person than their actual personality. Mead even talks about how she had to taboo certain words amongst the children in order to get the answers she wanted to questions such as "tell me about x...". Many attitudes about people are also influenced heavily be the persons rank and status. If the village has three wise elders than those of lower rank say "they are wise, and very good". It is interesting how nothing is included in their personality but again more about their physical description, rank and then some good comments about them. It goes to show how the village really is a single unit and a whole and they all look out for each other.
I think the most interesting part of this is how Mead had to really pry in order to get anyone to tell her intimate things about themselves or others. They would not openly talk about another or an event and certainly would not say anything bad about another or someone of higher rank. Even more interesting is how boys would get away with mischief and similar to Americans now they will shrug this off and say "boys will be boys". When someone asks us about another based on our relationship with the person we try to tell good do bad things but when asked they almost will give you a description and tell you how good the person is regardless of the relationship. I suppose it isn't something that we commonly ask. If you were to ask me about my roommates I'd prolly just complain about their band they're forming. It again speaks to the cultural differences their tribe holds and their beliefs about living in a community.
Chapter 10: The Experience and Individuality of the Average Girl
This chapter we find out more about how Samoans and, in particular, Samoan girls regard intercourse, learn about sexual activities and their process of "sex education". In fact, many girls in Samoa learn very early about the relations of a man and woman and very early in life are first exposed to activities of masturbation and in some cases sex. In fact, virgin girls seek their first mate to be an older experienced boy who more understands what he is doing so the experience is less painful and more pleasurable the first time. Mead tells us in depth stories and experiences of a few different girls including their casual approach to homosexuality and how as age increases so do the desires to courted by a man and the desire to be intimate. While most girls will end up getting married there are some with strong homosexual tendencies that lead rough lives and have to be very quiet about it. Most girls who seem to have lost their way usually end up living with the chief and doing various tasks for him.
This was interesting to me in the sense that while some things in their culture are drastically different as far as view points go, some things are similar in ways. Older women less interested in love, younger girls idolizing older boys. Boys wanting to be strong and good for the woman they are with. Even the fact that girls who are very into homosexual activity have a harder life than others. It is interesting how their culture is so much different and yet in many ways the same to ours. I think that their views are a little muddled and for the most part it seems like each person has their own view and essentially the elders are the ones who decide what is right and wrong, however they do have a very set belief system that is being a little changed by religion.
Chapter 11: The Girl in Conflict
In this chapter we see how the Samoan girl is treated in times of conflict. When she becomes temperamental and how the different age groups are expected to react and act whenever there is a conflict in their group. For girls for the most part this is seen as a bad thing because a girl who acts out and does not seek repentance or a girl who publicly elopes and runs off with another boy is seen as less of a marriage value. The author then tells the cases of a few different girls in the group and how their decisions and their whole lives are based around the household and looking like a good mate for marriage.
First off...this chapter was not 7 pages. I think its interesting that the girl in this case is mostly exiled from the group and even starting at about the age of 14 is exiled from her group of younger friends as she starts to learn ll the skill she will need to be, essentially, a housewife. However I do find this rather irritating because I think we have hit the part of this book where it feels like there is the same info being given to us over and over and we are just focusing on the stories of the individual girls. I am really beginning to lose interest and just want to learn more about the culture and not so much about isolated incidents. Part of this might have to also do with the fact that I am REALLY tried right now.
Chapter 12: Maturity and Old Age
In this chapter we are shown how the role of the girl in her group changes as she gets older. Girls are forced more and more as they get older to get married and a twenty plus year old girl is pressured and ridiculed more and more by her family and her community to marry. This is mainly because of the ability of the girl to find a mate goes down but also because the girl becomes less desirable and the family must provide more to a man the older she gets. Obviously this is different for the matai as she is set up to be married by the family and usually to a prince. There is also the stigma that as adults in Samoa get older sex becomes more of a taboo and an older girl and woman is less desired as older men are content to stay home and older women gather to talk and sip kava.
This chapter is quite a it different in that it doesn't expose us to anything new but simply just shows us an aspect of life and how it is different than ours. We know about how a girl is treated differently as she gets older but in this case we get to see how this also affects her ability to be married and what this means for the girl in the community. It is interesting how this inevitably leads into what older people really do in the community and ultimately concludes with almost a cute story about older people. I think the most interesting part is how vividly different our culture is now and how we used to be similar to this. Fifty years ago sex between older people was taboo and now it is encouraged. It makes me wonder if Samoa has changed and if this idea is still true or not.
Chapter 13: Our Educational Problems in the Light of Samoan Constraints
This chapter was a bit different, Mead even says this in the first paragraph, this chapter focuses on European conflicts of education and how they would be seen or perceived in Samoan culture. Mead actually talks about individual conflicts in Europan societies and then talks about how the situation would be so much different in Samoan culture. How it would be handled differently and how even the different structure of the family being what it is and how it affects girls. She also kind of gives an overview of the whole first twelve chapters talking about different aspects of the culture and how they interact. The chapter was rather long and covered a lot of problems but did so to see the vastness of differences and talk about certain girls in particular.
I am not quite sure why this chapter is here or why it is in the spot it is in. It seemed like Mead was trying to end the book but there is clearly more there. Perhaps she also understands the length of what she has written and needs ample time to conclude the book. In all the book was rather strange and it was interesting at the same time in how everything was described and explained to the lay audience. One would not expect some of these things or the amount of information Mead covered, however it was all good information and really helped to explain the culture.
Chapter 14: Education for Choice
In this final chapter Mead takes us in a totally different direction and talks about how the Samoan culture is evolving and how it is becoming so much different from outside influence. She talks about the changes in customs and daily life due to religion and education. She talk about how a woman's role changes and how this has affected their society. She even asks questions reflecting on some of their customs and comparing them to European society. She does a good job of wrapping up a very involed book and summaraizing the different aspects of her study and what she did to stay true to the data.
I found this as a good closing chapter. I really wasn't overly involved in it because I am rather tired of this book and ethnography can be rather dry at times. I think it is interesting how much religion and education have changed their lives but also how much they have not affected. It is interesting to see the vast amount of differences from our culture and to see her strait comparing them nearly action for action. I find it hard to think that there are some cultures who still behave as they do and haven't adapted to 20th century customs and beliefs but I would really like to know what has changed if anything in their society today. Most interesting to me is still the system of social order and how there is a defined chief and head of household.
The author here talks about her methodologies for the study. She compares her work to some of the earlier work but clearly talks about how she will have constraints due to the small size of the community. However she does justify her points by talking about different approaches and how she chose one that largely ignores the constraints for educational purposes. She also talks about her data gathered and how the way it was presented helps to ignore the bias of not having exact information and how the fact that these issues are relevant also helps us learn about the peoples.
This was the kind of information I would almost expect to find in the preface of a book, the author wanting to justify her actions and convince the reader that her methods were legitimate and not merely an amateur study. However it is interesting that she considered the different kinds of studies and talks about how her data is supposed to be taken at face value and not as the exact understanding of the culture. I believe the author is doing a very well thought though supposition considering she is the first person to do this and has nothing else to go on or study.
Appendix III: Samoan Civilization as it is Today
In this chapter we find out about how the civilization has changed with the influence of the outside world. Mead sets up the scene and then goes through the various parts of her study and talks about how each has changed. The biggest thing she talks about is how life as a girl has improved significantly for the modern girl than it was for her Grandmother. No longer are the deflowering ceremonies and there is no longer a taboo of the girl who refuses to marry. They have even done away with the primitive way they deal with punishment having a savage beating from members of the tribe. They have even have some members of the tribe learning English and modern religion. Essentially, while the customs are the same there have been major improvements in the tribes quality of life.
This was really a good bit of the appendix, it was as if she wanted the reader to leave it until the end and then really see what the differences between the two were. It is interesting because despite the last few chapters where she tells us about the differences in the culture and compares them to European values in this she tells us about the quality of life in the two civilizations. I thought it was interesting what deeply rooted ceremonies and traditions they have gone away with. It was interesting how many things they would never consider to be inappropriate others told them to do away with. I thought the section was really interesting and actually think it could have been done away with before chapters 13 and 14.
Appendix V: Materials on Which the Study is Based
In this appendix the author lets us know about the subjects in which she did the study. She breaks down each of the groups of girls by age and family status. She then tells about the different personal questions she asked them all to establish their maturity and level of exposure to sex and other social activities. She then also talks about intelligence tests done and other forms of social exposure. She provides charts with a lot of this information that is used for references as the reader progresses.
I was kind of put off and kind of freaked out by the information that the author was able to get. It seemed that by any standards some of the things that the author asked these girls was very inappropriate for the early 1900's. It kind of freaked me out that she needed to gather this information and freaked me out even more to some of the answers the girls provided. I think this information is good to have but my pages were kind of small and some of the charts were hard to read across multiple pages.
Full Book:
The book covers all the aspects of the very small relatively unknown culture of Samoa. The small island tribe has its own set of customs that in some ways are still very primitive to our American cultures and do somethings that we would consider outright wrong and Cruel. Marget Mead wanted to study this culture and bring to life how other cultures live and specifically how this affects the lives of young girls and boys in the tribe. While religion is starting to change some of their views on these kinds of things and the white man has brought in goods and other technologies that have told them to do away with some of these practices their culture still remains different from ours and they still stick to a lot of their old pratices. I believe between the qualitative chapters and the quantitative tables in the back Mead does do a complete job of letting the reader know about the culture.
I liked parts of this book more than others. Some of it was really engaging and some of it it seemed like Mead was turning it into a novel more so than an ethnography. I appreciate the stories but I don't really want to know every detail about it. I think the dancing ceremony is probably my favorite aspect of the tribe, because the tribe is very into respect and staying at ones age and the dance ceremony does away with that and anyone can dance as whomever they like it is an interesting reflection of the true nature of the people. I also think it is interesting how they have had to give up on some of their traditions in order to be a part of outside religion. It is strange to think that that kind of influence can change a people who have established traditions that have carried on for many years. In all Mead does a really good job of letting you know about the culture and if you visit you might not be as frightened by what is going on.
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