Miz Mead studied with two famous anthropologists: Franz Boas and Ruth Benedict. Mister Boas believed that the environment people grow up in -- not family genes -- caused most cultural differences among people.
This belief also influenced his young student. Margaret Mead asked to do research in Samoa in the Pacific Ocean. Mister Boas was concerned for her safety. But he let her go. He told her to learn about how young Samoan women were raised.
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In graduate school, Margaret had married Luther Cressman, who was studying to be a clergyman. He went to Europe to continue his studies. She went alone to Samoa in nineteen twenty-five. She worked among the people of Tau Island. The people spoke a difficult language that had never been written down. Luckily, she was able to learn languages easily.
Miz Mead studied the lives of Samoan girls. She was not much older than the girls she questioned. She said their life was free of the anger and rebellion found among young people in other societies. She also said Samoan girls had sexual relations with anyone they wanted. She said their society did not urge them to love just one man. And she said their society did not condemn sex before marriage.
Margaret Mead said she reached these beliefs after nine months of observation in Samoa. They helped make her book "Coming of Age in Samoa" one of the best-selling books of the time. Miz Mead was just twenty-seven years old when her book was published in nineteen twenty-eight. Many American readers were shocked by her observations about the sexual freedom enjoyed by young Samoan women.
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25