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Blackberry Winter: My Earlier Years
During her exceptional life Margaret Mead represented many things to the American public; sage, scientist, noncomformist, crusader for world peace, and archetypal grandmother. An enduring cultural icon for our century, she came to symbolize a new kind of woman, one who successfully combined marriage and motherhood with a career, and serious scholarship with a singular concern for its role in the lives of ordinary people.
305 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
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1118 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Mead
173 books488 followersMargaret Mead was an American cultural anthropologist who was frequently a featured writer and speaker in the mass media throughout the '60s and '70s as a popularizer of the insights of anthropology into modern American and western life but also a respected, if controversial, academic anthropologist.
Her reports as to the purportedly healthy attitude towards sex in South Pacific and Southeast Asian traditional cultures amply informed the '60s "sexual revolution" and it was only at the end of her life and career that her propositions were – albeit controversially – challenged by a maverick fellow anthropologist and literate members of societies she had long before studied and reported on. Mead was a champion of broadened sexual mores within a context of traditional western religious life.
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
Her reports as to the purportedly healthy attitude towards sex in South Pacific and Southeast Asian traditional cultures amply informed the '60s "sexual revolution" and it was only at the end of her life and career that her propositions were – albeit controversially – challenged by a maverick fellow anthropologist and literate members of societies she had long before studied and reported on. Mead was a champion of broadened sexual mores within a context of traditional western religious life.
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
February 5, 2020
Margaret Mead, who died in 1978 six years after this book was published, was a remarkable woman who deserves to be more widely recognized for the contributions she made to the field of anthropology as well as for her humanitarian values: “I went to Samoa – as later I went to the other societies in which I have worked – to find out more about human beings, human beings like ourselves in everything except their culture. Through the accidents of history, these cultures had developed so differently from ours that knowledge of them could shed a kind of light upon us, upon our potentialities and our limitations…”.
Born in 1901 into a highly educated rather unconventional family she was “a first child, wanted and loved.” Both her parents and several of her grandparents had post-graduate degrees and it was only natural that Margaret would follow their lead. “For me, being brought up to become a woman who could live responsibly in the contemporary world and learning to be an anthropologist, conscious of the culture in which I lived, were almost the same thing.” This book is a fascinating account of what that involved and how it evolved into a lifelong commitment to the responsibilities a society has to its children :”a society that has ceased to care about children, a society that cuts off older people from meaningful contact with children, a society that segregates any group of men and women in such a way that they are prevented from having or caring for children, is greatly endangered.”
When she began working as an anthropologist in Samoa she had little practical information about what it actually involved. In fact most people didn’t even know the meaning of the word “anthropology.” Her autobiography tells the story of those early years and what she learned living and working among the various cultures she studied. Along the way she was married and divorced three times, twice to men she worked with in the field. And if her book only barely hints at what those relationships actually involved it’s because when she first started writing she asked herself “would I be able to write in a way that would not hurt or offend those about whom I wrote?”
She was a deeply caring person and nowhere is that more obvious than in what she wrote about her own experiences as a mother and a grandmother. “Everyone needs to have access both to grandparents and grandchildren in order to be a full human being. . . Seeing a child as one’s grandchild, one can visualize that same child as a grandparent and with the eyes of another generation one can see other children, just as light-footed and vivid, as eager to learn and know and embrace the world, and who must be taken into account - now.”
Born in 1901 into a highly educated rather unconventional family she was “a first child, wanted and loved.” Both her parents and several of her grandparents had post-graduate degrees and it was only natural that Margaret would follow their lead. “For me, being brought up to become a woman who could live responsibly in the contemporary world and learning to be an anthropologist, conscious of the culture in which I lived, were almost the same thing.” This book is a fascinating account of what that involved and how it evolved into a lifelong commitment to the responsibilities a society has to its children :”a society that has ceased to care about children, a society that cuts off older people from meaningful contact with children, a society that segregates any group of men and women in such a way that they are prevented from having or caring for children, is greatly endangered.”
When she began working as an anthropologist in Samoa she had little practical information about what it actually involved. In fact most people didn’t even know the meaning of the word “anthropology.” Her autobiography tells the story of those early years and what she learned living and working among the various cultures she studied. Along the way she was married and divorced three times, twice to men she worked with in the field. And if her book only barely hints at what those relationships actually involved it’s because when she first started writing she asked herself “would I be able to write in a way that would not hurt or offend those about whom I wrote?”
She was a deeply caring person and nowhere is that more obvious than in what she wrote about her own experiences as a mother and a grandmother. “Everyone needs to have access both to grandparents and grandchildren in order to be a full human being. . . Seeing a child as one’s grandchild, one can visualize that same child as a grandparent and with the eyes of another generation one can see other children, just as light-footed and vivid, as eager to learn and know and embrace the world, and who must be taken into account - now.”
May 20, 2010
I wasn't expecting to enjoy this as much as I did - very charming (if also self-promoting) memoir written by an exceptional person. I had read so much anti-Mead material in college that it was great to hear about her early career from her perspective and remember that what she did accomplish was amazing. (Even if a bit flawed from the perspective of later anthropologists.) She was remarkably adventuresome and gutsy.
July 27, 2015
A while ago I read Euphoria by Lily King, a novel loosely based on Margaret Mead. It quite messed with the true life of Ms Mead at the end. This book is her autobiography up to becoming a grandmother. She is an incredibly good writer and has been a shero of mine since my college days. Back then I read Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies and the Balinese book.
Margaret Mead was born in 1902 to a feminist mom; not the activist kind but the kind who just lives as a fully entitled intellectual woman while also being married and raising kids. Margaret's life was in no way ordinary from the start.
She was the first to open my eyes to feminism, to freedom, potential, a saner approach to childrearing. I always wanted to go to Bali and just live there. I never did. But I revisited it in my mind while reading Blackberry Winter.
Of course, because she bucked patriarchy all her life, she took plenty of criticism and outright shaming. It doesn't matter to me whether or not she was always right. She opened up a closed subject, she got the conversation going. She had three husbands; the one she loved most left her. She had a daughter who grew up to be great herself. She worked incredibly hard because she followed her passion and she does not apologize for anything. She just stayed true to herself.
Margaret Mead was born in 1902 to a feminist mom; not the activist kind but the kind who just lives as a fully entitled intellectual woman while also being married and raising kids. Margaret's life was in no way ordinary from the start.
She was the first to open my eyes to feminism, to freedom, potential, a saner approach to childrearing. I always wanted to go to Bali and just live there. I never did. But I revisited it in my mind while reading Blackberry Winter.
Of course, because she bucked patriarchy all her life, she took plenty of criticism and outright shaming. It doesn't matter to me whether or not she was always right. She opened up a closed subject, she got the conversation going. She had three husbands; the one she loved most left her. She had a daughter who grew up to be great herself. She worked incredibly hard because she followed her passion and she does not apologize for anything. She just stayed true to herself.
June 12, 2022
Sometimes I get really frustrated with the goodreads rating system and its complete lack of nuance. Blackberry Winter, for example, is probably not really a five-star book. However, it was a five-star reading experience for me because I'm fascinated by Margaret Mead; because it was well-written but still perplexingly secretive; because it confounded my expectations of what a memoir should be. I don't think I'd recommend this to everyone, but if you've read Euphoria, or are at all interested in the life of an anthropologist, Blackberry Winter is a good one to check out. There really is a lot of fascinating stuff in here.
September 16, 2015
I read this book when it came out in 1972. It was a must read for young feminists in the seventies as here was an independent career woman who dared to flaunt stereotypes and limitations to follow her passion and drive to become an anthropologist. She wrote openly about topics such as birth control, miscarriage, divorce, extra-marital affairs, and her decision to keep her maiden name as a married woman. She sought out her friend Dr. Benjamin Spock before her baby was born to ensure she would have someone on her side as hospitals in the 1940's were strict with rules, such that it was actually illegal for a newborn to sleep in the same room with the mother after birth and had to be segregated in a nursery. Feeding on demand was not allowed. With Dr. Spock on her side she was able to by-pass some of the restrictions. On re-reading it decades later I still found it quite entertaining and a good read. She was a role model and a welcome spokesperson in an era when young women were challenging expectations of their roles in society.
June 24, 2015
I've always enjoyed books about and by Margaret Mead. Blackberry Winter is an autobiography of her early years.
In addition to fascination with her work, methods, and husbands I was also intrigued to read that Dr. Benjamin Spock was her pediatrician. Her daughter's pediatrician was Terry Brazelton - who's work has always fascinated me.
It was interesting to read this 1972 book now prior to reading the current book Euphoria which is supposed to be loosely based on Margaret Meade and two of her husbands.
In addition to fascination with her work, methods, and husbands I was also intrigued to read that Dr. Benjamin Spock was her pediatrician. Her daughter's pediatrician was Terry Brazelton - who's work has always fascinated me.
It was interesting to read this 1972 book now prior to reading the current book Euphoria which is supposed to be loosely based on Margaret Meade and two of her husbands.
Currently reading
June 3, 2010I'm only halfway through this book, but I feel Margaret Mead would have been a wonderful friend. She talks about the influences of her mother, and paternal grandmother, both college-educated women and teachers, on her own life. She talks about her three siblings and her observations of how they became who they were. She is smart and observant.
July 13, 2016
This was a pleasant surprise. I got the book when I was in college and actively trying to widen the scope of my reading. At that time, I wanted to know how anthropologists went about their work. I suppose I should have seen her as a capable and intelligent woman, but that didn't cross my mind. I did think of her as being courageous.
August 11, 2010
Early life of Margaret Mead and the struggles she overcame as a woman in a new field. Also much about living in countries like Samoa and Malaysia when she did her field work in the 1930s that changed the way anthropology is studied. A truly great woman.
May 31, 2024
I'm unsure what the line is between "dated" and "of historical merit." It could be said that this book smacks too intensely of the early-to-mid 20th century; it could also be said that this is precisely how it should be. In terms of modern niceties and the strictures of political correctness, however, even someone as thoroughly progressive and up-to-date as Mead is likely to be seen as somewhat of a reactionary or, strangely enough, an ethnocentrist. She is neither.
I was joined in my reading of this book by (insofar as I can tell) two other previous readers who left me annotations. The first reader (or second, I'm not sure) was a strict feminist, and underlined everything Mead wrote about gender, especially as it pertained to marriage and the workforce. And I do mean everything. The other reader (whom I assume was a college student) simply recorded their moment-to-moment reactions to things (gems such as: "Asshole" and "WTF?"). Our second reader seemed incredulous toward Mead; how can Mead write this way about culture? How can Mead feel so protective over "her" studied people? The first reader seemed deeply confused on a moral level, for they were quick to note even the most minor of ethical breaches in our culture (the husband not partaking of household chores), yet they grew strangely abrasive when Mead said that a culture that regularly committed infanticide simply because the baby was the wrong sex was "not a good one." It seems to me that this is, quite evidently, not a good culture, especially if one is a baby. (The annotation read . . . "Wow. Ethnocentrism.")
Now, I do not know this person, but I'd wager that they are highly educated and big on tolerance and all cultures being seen as equal. Tolerance is fine within parameters, even virtuous, but often these people invoke tolerance in the face of true horror. People like this not only strike me as profoundly amoral, but also as illogical. If relativism is the way of the world, on what are they basing their notions of tolerance? Tolerance is only one ethic among many, none of which is better than another; so who says tolerance is better than intolerance? On what moral ground are they standing to make such a claim? The problem with relativism is that it's self-defeating; the moment they open their mouth to say something even remotely touching upon morality, the game's already over. And, if they get upset with you for judging a culture of careless, brazen infanticide, could you not equally get upset about their judging you? After all, shouldn't this person tolerate your views? That's the moral confusion. Here's the logical fallacy (first brought into my brain by the philosopher Louis Pojman):
A: Morality differs across different societies, so there are no universally-held morals.
B: Individual morality depends on a culture's broader morality.
Conclusion: There are no absolute moral standards that apply to everyone.
Do you see the illogical jump there? Because there are many _____, therefore there are no right ________. Let's analyze this with two analogies.
1) A person comes in with a strange red ring after having hiked in the forest. Fifteen doctors look at the mark, and none of them agrees about the diagnosis. Would it be correct to say that there is no right answer to this medical issue?
2) A teacher writes an algebraic equation on the whiteboard and asks students to solve for X. The students are divided into four distinct camps, each convinced that their answer is the right one. Is the teacher justified in saying that, because there is a plethora of answers, that there is no one correct answer?
Of course, these analogies aren't perfect, because people don't accept morality as "factual." I don't really want to go farther than this, because I've already written an essay, but I hope you see my point. Given the landscape of ethical variation out there, it could be that all systems of morality make humans equally happy, satisfied, enlightened, creative, choose your own Top Value; it could also be that some cultures are, in fact, better than others. Of course, we can debate which those are (and we should), and what makes them so.
Back to Mead. The book is very enlightening on many points, but Mead has a tendency to get bogged down in extraneous life events without explaining their context. Several times she mentions people casually that she hasn't introduced, or briefly alludes to events that she hasn't sketched. And she writes an awful lot about things that she doesn't tie back to her developmental history or the evolution of her thoughts. She was clearly a very intelligent woman, very trail-blazing (sexually and academically), and very human. One could easily have spoken to her for hours.
Should you read this book, I hope your fellow-readers are as zany as mine were.
I was joined in my reading of this book by (insofar as I can tell) two other previous readers who left me annotations. The first reader (or second, I'm not sure) was a strict feminist, and underlined everything Mead wrote about gender, especially as it pertained to marriage and the workforce. And I do mean everything. The other reader (whom I assume was a college student) simply recorded their moment-to-moment reactions to things (gems such as: "Asshole" and "WTF?"). Our second reader seemed incredulous toward Mead; how can Mead write this way about culture? How can Mead feel so protective over "her" studied people? The first reader seemed deeply confused on a moral level, for they were quick to note even the most minor of ethical breaches in our culture (the husband not partaking of household chores), yet they grew strangely abrasive when Mead said that a culture that regularly committed infanticide simply because the baby was the wrong sex was "not a good one." It seems to me that this is, quite evidently, not a good culture, especially if one is a baby. (The annotation read . . . "Wow. Ethnocentrism.")
Now, I do not know this person, but I'd wager that they are highly educated and big on tolerance and all cultures being seen as equal. Tolerance is fine within parameters, even virtuous, but often these people invoke tolerance in the face of true horror. People like this not only strike me as profoundly amoral, but also as illogical. If relativism is the way of the world, on what are they basing their notions of tolerance? Tolerance is only one ethic among many, none of which is better than another; so who says tolerance is better than intolerance? On what moral ground are they standing to make such a claim? The problem with relativism is that it's self-defeating; the moment they open their mouth to say something even remotely touching upon morality, the game's already over. And, if they get upset with you for judging a culture of careless, brazen infanticide, could you not equally get upset about their judging you? After all, shouldn't this person tolerate your views? That's the moral confusion. Here's the logical fallacy (first brought into my brain by the philosopher Louis Pojman):
A: Morality differs across different societies, so there are no universally-held morals.
B: Individual morality depends on a culture's broader morality.
Conclusion: There are no absolute moral standards that apply to everyone.
Do you see the illogical jump there? Because there are many _____, therefore there are no right ________. Let's analyze this with two analogies.
1) A person comes in with a strange red ring after having hiked in the forest. Fifteen doctors look at the mark, and none of them agrees about the diagnosis. Would it be correct to say that there is no right answer to this medical issue?
2) A teacher writes an algebraic equation on the whiteboard and asks students to solve for X. The students are divided into four distinct camps, each convinced that their answer is the right one. Is the teacher justified in saying that, because there is a plethora of answers, that there is no one correct answer?
Of course, these analogies aren't perfect, because people don't accept morality as "factual." I don't really want to go farther than this, because I've already written an essay, but I hope you see my point. Given the landscape of ethical variation out there, it could be that all systems of morality make humans equally happy, satisfied, enlightened, creative, choose your own Top Value; it could also be that some cultures are, in fact, better than others. Of course, we can debate which those are (and we should), and what makes them so.
Back to Mead. The book is very enlightening on many points, but Mead has a tendency to get bogged down in extraneous life events without explaining their context. Several times she mentions people casually that she hasn't introduced, or briefly alludes to events that she hasn't sketched. And she writes an awful lot about things that she doesn't tie back to her developmental history or the evolution of her thoughts. She was clearly a very intelligent woman, very trail-blazing (sexually and academically), and very human. One could easily have spoken to her for hours.
Should you read this book, I hope your fellow-readers are as zany as mine were.
June 5, 2024
A gem of a Christmas gift from my mom—found at Half Price Books, when all I’d provided as a prompt for my Christmas wishlist was, “inspiration.” I was trying to finish my dissertation at the time, but didn’t have the opportunity to read it until now. The balm it provided is as effective now as it would have been then.
It’s interesting to learn how the field changed during her lifetime (when she began, the social sciences weren’t even separate disciplines), but also, how few things have changed. Both personal and professional, it’s an enjoyable voyeuristic read about her three marriages. I hadn’t realized she’d worked in so many different cultures (like 5?). The most important takeaway for me, given I had both a difficult and magical time in the field, was reading her opinions of the various field sites. Anthropologists don’t talk about how the sausage gets made, very often. Her candor and forthrightness on all aspects of the field experience meant *everything.*
(Would that I leave such a mark on the world that people are reading my memoir decades after my death.)
It’s interesting to learn how the field changed during her lifetime (when she began, the social sciences weren’t even separate disciplines), but also, how few things have changed. Both personal and professional, it’s an enjoyable voyeuristic read about her three marriages. I hadn’t realized she’d worked in so many different cultures (like 5?). The most important takeaway for me, given I had both a difficult and magical time in the field, was reading her opinions of the various field sites. Anthropologists don’t talk about how the sausage gets made, very often. Her candor and forthrightness on all aspects of the field experience meant *everything.*
(Would that I leave such a mark on the world that people are reading my memoir decades after my death.)
March 14, 2019
It’s funny that so many of us have heard of Margaret Mead, perhaps know that she “popularized” anthropology, or know of some cloud surrounding her work. This is her life in her words, and it was fascinating. It is amazing that she was able to do as much as she did, being a woman in the early part of the 20th century. She twisted expectations at every turn (marriage? Three of them, in fact... career? With a legacy, no doubt... children? Eventually.), and - while this was written in 1972 - she is the very model of a modern woman. While she doesn’t admit to any mistakes in her work, she does share the shortcomings she faced going out into field work at a very young 23 years old. Finally, she gives props to her family, from the grandmother she was raised with, to her mother, and the family she draws around her through academia. If you love biographies and autobiographies, this is a very thorough and enlightening one.
December 25, 2016
An inspiring read of a brave life well-lived. Mead's humanistic vision should guide us as much now as when she authored her autobiography in 1972. She wrote in the last paragraph: "...I speak out of the experience of my own lifetime of seeing past and future as aspects of the present. Knowledge joined in action--knowledge about what man has been and is--can protect the future."
Recommend reading Blackberry Winter in conjunction with Lily King's Euphoria.
Blackberry winter--such a great metaphor--but what was her "winter"? All those years in malaria-infested Pacific Isles believing she was infertile and having to placate her arrogant husbands? As for her work there was little "winter"--she always seemed energized, diligent, passionate, competent, creative.
Recommend reading Blackberry Winter in conjunction with Lily King's Euphoria.
Blackberry winter--such a great metaphor--but what was her "winter"? All those years in malaria-infested Pacific Isles believing she was infertile and having to placate her arrogant husbands? As for her work there was little "winter"--she always seemed energized, diligent, passionate, competent, creative.
November 16, 2024
A celebrated observer of the human species turns her trained eye on her own life and family. Mead recounts her mostly free-range and home-schooled childhood, the influence of grandparents, the casual unwinding of her first marriages and what seems to be a limitless capacity to work. This book will appeal to anyone who appreciates insights into family life in the early 1900s, the politics of academia, and the mission of anthropology. It ends with her clear-eyed observation of becoming a mother and grandmother along with philosophical considerations of which markers of time best capture the human experience.
June 1, 2022
Libro autobiografico sicuramente interessante. Molto insolito e particolare come l'autrice sia riuscita a vivere la sua vita, considerando che è una donna vissuta nei primi anni del 1900. Alcune parti del libro sono un po pesanti in quanto ricco di descrizioni tecniche. Quando un individuo ha chiara davanti a sé la strada che vuole percorrere e che persona vuole essere, non si ferma davanti a nulla.
August 28, 2022
I enjoyed reading about Mead's early life and her unconventional education. The chapters on becoming a mother and a grandmother contained some interesting ideas if not very well written. The discussion of her field work, which she wrote about in other books, was filled with tedious details about the politics of anthropological research. I confess I skimmed some sections about her field work. Your experience may be different than mine but I don't recommend the book.
January 26, 2019
Of three books about Margaret Mead that my book club has read in recent years, I liked this one the best. Mead's writing is clear and concise. I had to keep reminding myself how new her field of anthropology was at the time this was written. Some of her comments and judgements seemed very contrary to current anthropological standards as I understand them.
Read
August 8, 2021I've been wanting to read this since it was published, well now I finally have. It did remind me that I read Lilly King's Euphoria a few years ago. This is the real thing however. I just couldn't help but be struck on just about every page, how much the world changed during the 20th century, and then again how much has changed since the turn of the 21st century.
abandoned
October 9, 2024After finishing Euphoria I was eager to read about the real anthropologist, Margaret Mead. My local library even had a nice new copy of this. However, the print is so small that it was impossible for my senior eyes to read comfortably. I even tried with my magnifying lamp I use for knitting purposes, but to no avail. Life's too short to mess around like that. Too many other books to read.
April 28, 2019
I read about half of this but then more entertaining books came along. I will perhaps finish it another time. I wanted to find out more about Margaret Mead since I drive by her old house several times a week, and this autobiography gives many details of her life in the Philadelphia area.
July 20, 2020
This was really interesting. She was born the same year is as both of my grandparents 1901, but made such very different life choices - a feminist way way before her time. Quite remarkable.
February 12, 2021
Her writing style is nice. I'm sure I would have enjoyed this more if I hadn't already read so many other books about her.
dnf
June 22, 2021I don’t want to read this. I respect Margaret Mead as a pioneering woman but her incorrect summations of cultures and her patronizing tone is really grating.
Read
October 11, 2024[ p.162 ]
November 3, 2025
Quit after a few chapters. When she was offended by the “clever crime report” left on her desk teasing her about rarely being there.
February 12, 2025
an interesting look into margaret mead's internal life! i loved learning about her feelings for her husbands, her daughter, her friends. it was neat to hear about how she viewed things like marriage, academia, motherhood, career, cohabitation in the 1920's-40's. i'd like to read some of her more academic work eventually, but i've always been fascinated by her, and, like many, i read 'euphoria' by lily king last year and became re-infatuated with learning the true story behind her time in the sepik river region. overall a lovely memoir!
August 27, 2018
# 20 of 100 Classics Challenge
Blackberry Winter:My Earlier Years🍒🍒🍒🍒
By Margaret Mead
1972
Cultural icon, non-conformist, scientist....this shares her lifelong commitment to anthropology and humanity. In her time, she was able to accomplish so much with perspective and remarkably gutsy drive.
This is a remarkable book of her childhood, husbands, children as well. Self promoting, but remarkable.
Recommended.
Blackberry Winter:My Earlier Years🍒🍒🍒🍒
By Margaret Mead
1972
Cultural icon, non-conformist, scientist....this shares her lifelong commitment to anthropology and humanity. In her time, she was able to accomplish so much with perspective and remarkably gutsy drive.
This is a remarkable book of her childhood, husbands, children as well. Self promoting, but remarkable.
Recommended.
February 15, 2016
This is Mead’s autobiography, published in 1972 in which she shares her life as a young child, wife, mother, grandmother, scholar and writer.
The story of her early years was interesting. She was the daughter of intellectuals, her father a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and her mother a liberal thinker concerned about the welfare of others. Her grandmother lived with the family and Mead credits her with much of her early learning. Both her grandmother and her mother had attended college, something not very common those days and her grandmother had been a teacher and a school principal. Mead says her grandmother who she admired, gave her much of her early instruction and taught her inductive and deductive reasoning. She credits her father with teaching her clear thinking and with nurturing her strong work ethic. This supportive, reassuring and loving background helped Margaret embrace the role of an independent woman at a time when most were content to become mothers and housewives.
Her years at Barnard led her to study anthropology and she spent time at the American Museum of Natural History where she had an office in the attic. It was here she met her mentor Franz Boas and her good friend Ruth Benedict. As she progressed as a scholar, she soon realized that she must get out into the field quickly if she ever wanted to record the ways of some of these cultures she was studying. They were quickly fading with the advance of civilization and would soon be lost forever. Mead embarked on her first field trip in 1925 at the age of twenty-four, when she travelled to Samoa to study adolescent girls. She shared her findings in a ground breaking volume titled “Coming of Age in Samoa”, a book which has been read by thousands over the years. She also made subsequent field excursions to Bali and New Guinea.
Mead was married three times, each time to a well-known anthropologist. And although she craved motherhood, it wasn’t until she was thirty-nine and married to her last husband George Bateson that she had her daughter Catherine. Interestingly, we learn little about her life as a wife and mother. And considering the times, it appears she married and divorced without a lot of turmoil.
The book takes her story up to the time of World War II when Mead became a grandmother; she has some interesting observations on taking on that role.
This is a story of a cultural icon, a woman scientist who combined motherhood with a successful academic career. Although many know her name and some of her work, it is interesting to have a look at her formative years and consider what helped to make her the woman she became.
An informative book with interesting photographs, which I enjoyed.
The story of her early years was interesting. She was the daughter of intellectuals, her father a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and her mother a liberal thinker concerned about the welfare of others. Her grandmother lived with the family and Mead credits her with much of her early learning. Both her grandmother and her mother had attended college, something not very common those days and her grandmother had been a teacher and a school principal. Mead says her grandmother who she admired, gave her much of her early instruction and taught her inductive and deductive reasoning. She credits her father with teaching her clear thinking and with nurturing her strong work ethic. This supportive, reassuring and loving background helped Margaret embrace the role of an independent woman at a time when most were content to become mothers and housewives.
Her years at Barnard led her to study anthropology and she spent time at the American Museum of Natural History where she had an office in the attic. It was here she met her mentor Franz Boas and her good friend Ruth Benedict. As she progressed as a scholar, she soon realized that she must get out into the field quickly if she ever wanted to record the ways of some of these cultures she was studying. They were quickly fading with the advance of civilization and would soon be lost forever. Mead embarked on her first field trip in 1925 at the age of twenty-four, when she travelled to Samoa to study adolescent girls. She shared her findings in a ground breaking volume titled “Coming of Age in Samoa”, a book which has been read by thousands over the years. She also made subsequent field excursions to Bali and New Guinea.
Mead was married three times, each time to a well-known anthropologist. And although she craved motherhood, it wasn’t until she was thirty-nine and married to her last husband George Bateson that she had her daughter Catherine. Interestingly, we learn little about her life as a wife and mother. And considering the times, it appears she married and divorced without a lot of turmoil.
The book takes her story up to the time of World War II when Mead became a grandmother; she has some interesting observations on taking on that role.
This is a story of a cultural icon, a woman scientist who combined motherhood with a successful academic career. Although many know her name and some of her work, it is interesting to have a look at her formative years and consider what helped to make her the woman she became.
An informative book with interesting photographs, which I enjoyed.
June 20, 2012
I saw Margaret Mead having lunch once at Cafe des Artistes in NYC and ever since that day, I've wanted to read her autobiography. I imagined the famous anthropologist discussing something of great importance regarding her work among the primitive cultures in remote places like Samoa, New Guinea and Bali. By studying all that was characteristic of their human experience, she hoped to understan...d our own origins - how modern culture might have evolved. I was young and in awe of someone who could be so brilliant and give so much of themselves to something so big. Finally, I read Blackberry Winter.
Reading the book was like watching an old movie where the story is slow, but the actres is so famous you keep watching. The writing is stilted, but I enjoyed her family history and it wasn't surprising to see how Mead, the daughter of intellectuals - a liberal thinking mother and a professor father, developed her tenacious work ethic and ability to take on the role of an independent career woman at a time when the majority of women were content to become housewives and not much more.
Mead's years studying at Barnard set her on the course of anthropology. "The work of recording these unknown ways of life had to be done now - now - or they would be lost forever," she said. And so began her many years of field work, teaching, published findings and books. At some point along the way she was offered a job at the Museum of Natural History in New York, which became her base of operation and the small, attic offices - her permanent home. Married three times to well-known anthropologists, they shared their work and their commitment to it. It was husband number three, British born Gregory Bateson, with whom, around the age of 39, she had her daughter, Catherine.
I suppose you would have to be into Margaret Mead to appreciate this book, but there were a couple of things I liked more than anything. Once, returning from the field, she wrote: "I realized how homesick I had been and how starved for affection, a need that had been met only in part when I held the Holt children in my arms or played with the Samoan babies. It is the babies who keep me alive in contexts in which otherwise my sense of touch is seldom exercised. Some fieldworkers adopt a dog or a kitten; I much prefer babies. I realized now how lonely I had been, how much I wanted to be where someone else wanted me to be just because I was myself."
Reading the book was like watching an old movie where the story is slow, but the actres is so famous you keep watching. The writing is stilted, but I enjoyed her family history and it wasn't surprising to see how Mead, the daughter of intellectuals - a liberal thinking mother and a professor father, developed her tenacious work ethic and ability to take on the role of an independent career woman at a time when the majority of women were content to become housewives and not much more.
Mead's years studying at Barnard set her on the course of anthropology. "The work of recording these unknown ways of life had to be done now - now - or they would be lost forever," she said. And so began her many years of field work, teaching, published findings and books. At some point along the way she was offered a job at the Museum of Natural History in New York, which became her base of operation and the small, attic offices - her permanent home. Married three times to well-known anthropologists, they shared their work and their commitment to it. It was husband number three, British born Gregory Bateson, with whom, around the age of 39, she had her daughter, Catherine.
I suppose you would have to be into Margaret Mead to appreciate this book, but there were a couple of things I liked more than anything. Once, returning from the field, she wrote: "I realized how homesick I had been and how starved for affection, a need that had been met only in part when I held the Holt children in my arms or played with the Samoan babies. It is the babies who keep me alive in contexts in which otherwise my sense of touch is seldom exercised. Some fieldworkers adopt a dog or a kitten; I much prefer babies. I realized now how lonely I had been, how much I wanted to be where someone else wanted me to be just because I was myself."
August 4, 2024
THE FAMED CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGIST TELLS HER "EARLY" STORY
Margaret Mead (1901-1978) was an American cultural anthropologist, famous for her books and studies such as 'Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilization,' 'Male and Female,' 'Sex and Temperament: In Three Primitive Societies,' 'Growing Up in New Guinea: A Comparative Study of Primitive Education,' etc.
She wrote in the Prologue of this 1972 book, "I have spent most of my life studying the lives of other peoples, faraway peoples, so that Americans might better understand themselves." (Pg. 1)
She states that "I have come to realize... that in many ways I was brought up within my own culture two generations ahead of my time." (Pg. 2) When deciding on a college, she recalls, "It seemed to me that it would be much simpler to go to a girl's college where one could work as hard as one pleased. This preference foreshadowed, I suppose, my anthropological field choices--not to compete with men in male fields, but instead to concentrate on the kinds of work that are better done by women." (Pg. 107)
She notes, "I was actively considering the possibility of entering anthropology... Then one day, when I was at lunch with Ruth Benedict... she said, 'Professor [Franz] Boas and I have nothing to offer but an opportunity to do work that matters.' That settled it for me. Anthropology had to be done NOW. Other things could wait." (Pg. 123) Later, she dryly observes, "professors teach their students as their professors taught them, and if young fieldworkers do not give up in despair, go mad, ruin their health, or die, they do, after a fashion, become anthropologists." (Pg. 153)
About herself and Ruth Benedict, she says they were "making anthropology accessible to a wider public and... relating anthropology to other disciplines." (Pg. 173) When colleague (and her second husband) Rea Fortune observed after reading Benedict's Patterns of Culture that the cultures were "incredibly different," Mead recounts, "It had not yet occurred to us that the difference in our experiences... had nearly as much to do with us, as individuals, as it had to do with the nature of the cultures we studied." (Pg. 212)
This is a fascinating account of Mead's earlier years, and will be of considerable interest to students of her work in anthropology, as well as her "larger" impact on American culture.
Margaret Mead (1901-1978) was an American cultural anthropologist, famous for her books and studies such as 'Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilization,' 'Male and Female,' 'Sex and Temperament: In Three Primitive Societies,' 'Growing Up in New Guinea: A Comparative Study of Primitive Education,' etc.
She wrote in the Prologue of this 1972 book, "I have spent most of my life studying the lives of other peoples, faraway peoples, so that Americans might better understand themselves." (Pg. 1)
She states that "I have come to realize... that in many ways I was brought up within my own culture two generations ahead of my time." (Pg. 2) When deciding on a college, she recalls, "It seemed to me that it would be much simpler to go to a girl's college where one could work as hard as one pleased. This preference foreshadowed, I suppose, my anthropological field choices--not to compete with men in male fields, but instead to concentrate on the kinds of work that are better done by women." (Pg. 107)
She notes, "I was actively considering the possibility of entering anthropology... Then one day, when I was at lunch with Ruth Benedict... she said, 'Professor [Franz] Boas and I have nothing to offer but an opportunity to do work that matters.' That settled it for me. Anthropology had to be done NOW. Other things could wait." (Pg. 123) Later, she dryly observes, "professors teach their students as their professors taught them, and if young fieldworkers do not give up in despair, go mad, ruin their health, or die, they do, after a fashion, become anthropologists." (Pg. 153)
About herself and Ruth Benedict, she says they were "making anthropology accessible to a wider public and... relating anthropology to other disciplines." (Pg. 173) When colleague (and her second husband) Rea Fortune observed after reading Benedict's Patterns of Culture that the cultures were "incredibly different," Mead recounts, "It had not yet occurred to us that the difference in our experiences... had nearly as much to do with us, as individuals, as it had to do with the nature of the cultures we studied." (Pg. 212)
This is a fascinating account of Mead's earlier years, and will be of considerable interest to students of her work in anthropology, as well as her "larger" impact on American culture.
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