Margaret Mead

Margaret Mead was a cultural anthropologist who lived on Samoa among the Polynesian people there for nine months and studied their behavior, particularly that of adolescent girls.

Mead reported that at dawn on Samoa, the people arise, fires are lit, fishermen plan to set traps, and young men head off to work on the plantations (Mead, 1939, 14-19). Women take their laundry to the sea, and older girls go fishing off the reef. Carpenters work on new houses, and the families who will cook that day prepare the vegetables and fruit which have already been brought from inland. There may be a pig to cook. The food gatherers return to the village with their collections, and everyone eats breakfast. People return to their tasks, and the others go to sleep. Children go swimming, and some women work at weaving.

As the sun begins to set, people stir again, the fishermen return with their catch, and separate the "Taboo fish" which must be sent to the chief (Mead, 1939, 17). The men return from the plantations and gather at the guest house for kava drinking. As the sun finally sets, everyone straggles home for the evening meal with their family. First the head of the household, then the women and younger children, and lastly the boys, eat their evening meal. After supper, the old people and young children are sent to bed. If there is moonlight, people stroll through the village, children hunt for crabs, and some go fishing by torchlight. There may be dancing. People grad

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ng that the girl be considered a member of her court, or she may go on a formal traveling party. Unmarried girls have no ceremonial role and are just one of the women of a household. Two types of sexual relations are formally recognized outside marriage: love affairs between unmarried couples of the same age and adultery (Mead, 1939, 89). The dance is very individualistic in Samoa, and all ages take part. A girl's first lover is often an older man, a widower, or a divorced man (Mead, 1939, 88). For marriage, the boy does the courting, bringing gifts, but does not approach the girl directly. Once he is accepted, he often sleeps at the girl's house and consummates the relationship. Virginity is a legal requirement for the village princes until marriage. The chief's daughter is expected to remain a virgin until marriage and another woman sleeps with her to ensure this. Romantic love as it is known in the west does not exist in Samoa. A girl's life is to have many lovers as long as she can, to marry in her own village, and have many children (157). The hardest work of the village is done by women between the ages of 45 and 55 (Mead, 39, 193). Once past menopause, a woman works again in the plantations, and at weaving a

Category: People - M