Margaret+Mead

Sophomore Research Paper: Margaret Mead [|Anthropology] is defined as the science that deals with the origins, physical and cultural development, biological characteristics, and social customs and beliefs of humankind ([|dictionary.com]). However, [|Margaret Mead]was not only a brilliant anthropologist, but she was a crucial stepping-stone in America’s path towards evolving into the country that it is today. Margaret Mead would have never been able to accomplish what she did without her main influences. Her father, Edward Sherwood Mead, was one of her prime influences in addition to [|Sigmund Freud], whom she happened to idolize. Mead developed a passion for the study of women’s behavior, and she wound up traveling to Samoa to study adolescent girls. Not only did Mead travel to unheard of places, but she also wrote a plethora of books, all exhibiting her intelligence. In addition, Mead broke down the gender barrier in anthropology. Margaret Mead’s contributions throughout her lifetime were extremely significant.

Margaret Mead, like most people, had role models to look up to during her life. Her father, Edward Sherwood Mead was much like Margaret. Edward was a Professor in the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce. He also was the founder of University of Pennsylvania’s evening school and extension program. He influenced Margaret in numerous ways. Margaret’s father mostly raised his household with emphasis on education for men but woman as well as social issues. Because of this, Margaret grew up with these views and when she was older, she continued to be a strong believer in them. Another huge influence in her life was Sigmund Freud. She worshiped Freud and really looked up to his work. These two men who influenced Mead so greatly, also helped her win the name of “Mother of the World” in 1969 (Cassidy p.41). All of the people who influenced her during her life also contributed to her winning the title of “Mother of the World,” without Sigmund Freud and her father, Margaret would have never known what she did in order to be awarded that prize.

On May 6, 1856 in the small town of Freiberg, Moravia, was the birth of Sigmund Freud. Sigmund’s father was an intelligent wool merchant, and his mother was quite lively. She was Sigmund’s father’s second wife and happened to be 20 years younger than he. Sigmund grew up with a large family of two older half-brothers and six younger siblings ([|webspace.ship.edu]). Sigmund went to medical school and there he became interested in research taught by professor, [|Ernst Brucke]. Freud attempted the study of many theories before he found the theory of the conscious versus [|unconscious mind]. Sigmund did not make this theory, however he did welcome into the world, making it popular. The conscious mind is what you are aware of any particular moment ([|webspace.ship.edu]). Then, there is the unconscious mind that includes everything that is not always available to your awareness. According to Freud, the unconscious mind is responsible for our desires for [|food], [|sex], and neurotic compulsions of the motives of an artist or scientist ([|webspace.ship.edu]). Freud studied many other theories such as: [|ego], [|superego], [|id], [|life] and [|death instinct], [|anxiety], [|denial], repression. Over all Freud really focused on man’s inner feelings. Mead idolized Sigmund because she found his ways extremely interesting and loved how his mind worked. She also focused on men, more so women, inner feelings. Sigmund Freud influenced Mead and was the one who brought her to study Anthropology.

Not only was Mead one of the first woman Anthropologists, but she was also one of the first woman anthropologists whom studied woman. Usually in that time, the men studied the men as well as the woman. Mead really opened the doors for woman everywhere. Mead’s goal was to prove that although there were in fact differences between males and females, such as: giving birth, impregnation and nursing, they should not get in the way of woman having equal rights ([|kirjasto.com]). Mead not only focused on Anthropology, but also on woman’s rights, and breaking through that barrier. With Mead’s lectures and book promoting education for woman and children, she rapidly became a role model, and was the center of attention almost anywhere she went. Margaret Mead really broke down the gender barrier in anthropology as well as in everyday life.

Margaret had a very well educated childhood, and it continued on into her adult years. Margaret entered [|DePauw University]in 1919 ([|bookrags.com]) but was unhappy there and wound up transferring to [|Barnard College]. There, Mead majored in [|psychology]. However, senior year was the year that Mead found her true calling. Mead went to a course with [|Franz Boas], whom she said gave the most influential talk in her life, and really inspired her to start up with anthropology ([|bookrags.com]). Once Mead began to study the ways of anthropology, she fell in [|love]. Margaret graduated Barnard College in the year of 1923. The same year as Mead’s graduation from college, she found another love, [|Luther Cressman], and she married him immediately. Not long after her marriage, she entered the anthropology Department of Columbia University. However, Mead was not satisfied with just teaching anthropology, she yearned to study it. So, in 1925 Mead left the United States to go study life of adolescent girls in Samoa. Mead was only twenty-three years old, yet she was ready to discover new ideas. Mead found out, while adventuring through Samoa, that Samoan girls experience none of the tensions American and[|European]adolescents suffer from ([|bookrags.com]). It came to Mead’s attention that the United States was living in a completely different way than other parts of the world. Mead’s interest in psychiatry turned attention to cultural context of [|schizophrenia]. Mead realized that she needed to look further into this, and with that note Margaret left for [|Bali]. Margaret Mead traveled to places that people had not even dreamed about going to. She studied people and opened up a whole new world to the United States by just traveling to a foreign place, taking notes, and sharing them with her country.

Not only did Margaret Mead study anthropology, but she also taught it, and published her ideas into numerous books. After Mead’s trip to Samoa, she came home and not long after she published her first book, [|Coming of Age in Samoa]. This book talked all about adolescent girls and their behavior, not only in Samoa, but how it compares to American [|adolescent] girls. __The Coming of Age of Samoa__ was not the only book Mead ever wrote, in fact there were many more to come. Samoa was just the beginning of Mead’s books. In 1947 Mead joined the anthropology department at [|Columbia University], once again. Not only did Margaret teach at Columbia, but also she continued to spread her knowledge at [|Fordham University], [|University of Cincinnati], and University of Topeka. Margaret Mead managed to follow her passion and accomplish and travel places many people would never go in a lifetime, and then come back and teach what she learned and thought, spreading her cognition for everyone else to soak up, benefiting the lives of millions in America.

Margaret Meads contributions to America during her lifetime has a list so long, it could take a minimum of a year to get half way through. Mead has contributed an enormous amount of knowledge into this world. She has managed to publish over 1,000 articles and wrote 44 books. Margaret Mead has also taught many young people what she has been studying her whole lifetime; she has shared her knowledge with millions, which is a great significance to America, to have the best teacher be teaching. Mead also took 38,000 pictures and 759 out of those 38,000 pictures were selected for [|Balinese Character]in 1942 ([|bookrags.com]). This allowed America to see her work and understand and join her in what she saw when she traveled the world. Not only did her photographs get published, but they also proved to be on of her most significant contributions to science and anthropology. “There is no question that Mead was one of the leading American intellectuals of the [|twentieth century].” (Cassidy p.88)

Margaret Mead was a brilliant woman overall. She broke the [|gender barrier]in Anthropology and in life, and she introduced a new way of looking at the world. In conclusion, Margaret Mead’s contributions were extremely significant during her lifetime, and they still are, and will continue to be. “Margaret Mead was a [|dominant] force in developing the field of culture and personality and the related field of national character research.” ([|bookrags.com])

__ Annotated Bibliography  __ American Psychological Association (APA): anthropology. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved May 11, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: <[|http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/anthropology]>. ---This source simply tells you the definition of any word, it is a dictionary online, and is very valid. Beeman, William O. "Introduction: Margaret Mead, Cultural Studies, and International Understanding." __Brown__. 2000. Beeman and Berghahn Books. 11 May 2008. <[|http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Anthropology/publications/Mead.htm>.] ---This website doesn't really tell you as much about Mead as others, for it focuses more on analyzing her work and theories. However it does mention her post World War II years and more. I would use this site if you were looking for more of an opinion on her or a profession analysis of Mead. Del Monte, Kathleen, et al. "Margaret Mead: 1901-1979." __Celebration of Women Anthropologists__. 26 June 1999. 11 May 2008. <[|http://anthropology.usf.edu/women/mead/margaret_mead.htm>.] ---This source is part of the website of Celebration of Women Anthropologists, and is quite short. It briefly explains Mead's background from her childhood to her college years. I would recommend this website to readers who would like to get a feel of Mead's background, but not much else. DR. T. V. PADMA (2006, September 15). Psychologist and anthropologist. //The Hindu,// p. 1. Retrieved May 11, 2008, from International Newspapers database. (Document ID: 1128144811). ---This source, like many others, gives the reader a little background information as well as her lifetime as an Anthropologist. However, this source is not too lengthy but it does tell you about Mead’s studies and gives dates and titles or most of her published books. This source I found off of ProQuest, which I recommend to all, it is a valid search engine. Margaret Mead. “Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilization." __Scribd__. 11 May 2008 <[|http://www.scribd.com/doc/32900/ Margaret-Mead-Coming-of-Age-in-Samoa-A-Psychological-Study-of-Primitive-Youth-for-Western-Civilization]>. ---This source, written by Margaret Mead herself, is the book, Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilization. In this book she takes the reader through her journey in Samoa, she describes everything she studied in Samoa, from adolescent teenage girl's behavior, to what the critics always tell her. This is an amazing source if you would like to experience first hand, what Mead studied in Samoa.   "Margaret Mead (1901-1978)." __Amazon__. 2003. 11 May 2008 <[|http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/mmead.htm>.] ---This source mentions Mead's family life quite frequently and also brings up how her husband plays a role in her life and job. In addition, it tells the reader all of other places Mead traveled too, and also gives further reading and a list of every book she published in her whole lifetime. Margaret Mead from //Encyclopedia of World Biography//. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. This source was accessed at:  --- I happened to get great use out of this specific source. It mostly covers Mead’s background, her early fieldwork, her new field methods, her studies of the public, and her accomplishments. Strain, Stan. "Margaret Mead and the Samoans." __Growth of Anthropology__. May 1997. 11 May 2008. <[|http://www.stpt.usf.edu/~jsokolov/314mead1.htm>.] ---This particular source has a plethora of information on Mead's studies in Samoa. It also talks about other anthropologists whom studied Mead's theories in Samoa. I suggest a reader should use this source to learn about Mead's travel throughout Samoa, this is also a primary source.