Tales From The Jungle: Margaret Mead - Part 1 of 6

It seems like Mead and Freeman only really cared about was there personal fame.

Learning about a culture seemed to be secondary to them.

Also the from reading some of the comments it would seem that debate of Mead vs Freeman has come down to childish name calling.

If you disagree with Mead; your labeled misogynistic. And if you disagree with Freeman, your called a naive liberal.

The facts should always be more important; not your personal politics.

Thank you! You really enlighten me.

I can't help but feel that too many people like to throw this "ignorant gullible romantic liberal white woman" stereotype at Margaret Mead, which her work really doesn't reflect at all. It's a shame, because it's mainly used to take away intellectual accomplishments and contributions from women's history. She was very ahead of her time, but her conclusions are usually oversimplified and overstated, so as to make her look naive/romantic.

I don't see how that applies to who Margaret Mead was or what she thought and did. She was working and writing in a time when the idea that "human nature is malleable" hadn't even occurred to North Americans! She was one of the very first people to propose, based on her observations and interviews with different indigenous peoples and her own society, that male and female gender roles varied in different cultures and so probably were not innate.

whats up with the audio

When Mead and other 'toffee nosed aristocrats' were bringing Samoa, New Guinea and the Trobriands to popular attention to show that the 'truths' we took for granted were socially constructed, people in those places had few opportunities to represent themselves. Anthropologists then including Mead opened up pathways that in time allowed 'indigenous' peoples to speak for themselves. marrow777 is talking a load of bollocks. (And despite my YouTube handle, I am NOT a ;toffee nosed aristocrat'!)

yap, me too.

If you're REALLY into anthropology, check out the work of the Vilas-Boas brothers on the amazon tribes, that was a heroic job, done with dedication and integrity.

lol