Teaching
The Problems With Coming of Age
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Unit 2
Adolescence as a Social Category
In this unit (to accompany SAPIENS podcast S6E1), students will examine the idea of adolescence as a focus of anthropological research and investigate the creation of the social category of adolescence. Students will explore Margaret Mead’s ideas and contentions about adolescence that resulted from her work in American Samoa.
Learning Objectives
- Investigate the emergence of adolescence as a social category in the 20th century and discuss how anthropologists have studied it.
- Assess Margaret Mead’s ideas about adolescence.
Sapiens articles
En qué se equivocan las sociedades industriales con respecto a la infancia
La práctica del mundo industrial de colocar a los niños en clases de edades similares con un maestro adulto no es la única forma de aprender—y puede que no sea la más eficaz—.
Margaret Mead Imagined Different Futures
For those anxious about the state of the world, Mead’s celebrated work shows how anthropology can help guide alternative futures.
Keywords
View All in Children
![Two side-by-side graphics depict skulls, one facing forward and the other in profile. Both images are outlined in blue and have sections shaded in yellow. The profile image has three red lines spanning across it in two V shapes.]()
![A large, tan cardboard box sits on a shelf with a label that reads “C2” below it. On two small pieces of black tape on the box’s front side, white letters read “Infant” and “Name Once Known.”]()
![A smiling girl with shoulder-length brown hair in a black T-shirt and gray leggings sits on a wooden table in a grassy park and hugs a stuffed animal wrapped in a pink and white blanket.]()
![A close-up image features two spiders on a stick held horizontally in the hands of a child whose face appears slightly blurred in the background.]()
![A close-up image features a large, dark-gray silver medal embossed with the profile of a crouching naked woman reaching for a child, with another child appearing behind her.]()
![Several adults and children dig in a cleared area of brown soil with rectangular holes. Some dig with shovels and trowels, while others look on. Several buckets lie about.]()
Learning From Snapshots of Lost Fossils
Not all fossil discoveries happen in the field. In museum archives, researchers found photos of remains from Paleolithic children who had belonged to a group of early Homo sapiens in Eurasia.
Infant, Name Once Known
A poet-anthropologist of the Chickasaw Nation honors infant remains historically used in teaching collections at the University of Illinois.
Raising My Children in an Ableist World
In a new book, an anthropologist and father of three, including a daughter with Down syndrome, reflects on the pressures of parenting.
What Spider Games Say About Arachnophobia
Many people around the world fear spiders. But in the Philippines, the tradition of spider wrestling often brings people and arachnids in close proximity.
Post-
An Indigenous poet-anthropologist writes to her daughter of the limits of her motherly protection.
Extraordinary Lessons From a Community-Led Excavation
An archaeologist examines how community members in Cardiff, Wales, collaborated with a research team to make important insights into the Bronze Age.
View All in Education
![In the foreground, four people wear sombreros and ride on horseback. Three of them carry U.S. and Mexican flags while looking up and gesturing toward a helicopter overhead. A crowd of people walk in front of them.]()
![An adult with short hair, a mustache, and glasses, and two young people with long hair held by barrettes—one holding a pen—sit on the floor around a large piece of construction paper, markers, and a camera.]()
![A close-up image features a hand covered with a white latex glove holding a tiny test tube as it catches drops of small clear liquid from a pipette.]()
![An older man sits with a younger man inside on teal patterned rugs, both with their hands cupped before them in prayer.]()
![kalinga institute of social sciences]()
![machine learning anthropology - In March 2016, professional Go player Lee Se-dol only won one match out of five against Google’s AlphaGo program in the ancient Chinese game Go.]()
I Was Penalized for Learning a Language at Home
A researcher explains why the Fulbright-Hays fellowship should change its rules that have kept native and heritage speakers from working where their languages are spoken.
Through Film, Discovering Hope in the Face of Environmental Destruction
In the midst of acute eco-anxiety, can community-based filmmaking help young people imagine a different future?
Will a Nobel Prize Make Paleogenomics More Accountable?
An anthropologist offers possible directions for ancient DNA studies moving forward—especially regarding the field’s complex histories with Indigenous communities and public education.
Nurturing Autism Acceptance in Indonesia
Two new films based on ethnographic research follow autistic Indonesian youth and their families as they seek and create new networks of care and support.
The Travesties of India’s Tribal Boarding Schools
Two researchers argue that India’s large-scale tribal boarding schools revive features of 19th- and 20th-century boarding schools in North America and elsewhere that sought to strip Indigenous peoples of their families, languages, and cultural identities.
What If Machines Could Learn the Way Children Do?
Modern-day machines, such as Siri and Amazon’s Alexa, lack intelligence and empathy. Insights from hunter-gatherer communities could pave the way toward more sophisticated gadgets.
View All in post_tag|identity
![Un primer plano muestra una tela tejida en su mayor parte de color rojo, con dibujos diagonales que incorporan detalles en blanco, negro, verde y rosa fuerte.]()
![Una fotografía muestra a dos personas sonriendo y sujetando palillos. Rodeados por la luz del sol, están sentados uno al lado del otro en una mesa al aire libre con platos, ollas y vasos de plástico.]()
![Una multitud reunida, y los de la primera fila extienden la mano para coger pimientos verdes de un escurridor rosa.]()
![Una anciana yagán con cabello negro y gris hasta los hombros viste un suéter morado y se para en un bosque de juncos, sosteniendo juncos en sus manos y debajo de un brazo.]()
![Manos recortadas de una joven madre asiática cortando el pelo de su pequeña hija en casa.]()
![Una persona joven, con cabello oscuro, vistiendo una túnica clara con un cinturón ancho y una vincha extiende sus brazos frente a un gran complejo de un color amarillo oscuro similar a la tierra en la ladera de un cerro.]()
Sentir lo que somos/A’yel jtaleltik
Un antropólogo y escritor de la comunidad tseltal impugna una historia colonialista del ocultamiento y reivindica su identidad, idioma y pueblo.
¿Qué es la antropología lingüística?
Los antropólogos lingüísticos estudian el lenguaje en su contexto, revelando cómo las formas de comunicarse y expresarse de las personas interactúan con la cultura humana, la historia, la política, la identidad y mucho más.
¿Por qué (a algunos) humanos les encantan los chiles?
Un antropólogo recorre los orígenes y los viajes por el mundo de una de sus plantas favoritas.
El pueblo yagán se vuelve a levantar
Los yaganes, una comunidad indígena de Tierra del Fuego, fueron falsamente considerados “extintos” por los europeos y sus descendientes. Ahora los arqueólogos están ayudando a la comunidad contemporánea a documentar las historias antiguas de sus antepasados.
Desenredando la raza del cabello
Una antropóloga se ha propuesto eliminar los prejuicios raciales del estudio del cabello y encontrar las raíces evolutivas de la diversidad del cabello.
Reviviendo a Huaycán —y a la comunidad que la rodea—
Un grupo de jóvenes apasionados, liderados por un antropólogo local, se organiza para proteger a Huaycán de Pariachi, un sitio antiguo de Perú, y educar a su comunidad.
Glossary
Adolescence
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The phase of biological and social growth during which the transition from childhood to adulthood occurs, typically from age 10 through the early 20s.
Coming of Age in Samoa
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A 1928 book written by American anthropologist Margaret Mead that focuses on her research on adolescence in American Samoan culture.
Nature Versus Nurture
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A debate involving the extent to which particular aspects of behavior are a direct result of biology (sometimes referred to as genetic predisposition) or learned influences.
Sexuality
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The sociocultural identities associated with erotic thoughts and practices and the complex experiences humans have regarding their bodies and perceptions of gender.
Professor Talking Points
- Adolescence has only been identified as a stage of development separate from childhood since the late 19th/early 20th century. Prior to this time, and in most cultural contexts, people were categorized as either children or adults. Explain how anthropologists have approached the study of adolescence as a social category and the ways in which the anthropological study of adolescence has changed over the past 100 years.
- The era in which Mead came of age was a time of significant change for women and women’s rights in the United States and elsewhere. Women in the United States gained the right to vote in 1920, when Mead was 19 years old. Despite these changes, American women were still operating within a political, economic, and social world dominated by men. Lead students in a discussion about how the events and trends of the time may have impacted Mead’s choices and area of study.
- Mead studied under the tutelage of anthropologist Franz Boas and believed that the environment and culture in which a person grows up influences their personality. Present students with this statement: Personality is never a result of nature; it is only from nurture, which refers to the environment and culture surrounding a person’s upbringing. Discuss with students how this claim can be affirmed or negated.
- Mead spent a significant amount of time in American Samoa, engaging in its culture and practices. She interviewed adolescent girls as part of her research and wrote about her findings in her well-known book Coming of Age in Samoa. Ask students to compare the observations she made about adolescence in American Samoa with the stresses of adolescence they see or have experienced in the United States today.
- Mead said, “Human nature is almost unbelievably malleable, responding accurately and contrastingly to contrasting cultural conditions.” Give examples of how cultural conditions mold human nature and influence personalities. Discuss with students the examples Mead saw in her research that may have influenced her views and led to her conclusions about the malleability of human nature. Ask students to discuss if they believe this statement is true about all stages of life.
Academic Articles
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Freeman, Derek. 2000. “Margaret Mead’s Coming of Age in Samoa and Boasian Culturalism.” Politics and the Life Sciences 19 (1): 101–103.
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Sanday, Peggy Reeves. 1980. “Margaret Mead’s View of Sex Roles in Her Own and Other Societies.” American Anthropologist 82 (2): 340–348.
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Zorbaugh, Harvey W., and L. Virgil Payne. 1935. “Adolescence: Psychosis or Social Adjustment?” Journal of Educational Sociology 8 (6): 371–377.
Student Discussion Questions
- Why should adolescence be considered a cultural category of interest in terms of anthropological study?
- Why have few anthropological studies focused on adolescence?
- What are the major contributions Mead made to the anthropological study of adolescence?
- What elements of biological and emotional development set adolescence apart as a focus of anthropological study?
Activities
- The nature versus nurture debate centers on whether it is genetically inherited traits or environmental and cultural influences that are more impactful in the development of personality. Take a side (nature or nurture) and create a case consisting of a claim supported by three points. Then indicate whether Mead would agree or disagree with your case and why.
- In a two-page essay, outline Mead’s assumptions, observations, and conclusions about adolescent girls based on her time in American Samoa.
- G. Stanley Hall was one of the first psychologists to study and identify adolescence as a physiological stage. He contended that adolescent behavior was related to physiological changes. He described the turbulence of the stage as Sturm und Drang (storm and stress), which ends with the dawn of adulthood. Create a table or other graphic to compare this view with that of Mead.
Additional Resources
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Article: Gary Schwartz and Don Merten’s “The Language of Adolescence: An Anthropological Approach to the Youth Culture”
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Article: Meredith W. Reiches’ “Adolescence as a Biocultural Life History Transition”
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Article: Suet Lin Hung and Kwok Kin Fung’s “Social Constructionist View of Adolescence”
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Book: Margaret Mead’s Coming of Age in Samoa
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Video: Adriana Galván’s The Adolescent Brain: A Thriving Look
Unit By
Aimee L. Richards, Freedom Learning Group
Teaching
The Problems With Coming of Age
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Unit 3
Margaret Mead’s Ethnographic Work in Samoa
