Teaching
The Problems With Coming of Age
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Unit 3
Margaret Mead’s Ethnographic Work in Samoa
In this unit (to accompany the SAPIENS podcast S6E2), students will learn through Mead’s fieldwork examining Samoan culture, the facets of ethnography, and the impact that Mead’s work made in the field. By examining the cultural findings from Mead’s work in Samoa, students will be able to analyze the bigger picture of her impact through an anthropological lens.
Learning Objectives
- Define the processes of ethnographic fieldwork.
- Analyze the impact of Mead’s ethnographic work and findings in Samoa.
Sapiens articles
Did Margaret Mead Think a Healed Femur Was the Earliest Sign of Civilization?
An anthropologist digs into the origins of a popular story attributed to Margaret Mead about the original sign of civilization.
How the Samoan Tattoo Survived Colonialism
A combination of factors, from geography to group identity, supported the endurance of this traditional body art—even as similar practices were lost in other cultures.
Keywords
View All in Colonialism
![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.]()
![Several pink stemless flowers surrounded by white dust and yellow particles float in mid-air against a black background.]()
![A person wearing a brown floral shirt, red beaded necklace, and feather in their hair closes their eyes. In a blurred background, other people—one holding a red-and-white STOP sign—gather on a lawn in front of a white building.]()
![Two people in uniforms—one in black, the other in tan—wearing black boots and hats topped with matching fans face each other and kick one leg up, their feet traveling above their heads. Other people in uniform stand at attention along the roadside behind them.]()
![In a sepia-and-white color palette, two hands cup a pile of sand, much of which is falling between the fingers.]()
![A close-up image features a mostly red, woven piece of cloth with diagonal patterns that incorporate white, black, green, and hot pink accents.]()
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.
To Wear the Wind
A tribal scholar from the state of Nagaland in India engages with the loss of traditional cultural practices and locates the creation of a new world order where the “natural” is increasingly isolated from the “human.”
Archaeological Tropes That Perpetuate Colonialism
Two Indigenous archaeologists from the U.S. Southwest shed light on how “abandonment” and other common archaeological terms continue to cause harm. They offer insights into how to rewrite narratives of the past.
Imagining Other Worlds at the India-Pakistan Border
For decades, soldiers at the border between Attari, India, and Wagah, Pakistan, have staged an elaborate ceremony for onlookers. An anthropologist reflects on the ceremony as a legacy of Partition—and imagines other futures for the two nations.
Cold Hubris and Fundo
A poet-historian reflects on the legacy of colonial-era collecting practices in Tanzania that tore Black Indigenous ancestors from their communities and history.
Feeling What We Are/A’yel jtaleltik
An anthropologist and writer from the Tseltal community speaks back to a colonialist history of suppression—instead claiming his identity, language, and people.
View All in Indigenous
![A pair of hands arrange two placards covered with images of two different people’s faces on a table covered with a black tablecloth.]()
![Several pink stemless flowers surrounded by white dust and yellow particles float in mid-air against a black background.]()
![A person wearing a brown floral shirt, red beaded necklace, and feather in their hair closes their eyes. In a blurred background, other people—one holding a red-and-white STOP sign—gather on a lawn in front of a white building.]()
![Dark gray clouds hang in a pale blue sky. With orange light shining from behind them, these clouds seem to touch dark rolling hills scattered with trees and buildings.]()
![A black silhouette of a person contrasts with an illuminated cobalt-blue background with two bright spotlights shining from behind their head.]()
![Several people stand on a grassy cliff with green shallow water off to their left and blue water and a mountain range in the distance.]()
Restoring Faces and Dignity to Skeletal Remains
An anthropologist explains how a South African university used community-driven research to honor human remains acquired unethically.
To Wear the Wind
A tribal scholar from the state of Nagaland in India engages with the loss of traditional cultural practices and locates the creation of a new world order where the “natural” is increasingly isolated from the “human.”
Archaeological Tropes That Perpetuate Colonialism
Two Indigenous archaeologists from the U.S. Southwest shed light on how “abandonment” and other common archaeological terms continue to cause harm. They offer insights into how to rewrite narratives of the past.
Speaking in Tongues
A scholar from Nagaland in India offers visceral, familial insights on language and culture loss in her Indigenous tribal community.
Bringing Nhakpoti, the Kayapó Story of Star Girl, to the Screen
Over years and across long distances, an international filmmaking team collaborated to bring to life the origin story of how agriculture came to Kayapó communities, Indigenous peoples in the Brazilian Amazon.
Can Archaeology Help Restore the Oceans?
On the Channel Islands, archaeologists draw lessons in sustainability from historic Chumash fishing practices.
View All in Methods
![A landscape features a grassy complex with a large, tiered structure made of stones that towers upward toward a blue, cloud-filled sky. Mountains taller than the structure are barely visible behind clouds in the distance.]()
![In a science lab, a masked person wearing a white hazmat suit, face shield, and bouffant cap holds small objects under the glass hood of a silver metal workstation.]()
![A graphic features a mastodon with its head raised and mouth open on rocky ground in front of a blue sky filled with swirling lights.]()
![A black silhouette of a person contrasts with an illuminated cobalt-blue background with two bright spotlights shining from behind their head.]()
![From an aerial view, several people in long-sleeved shirts, khaki pants, and boots are shown standing inside a rocky cave. One person in the center carrying a camera points at two sites, one with each hand.]()
![A close-up image features the wrinkled hands of a person wearing a cardigan and printed skirt as they mold clay into a bowl shape.]()
Decoding Diversity and Power at Machu Picchu
New DNA analysis has revealed surprising diversity among remains from burial sites in Peru. A genetic anthropologist explains what this suggests about the 15th century Inca palace.
The Hidden Ancestry Extracted From an Ancient Pendant
An anthropologist explains how new forensics tools offer unprecedented answers to questions about who likely held or wore Stone Age objects.
Forensic Methods Unveil Clues About Megafauna Extinctions
An archaeologist explains how novel applications of forensic methods—namely, blood residue analyses—have yielded evidence that Paleoindians hunted mastodons, mammoths, and other megafauna in eastern North America 13,000 years ago.
Bringing Nhakpoti, the Kayapó Story of Star Girl, to the Screen
Over years and across long distances, an international filmmaking team collaborated to bring to life the origin story of how agriculture came to Kayapó communities, Indigenous peoples in the Brazilian Amazon.
Dating the Arrival of Modern Humans in Asia
A team of researchers explains how the discovery of a human skull and jawbone helps push back the timing of modern humans’ migration into Southeast Asia.
What Pots Say—and Don’t Say—About People
Archaeologists long abandoned the simple notion that “pots are people”—that people’s identities directly correspond with the pottery they made and used. What, then, can ceramics reveal about past lives?
Glossary
Atauloma
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A historic parochial school building in Afao village on the island of Tutuila in American Samoa.
Diversity
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The practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of social and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders, sexual orientations, etc.
Ethnography
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The scientific description of the customs of individual peoples and cultures.
Taupou
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A ceremonial hostess selected by a high chief of a Samoan village from the young girls of his household, elevated to a high rank, and charged with the formal reception and entertainment of visitors
Professor Talking Points
- Consider the concepts of sexuality as a learned behavior in relation to cultural pressure and societal norms in Mead’s Coming of Age in Samoa, specifically, the findings Mead had concerning young Samoan women in contrast to young American women, and discuss the relevance those concepts have to today’s societal pressures concerning sexuality.
- Many scholars have debated whether Mead’s conclusions were valid at the time she worked in Samoa, and allege that her findings are not valid today because Samoan society has changed immensely since the 1920s. Discuss what it means for ethnographers to capture an “ethnographic moment” that seems to be invalid with the passing of the years.
- Define the skills gained in ethnographic research—participation, communication, and record keeping—and consider how those skills can be integrated with current technological advancement. Discuss how a modern ethnographic excursion would differ from Mead’s studies of Samoa.
Academic Articles
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Feinberg, Richard. “Margaret Mead and Samoa: Coming of Age in Fact and Fiction.” American Anthropologist 90, no. 3 (1988): 656-663.
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Jones, Janice, and Joanna Smith. “Ethnography: Challenges and Opportunities.” Evidence-Based Nursing 20, no. 4 (2017): 98-100.
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Côté, James E. “Was Mead Wrong About Coming of Age in Samoa? An Analysis of the Mead/Freeman Controversy for Scholars of Adolescence and Human Development.” Journal of Youth and Adolescence 21, no. 5 (1992): 499-527.
Student Discussion Questions
- Given the breadth of human diversity, what role can ethnography play in illuminating it?
- How does Mead’s study of the cultural practices of Samoans coming of age give insight into your own culture’s coming-of-age traditions?
- Some have said that Mead romanticized her life in Samoa. For the sake of argument, defend the value of her findings, giving three examples of what you learned about ethnography, human cultures, or yourself from her work.
- In what way can scholars use Margaret Mead’s research to guide their own study of culture through the ethnographic approach?
- What questions should you be asking about your own culture, as Mead asked in her book concerning American culture—for example, she challenged how young women approached their sexuality. If someone immersed themselves in your culture, what societal norms might they challenge?
- Mead’s use of the term “primitive” in her book title is deeply offensive to many people, especially Samoans. Why did Mead use this term, and what are its problems today?
Activities
- After reading the Sapiens article, “The Life and Meaning of Margaret Mead,” create a definition of ethnography with specific examples from Mead’s work in Samoa.
- Using Mead’s book, Coming of Age in Samoa, divide the class into sections, assigning each section two to three paragraphs. Have the group collaborate to narrow down each given paragraph into a central concept Mead was trying to convey.
- Have students choose an identifiable culture (e.g., Basque, Japanese, Navajo). Compare and contrast possible ethnographic experiences in the chosen culture with Mead’s experiences. Devise a plan wherein an ethnographic trip could take place, and Mead’s methods could be used.
Additional Resources
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Article: Chris Drew’s “15 Great Ethnography Examples”
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Article: The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica’s “Ethnography”
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Article: Park Ethnography Program’s “What is Ethnographic Research”
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Exhibition: Library of Congress, Samoa: The Adolescent Girl’s “Margaret Mead: Human Nature and the Power of Culture”
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Video: CrashCourse’s “Social Development: Crash Course in Sociology #13”
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Video: The School of Life’s “The Ancient Origin of Sexual and Gender Identity – Margaret Mead”
Unit By
Casie Gray, Freedom Learning Group
Teaching
The Problems With Coming of Age
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Unit 4
Margaret Mead’s Remarkable Career
