Margaret MeadBorn 16 Dec 1901; died 15 Nov 1978 at age 76. American anthropologist whose fame rests on the quality of her scientific work, outspokenness and forceful personality. Mead is best known for her studies of the indigenous people of Oceania, including the cooperation, competition and communication between them, together with the oceanic ethnology and comparative child psychology. She first began her research in the South Pacific at age 23, as a doctoral student. This led to her best-selling book, Coming of Age in Samoa(1928). Throughout her life, she traveled in other countries doing research on various cultures, including the Arapesh, Mudugumor and Tchambuli of New Guinea. Her public lecture topics ranged widely from atomic politics to feminism.« |
