Intertwined Lives: Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, and Their CircleKnopf, 2003 - 540 pages A uniquely revealing biography of two eminent twentieth century American women. Close friends for much of their lives, Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead met at Barnard College in 1922, when Mead was a student, Benedict a teacher. They became sexual partners (though both married), and pioneered in the then male-dominated discipline of anthropology. They championed racial and sexual equality and cultural relativity despite the generally racist, xenophobic, and homophobic tenor of their era. Mead's best-selling "Coming of Age in Samoa (1928) and "Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies (1935), and Benedict's" Patterns of Culture (1934)," Race (1940)," and" The Chrysanthemum and the Sword (1946), were landmark studies that ensured the lasting prominence and influence of their authors in the field of anthropology and beyond. With unprecedented access to the complete archives of the two women--including hundreds of letters opened to scholars in 2001--Lois Banner examines the impact of their difficult childhoods and the relationship between them in the context of their circle of family, friends, husbands, lovers, and colleagues, as well as the calamitous events of their time. She shows how Benedict inadvertently exposed Mead to charges of professional incompetence, discloses the serious errors New Zealand anthropologist Derek Freeman made in his famed attack on Mead's research on Samoa, and reveals what happened in New Guinea when Mead and colleagues engaged in a ritual aimed at overturning all gender and sexual boundaries. In this illuminating and innovative work, Banner has given us the most detailed, balanced, and informative portrait of Mead and Benedict--individually andtogether--that we have had. |
Contents
Rome 1926 | 3 |
Pioneering Women and Men | 15 |
Ruth Benedicts Childhood | 43 |
Copyright | |
14 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Intertwined Lives: Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, and Their Circle Lois W. Banner Limited preview - 2004 |
Intertwined Lives: Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, and Their Circle Lois W. Banner No preview available - 2004 |
Intertwined Lives: Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, and Their Circle Lois W. Banner No preview available - 2004 |
Common terms and phrases
adolescent Age in Samoa American anthropology Arapesh Bali Balinese Barnard became behavior Benedict and Mead Bertrice Blackberry Winter Boas's BW draft called child childhood College Columbia contended criticized described Dollard Edward Sapir Elsie Clews Parsons Emily Fogg Mead feminine feminism feminist fieldwork Franz Boas free-love friends friendships garet gender girls Gorer graduate Gregory Bateson Guinea heterosexual History homosexual individuals interview Journal Kroeber Léonie Léonie Adams lesbian letters lived Louise Lowie Luther Luther Cressman Male and Female Margaret Mead Margaret wrote Margery marriage married Mary masculine Mead wrote Mead's mother Mundugumor museum Papers Patterns of Culture personality poetry Psychology race racial racism relationship Reo Fortune role romantic friendships Ruth Benedict Ruth Fulton Ruth Fulton Benedict Ruth's Samoa Science Sept Sex and Temperament sexual social story Tchambuli theory tion University Press Vassar wanted woman women women's rights writing York