Customer Reviews

Margaret Mead and the Heretic: The Making and Unmaking of an Anthropological Myth

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Although he is a New Zealander I had not heard of Derek Freeman until the play about his work appeared in Wellington as part of an arts festival.

His published findings then got rehearsed through the media and were attacked sufficiently to persude me to buy the book through Amazon.

In part his book is an examination of the theoretical upbringing of Margaret Mead, one of the icons of Anthropology. It is clear that she did not have an open mind and failed to find an approprite historical context for her work in Samoa.

Freeman spent a lot longer than Mead in Samoa. He has held his fire for a long time, which is rather a pity as I am persuaded that Margaret Mead's conclusions were based on seriously flawed research.

At times I felt that Freeman was getting a bit obsessive about trivia, but one part of his work which is very good indeed is the study of violence in Samoa. Freeman comes at this from several perspectives in what I think should be a handbook for social workers and policy analysts.

Freeman writes well. His theoretical work is concise and coherent. His practical examples and other evidence from Samoa are excellent. I take care here not to tell his story for him , buy it and read it .

He has a light touch once he gets over Margaret Mead's lapses and gets on to his own work.

I think if ever there was a spare place at a dinner table then Derek Freeman would have to be an excellent choice to fill it.

This is yet another rehasing of Freemans "Margaret Mead and Samoa: The Making and Unmaking of an Anthropological Myth". If you have read the first version I would not bother to read this one.