Expert: Ralph Salier - 3/22/2006

Question
Dear Mr. Salier,
Hi, my name is Katherine, and I am a senior in highschool. I am in the midst of writing my senior thesis, and I was hoping that you may be able to give your opinion on the following questions:

Did Margaret Mead's book The Coming of Age in Samoa impact Western culture's perception of Paradise?

If so, how?


Was her published book merely an evolution of Western literary tradition? Akin to the work of Thomas More and Robert Louis Stevenson?


Did this book reaffirm our belief that Paradise exists on Earth?


Any response to these ideas or anything else would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much for your time, and I hope that I will be hearing from you soon!

Yours truly,
Katherine  

Answer
Hi Katherine,

Interesting questions.   Yes, I think the Mead book did have an impact to some degree in that it became a popular read.  This is unlike most books coming from the land of Anthropology.  It fit into the changing morals of the 1950's and 60's cultures and had an especially strong impact on the counter culture of the "flower power" advocates of the 1960's.  I don't think that she realized what kind of impact it would have on western cultures so it does not fall into the same impact role of Thomas Moore or Stevenson who were trying to impact culture.  Mead's work was that of an ethnographer's book which caught on to the popular reading circuit due to its sexual content and context ,nothing more.  

As for its afformation of paradise on Earth, it depends on your view of paradise.  The tropical islands, "free sex" and relative leasure could be viewed this way but scratch the surface of the her work, and it is not such a paradise.
If sex with your child (incest) to prove her ability to have children is a good thing (at the earliest age possible after  first mensis) I kind of doubt it for the girls sake.  Then with the advent of visitors to the islands to "test out the free sex" thing, it brought STDs and a host of other problems to a people who, had they been left alone, would be much happier today with out the exposure from the book, the missionaries and others who have intruded and destroyed their fragile culture.