The Oceanic Ethnography of Margaret Mead

Abstract

Margaret Mead did fieldwork in seven Oceanic societies: Samoa, Manus, Arapesh, Mundugumor, Tchambuli, Bali, and Iatmul. Several major concerns that characterize all of her ethnographic work are examined: her conviction that data must be useful; her experimentation with, and desire to improve, methods of ethnographic reportage; her focus on process and system; the importance of comparison; and the interplay between data and theory. Brief descriptions of each body of ethnographic material are provided, and special highlights of each are indicated. [Oceania, ethnography, Margaret Mead]