article
The history of Samoan sexual conduct and the Mead-Freeman controversy
American anthropologist • 98 (3) • Published In 1996 • Pages: 555-567
By: Shankman, Paul.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This article re-examines the accuracy of empirical data used by Margaret Mead in her portrayal of adolescent Samoan girls as sexually permissive, and Derek Freeman who found them to be rather restrictive. The article discusses the most important historical data and cultural institutions, notably the Taupou system (institutionalized valuation of virginity) used in both arguments. The article concludes that Mead's reconstruction is more in accord with available data, despite some errors in facts and interpretation.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Premarital sex relations
- Social personality
- Ethos
- Sexuality
- Extramarital sex relations
- Missions
- Gender status
- Status, role, and prestige
- History
- Sociocultural trends
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Samoans
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2009
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Oceania
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Polynesia
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Anthropologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Teferi Abate Adem; 2007
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- no date
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1900-1990
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Samoa
- NotesAdditional notes
- Paul Shankman
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 565-567)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 17015424
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Samoans