Book Reading #42: Coming of Age in Samoa

Appending III: Samoan Civilization as it is Today

Coming of Age in Samoa

Margaret Mead

Summary: In this appendix, Mead gives a description of the Samoan civilization and how it became what it was before then. She basically describes Samoa as it is in the time frame when she did her research, but describes how it became more flexible as it was before. She discusses some aspects of European and American influences which made Samoa less rigorous a more comfortable. Mead discuses things such as their way of living (describing their houses), the economy, and government structure, etc.

Discussion: The description of Samoa given by Mead in this appendix is really different from all other descriptions provided throughout the book. In previous chapter, it seemed that she was observing everything from the inside, more personal. In this appendix, it seems that she is giving a critique of their civilization, from the outside. The tone and style I think are really different, however effective. With her discussion about the things that have changed thanks to foreign influences, I can see how even though Samoans were influenced but they still learned how to keep their culture. For example, they had one American civil judge, but they also had one native judge.

Book Reading #40: Coming of Age in Samoa

Chapter 14: Education for Choice

Coming of Age in Samoa

Summary: In this chapter, Mead gives a more detailed description of what the life of an American girl is, for the point of view of the girl. She is focusing on the number of choices that adolescents are presented with, and what sort of things are leading adolescents to behave as they do. As the title suggest, Mead states that parents need to decide how to educate their children, and her view point is to educate them no know how to handle the so many choices that they are presented with.

Discussion: One point made by Mead really surprised me, taking in consideration the time frame when this book was written.  Parents try to "reward" their children for their behavior, but they also use this fact as a restrain for behavior. However, as Mead explains, once adolescents are able to at least partially support themselves, parents loose the one thing they were using to control their children, instead of teaching them how to behave altogether. I think my point of view comes from the way my parents raised me, for example they didn't give me rewards because I did good in school, instead they taught me that was my obligation and I did good even with no rewards.

Book Reading #38: Coming of Age in Samoa

Chapter 13: Our Educational Problems in the Light of Samoan Contrasts

Coming of Age in Samoa

Margaret Mead

Summary: In this chapter, Mead starts contrasting the Samoan civilization to our own, trying to answer the question about trouble in adolescence in America. There are a few main points she covers in great detail such as a lack of affection and caring, not many choices open for teenagers (which lead not not many contradiction around the adolescent), and overall the lack of privacy which leads to more open knowledge about sex, birth and death.

Discussion: Reflecting on everything Mead discusses, I just cannot imagine how certain of these characteristics from the Samoan society would fit in any way to our society. Not in the past, and not now. I think she does a great job in comparing and contrasting the two civilizations. I have heard comments that there are many things wrong with this book, so I would like to know what they are, and how they would affect my point of view about the book and the studies' results.

Book Reading #36: Coming of Age in Samoa

Chapter 12: Maturity and Old Age

Coming of Age in Samoa

Margaret Mead

Summary: Mead discusses the changes that men and women go through after they are married or are considered adults (even if unmarried). She covers two major topics: the changes when individuals get married, and when they become old. When a couple gets married, they do not become a "unit" like we do; they are still under the household of either of the families, unless the husband is the son of the chief. The changes impact men more than women, since their social roles are more relevant than those of women. However, when they age, man's importance in the village is decreased, while the knowledge and power of a woman is increased.

Discussion: In this chapter Mead makes various comparisons to our own civilization. For example, wanting to have one's own home and family when we get married; or the so known arguments and jealousy between the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law. I don’t think there was any sense of independency in Samoa, like we have in our society. The fact that an older man’s knowledge is not given much importance is also very different from our own culture, or at least how we think is supposed to be.

Book Reading #33: Coming of Age in Samoa

Chapter 11: The Girl in Conflict

Coming of Age in Samoa

Margaret Mead

Summary: In this chapter Mead describes the main reasons why a girl could become in conflict with society. The first reason described by Mead was that of girls who were just different (in a good way) but non traditional from their culture. Girls who wanted to study and become more than just wives were not appreciated by their community. The other type of conflict would come from girls who were "delinquent", bad girls. Mead make note that the few girls she met with these characteristics were raised in the non traditional household and with a more noticeable lack of affection.

Discussion: This chapter was really good organized, it was easy to read and understand the main points Mead wanted to make. I though it was interesting how majority of conflict with girls came from one of these two sources, which can be seen as the opposite extremes.

Book Reading #31: Coming of Age in Samoa

Chapter 10: The Experience and Individuality of the Average Girl

Coming of Age in Samoa

Margaret Mead

Summary: In this chapter Mead discusses in depth the Samoan customs about sex, focusing more in the young (past poverty) girls than in the rest of society, but still explaining a bit about each age group. In the Samoan culture, children are exposed to situations like birth, death, and sexual relations, at a very young age; Mead states this fact does not seam to affect them in a negative, traumatic way. This is the first chapter were it seems like mead starts analyzing and explaining to the reader her own thoughts, rather than just the customs, like it is seen in the previous chapters.

Discussion: Like I said, I feel that this chapter is the very first one where she is able to present her studies in the girls, and give the reader an explanation about her findings. The previous chapters seemed to be aimed at giving the reader background of the Samoan society in order to better understand the meat of her studies. It seems to me that their view regarding sexuality is very different from what I expected - in America, at least that is my understanding, virginity was given much regard around those days. However, there is that big irony of how they do not express any signs of 'love' in front of others, but (1) there isn't much privacy around anyway, and (2) they do not give sexual interactions much regard any way.

Book Reading #28: Coming of Age in Samoa

Chapter 9: The Attitude Towards Personality
Coming of Age in Samoa
Margaret Mead

Summary: In this chapter Mead introduces a few specific characteristics and words that describe the personality of Samoans. She opens the chapter by describing the musu attitude and a peculiar answer to questions that want to be avoided Ta ilo. Mead also explains the lack of privacy, and how this leads to much secrecy; she discusses how attitudes are describe by Samoans (very differently from Americans) and how are judgments made about people with different titles.

Discussion: It is almost expected to try to have some secrecy in a place where almost every aspect and action of an individual is public. I wonder if the size of the community would have something to do with that. I'm from a small town in Mexico, and I know what it is for a whole community to know and gossip about an individual's actions. However, by Mead's discussion, I get the feeling that their custom of knowing about everybody went much further than that of my home town's community.
In Mead's discussion about their choice of language when describing or judging attitudes, I get the feeling that their language skills were not very refined, or maybe some details got lost in the translation or interpretation, and that was the best way Mead was able to interpret her results.

Book Reading #25: Coming of Age in Samoa

Chapter 8: The Role of Dance

Coming of Age in Samoa

Margaret Mead

Summary: In this chapter Mead discusses the importance of dancing in the Samoan community. She describes it as a very unique activity where all the common customs seen elsewhere do not apply, instead, they are in the opposite extreme. Dancing allows children to show their 'education' and are able to display their skills and abilities without being criticized for trying to do better than others. Also, adults instead of scoffing children as usual, encourage them to dance, and sit back to allow them to be the main focus of the activity.

Discussion: I never imagined how different and relevant dancing could be for their society. Mead mentions the pride of the parents when their children are talented and skilled at dancing, how they cheer for them. I can relate this to our society, for example when parents go to see their children play. I think there is a lot of commonality between their custom about dancing, and our traditions at sports games.

Book Reading #22: Coming of Age in Samoa

Chapter 7: Formal Sex Relations

Coming of Age in Samoa

Margaret Mead

Summary: Mead describes how the attitude of little girls towards boys is first one of avoidance, however this changes a few years after puberty. She continues to talk about the recognized forms of sex relation, focusing in those outside formal marriage.Mead goes in much detail about the relationships between the unmarried young people.She also discusses their attitude towards virginity, which is not really relevant or required from girls of lower ranks. She also discusses the affairs about a wedding, and how in some cases chastity is important for taupo girls. 

Discussion: I must admit that the whole concept about virginity was really schoking for me. I thought it would be relevant and expected from all girls, not only the taupo. Their custom to ammend adultery is really unique and unexpected. I also enjoyed reading about their traditions for preaparing a wedding, the gift exchange process, etc. I think I was expecting something along those lines, not surprising.

Book Reading #19: Coming of Age in Samoa

Chapter 6: The Girl in the Community

Coming of Age in Samoa

Margaret Mead

Summary: In this chapter, Mead discusses in further detail the type of society and titles that the highest ranking individuals in the community would hold, including younger and older men, as well as younger and older women; how these titles were recognized by the rest of the community members and visitors. Mead focuses on the role that the girl plays in society and how it relates to the rest of social groups. Overall, she explains that the titles hold by women and girls were far less relevant than those hold by the men.

Discussion:  Mead had already given us a hint about the role that women played compared to that of men. But in this chapter she goes into further detail. I am not completely sure why it doesn't surprise me the fact that a men organization would be given more importance than a women's. What does surprise me, and it is so ironic is the fact that the taupo, who is given such an honor of being the princess of the village, would still have to serve others. I think there is high complexity in their social organization, maybe even more complex than our own.

Book Reading #15: Coming of Age in Samoa

Chapter 5: The Girl and Her Age Group

Coming of Age in Samoa

Margaret Mead

Summary: Mead describes the relations between the age groups formed between children. She focuses on the relationships between the girls at the different groups formed at the different stages of age. She describes the different kinds of friendship between the girls, and what are the ties that allow such friendships, this also defines the level of confidence between them. Mean also explains that boys are more open to friendships or to belong to friendship groups. She also notes that the guys' grouping is given more social value than that of girls.

Discussion:  It really impacted be the limiting relationship defined by gender. That brother and sister taboo that becomes so real and is of such importance in their community. Mead describes this taboo to begin when girls start to "feel ashamed" in front of their boy relatives, but I wonder when is this point exactly. Mead mentions it is around the age of seven, but what are the reasons for this separation. Why is it so extreme to the point of not even sitting in the same table, not dancing at the same dance floor, not even talking to each other when they are having conversations with other people. I really hope Mead gives some further explanations about this topic.

Book Reading #12: Coming of Age in Samoa

Chapter 4: The Samoan Household

Coming of Age in Samoa

Margaret Mead

Summary: In this article, Mead describes a general hierarchical view of the villages and households. One of the main ideas described in this chapter is the relationship held between relatives. She describes that they were always there to help each other, but just as they helped out, they expected a favor back from the relative soon. Mead also spent a big part of the chapter discussing the titles the highest men and women would hold in a household. For men, it is the chief title, and she described the process and considerations taken when it was time to select a successor. She also discusses the title of princess of the household, and the factors that affected the selection.

Discussion: As Mead introduces more and more the culture of the Samoan families, the more I think that my first impression about the book was mistaken. At first I thought that such a civilization would be much simpler, no complexity. However, I now think that there are many things going on at once, and even when their society is so much different than ours, there is still some high level of complexity. They have their own customs, rules, and traditions; they are so different to us in many ways, but not so much in others.

Book Reading #9: Coming of Age in Samoa

Chapter 3: The Education of a Samoan Child

Margaret Mead

Summary: In this chapter, Mead discusses the education that both, boys and girls receive ever since they are born until they become adults. Most of the early education they receive comes from older siblings, mostly girls, since they are in charge of their younger siblings since they are about five or six months old. Mead explains the distinctions that are observed between the education boys and girls receive, as well as the expectations that their village has from them.

Discussion: Something that really surprised me was the fact that girls did not really want to get married before their late teens. I was of the idea that in the past girls would get married really young, and I just assumed it would be the same. Also, I found really interesting to know that boys or young adults would be discouraged to succeed more than others, how they were limited by being only a little better than the rest. There were so many detailed examples, that I think are important to know about in order to better understand the rest of the book.

Book Reading #6: Coming of Age in Samoa

Coming of Age in Samoa

Margaret Mead

Chapter 2: A Day in Samoa

Summary: In this second chapter, Margaret Mead describes with much detail a regular day at Samoa. She details the activities that each member of a family will do since dawn until past midnight when the day was over. From the smallest kids, to the elders of the villages, Mead captures their daily lives and customs, giving a general idea of how the life at a community like this one is.

Discussion: In my opinion, Mead uses a really descriptive language, that for me it was a bit difficult to follow at some points. However, I do think that she did such a great job in describing how each group of people would spend their days in such a short chapter; she was even able to let the reader know about some on the customs, for example, who eats first at dinner time, who goes to sleep first and who at last, etc.

Appendix II: Methodology of This Study

Summary: In this appendix, Mead describes what assumptions she does, what methods she chose to follow, and clarifies certain points that are important for the basis of her study. She describes how it is impossible to obtain really accurate data, because for example, she was not able to obtain accurate dates of birth. Another thing she explains, is how she obtained the information and background of the place, by native informants, before being able to start analyzing the behavior of the adolescent girls, by interviewing with them personally. She also clarifies that all the information was gathered in their native language.

Discussion: I think it was interesting to read this information before reading the contents of the book. Now we have an idea of why and how she decided to go about the gathering of information, and how accurate and verifiable she thinks it is. 

Appendix V: Materials upon Which the Analysis is Based

Summary: In this appendix, Mead presents detailed explanations of the information that she obtained from the girls and how she obtained it. She also gives some numbers, and tables containing some of the information she gathered. This information includes family, social and sexual interactions of each of the girls, as well as the topics of the intelligence tests that she gave to these girls.

Discussion: I found all the information from the tables to be really interesting. Majority of the information is really personal, I can't imagine how Mead was able to gain the trust of these people and be able to go so deeply into their lives. I think she did a great job, and I haven't yet read the book! I'm really looking forward to read the rest of the chapters and be able do discover how such an observation can be possible.

Book Reading #2: Microblogs for Coming of Age in Samoa

Reference Information

• Title: Coming of Age in Samoa
  
• Author: Margaret Mead
• Presentation:

 Chapter 1
 *****************
Summary
In this first chapter, the author introduces the purpose of her ethnography, which is to compare and maybe find an answer to the difficulties teenagers face during puberty. The question is whether the changes are caused by this period of changes itself, or are they influenced by the society where teenagers are raised. The author explains why Samoa is the place she chooses for her investigation, and presents the idea that having knowledge about such a different culture and way of living will affect in a positive way our own behavior.

Discussion
This seems to be a very interesting book. Learning about cultures is something that I enjoy, and reading this book will not only be appealing to me for that reason, but also because it will reflect how our surroundings affect our behavior, they affect who we are. This course is about studying the interaction between humans and computers, so I guess the main point is to understand how computers affect not only our everyday living, but also  our behavior and personality.