Margaret Mead sought to answer specific anthropological research questions while doing research in a diversity of places. The results of her research were published in 3 well-known ethnographies in which she described and explained human personalities and temperaments being culture-bound. List the 3 publication titles and describe the specific research questions addressed in Samoa, New Guinea (Manus Islands), and Papua New Guinea (Arapesh, Mundugumor and Tshambuli). Then, using Mead’s notions discuss the concept of culture and why she thought that gender, for example, is culturally constructed.

Warning: Film Contains Explicit Nudity

Film/Documentary Title: Margaret Mead: An Observer ObservedLinks to an external site.(Please use your FAU credentials to view the film). Directed by: Alan Berliner-1996 | Length: 1 hour 26 minutes

About the Film

“This documentary is a fascinating portrait of one of the most influential women of our time. Using archival footage, stills, interviews, and dramatic re-creations, it weaves together a story of a scientist, adventurer and international celebrity whose ideas shaped how we think about ourselves. The film tells how Margaret Mead first gained attention in the 1920s and '30s with her pioneering studies of youth and gender in Samoa and New Guinea. By age 33, Mead had traveled three times around the globe, explored unfamiliar lands where few men and no women dared to go. By age 34 she had published three bestsellers, taken the second of three husbands, and revolutionized our understanding of what it means to be male or female. When she was not doing fieldwork, most of her professional years were spent at the American Museum of Natural History. This film deals with the controversies as well as the accomplishments of her life.“

****Film Prompt*****

Margaret Mead sought to answer specific anthropological research questions while doing research in a diversity of places. The results of her research were published in 3 well-known ethnographies in which she described and explained human personalities and temperaments being culture-bound. List the 3 publication titles and describe the specific research questions addressed in Samoa, New Guinea (Manus Islands), and Papua New Guinea (Arapesh, Mundugumor and Tshambuli). Then, using Mead’s notions discuss the concept of culture and why she thought that gender, for example, is culturally constructed.