| FA-53607-07 | Research Programs: Fellowships for University Teachers | Ira R. Bashkow | Margaret Mead and the New Guinea Arapesh | 9/1/2007 - 5/31/2008 | $40,000.00 | Ira | R. | Bashkow | | | | University of Virginia | Charlottesville | VA | 22903-4833 | USA | 2006 | Anthropology | Fellowships for University Teachers | Research Programs | 40000 | 0 | 40000 | 0 |
I plan to write a book that develops a new, constructive form of critique in anthropology, encouraging a richer understanding of the ethnographic endeavor than current critiques presume. I do this by discussing the well-studied case of Margaret Mead's ethnography of New Guinea's Mountain Arapesh. Drawing on prior archival and field research, I reconstruct the story of Mead's Arapesh fieldwork and situate her ethnography within the multiple relevant historical contexts of Arapesh-colonial relations, American feminism, and Mead's tempestuous personal relationships. I argue that, although Mead's Arapesh ethnography is in many ways flawed, it has great enduring value and illustrates the multidimensional nature of ethnography. |