Book Reading #6 - Coming of Age in Samoa

Chapter 2, Appendix II,V

Reference Information:
Title: Coming of Age in Samoa
Author: Margaret Mead
Editors: Williams Morrow and Company (1928)

Summary:
In chapter 2, the author describes a typical day on the island Tau, Samoa. She describes how the day begins and what different people - children, young women, mothers, old people, men and young boys do during the day. She describes in much detail, their daily activities, customs, food and sleeping habits. She gives us a general idea about life on the Samoan island.

In Appendix II, the author describes the methodology of her study. She collected detailed information from the observations made about a group of girls living in three contiguous villages of the island Tau. Data about their birth, adolescence and marriages was gathered. She performed a linear study on a small sample. Smaller the variability among the sample, greater is the general validity of the results. Apart from observations, she gave them tests and questionnaires in the native language to observe their mental health and development.

Appendix V describes the materials upon which the analysis was based. She provides the actual tables and charts she used to gather the information. She also provides us with the actual quantitative data that she gathered during her stay in Samoa. She gathered detailed information about the age, puberty, family, social and sexual experiences of the girls she studied.

Discussion:
Mead does a great job in providing a detailed description about the lives of the people in a Samoan village, what they do on a typical day and how she collected information about them. Although she gets into minute details, she manages to keep the information interesting for the readers. It's indeed extremely impressive the way she formed close relationship with the people in Samoa and was able to gain their confidence to gather the information.