The History of Samoan Sexual Conduct and the Mead‐Freeman Controversy

Paul Shankman

42 citations0/0 files storedAmerican Anthropologist

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Anthropological Studies and Insights Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies Anthropology: Ethics, History, Culture

Abstract

ABSTRACTS The Mead‐Freeman controversy over Samoan culture—especially Samoan sexual conduct—has provoked debate for more than a decade. A key issue involves the nature of the Samoan system of institutionalized virginity. Citing historical sources, Freeman has argued that the taupou system's restrictive code of sexual behavior permeated colonial Samoan culture. Yet a rereading of many of these sources indicates that sexual conduct was less restrictive and more variable than Freeman allows. His refutation of Mead rests on the accuracy of his historical reconstruction, but the evidence does not support important parts of his interpretation.

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References

1983Sexual Meanings: The Cultural Construction of Gender and Sexuality.1995Third sex, third gender: beyond sexual dimorphism in culture and history.1982Sala’Ilua a Samoan Mystery 1983Margaret Mead and Samoa: The Making and Unmaking of an Anthropological Myth 1992Romantic Longings: Love in America, 1830-1980.1992male transvestism and cultural change in Samoa 1992Confronting the Margaret Mead legacy: scholarship, empire, and the South Pacific 1971Samoa, 1830-1900: The Politics of a Multi-Cultural Community

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