Mountain Arapesh

Summary of Margaret Mead's Study of the Mountain Arapesh

For approximately eight months during 1931-1932, anthropologist Margaret Mead lived with and studied the Mountain Arapesh—a segment of the population of the East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea. She found a culture based on simplicity, sensitivity, and cooperation.

In contrast to the aggressive Arapesh who lived on the plains, both the men and the women of the mountain settlements were found to be, in Mead's word, maternal. The Mountain Arapesh exhibited qualities that many might consider feminine: they were, in general, passive, affectionate, and peaceloving. Though Mead partially explains the male's "femininity" as being due to the type of nourishment available to the Arapesh, she maintains social conditioning to be a factor in the lifestyle led by both sexes.

Aspects of Arapesh Culture

Mead's study encapsulates all aspects of the Arapesh culture. She discusses betrothal and marriage customs, sexuality, gender roles, diet, religion, arts, agriculture, and rites of passage. She emphasizes the importance of rites of passage in maintaining societal values and social control, possibly foreshadowing the breakdown of traditional roles and beliefs in the late twentieth century.

Mead also discovered that both male and female parents actively participated in raising their children. Additionally, conflicts over property were few, as the Arapesh had no concept of land ownership and maintained a peaceful existence with each other.

Later Research and Legacy

In his new introduction to The Mountain Arapesh, Paul B. Roscoe assesses the importance of Mead's work in light of modern anthropological and ethnographic research, as well as how it fits into her own canon of writings. Roscoe's trip to Papua New Guinea in 1991 helped clarify ambiguities in Mead's work and reconstruct what had happened to the Arapesh since her visit in the early 1930s.

About Margaret Mead and Paul B. Roscoe

Margaret Mead (1901-1978) was associated with the American Museum of Natural History in New York for over fifty years, becoming Curator of Ethnology in 1964. She taught at Columbia University and the New School for Social Research, among other institutions. Her notable works include Continuities in Cultural Evolution.

Paul B. Roscoe is a professor of anthropology at the University of Maine. He contributes to various anthropology journals and is co-editor of Gender Rituals: Female Initiation in Melanesia. He received the Royal Anthropological Institute's Curl Essay Prize in 1992 and specializes in ancient Polynesia.