One World, Many Cultures
Margaret Mead and the Limits to Cold War Anthropology
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3208394 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Peter Mandler (0000-0003-0619-171X, Canisius College, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 68 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 149-172 |
| Publication date | 2009-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | History Workshop Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1363-3554 • E-ISSN: 1477-4569 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/hwj/dbp008 |
| PMID | 20069750 |
| OpenAlex | W2147807486 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 17 |
| References cited | 22 |
This article explores Margaret Mead's application of her anthropological notions of cultural relativism to international relations in the Cold War. It offers a critique of an historiographical orthodoxy that suggests Mead and others like her moved easily from service of the Allies in the Second World War to service of United States interests in the Cold War. Mead did attempt to make this move, but not easily. Two episodes in particular - the 'swaddling controversy' over Mead's and Geoffrey Gorer's arguments about the 'national character' of the Russians, and Mead's involvement with technical assistance programmes in the developing world - are used to illustrate the poor fit between Mead's cultural relativism and American aspirations in the early years of the Cold War, which ultimately led to a parting of the ways
Archaeology · Character (mathematics · Cold war · Cultural relativism · Epistemology · Historiography · Human rights · Orthodoxy · Political science · Politics · Relativism · Sociology · World War II · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Anthropology: Ethics, History, Culture · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · History · Law · Philosophy
World citizenship and the emergence of the social psychiatry project of the World Health Organization, 1948–c.1965
Developing selves
The utility of ethnography for understanding (the Russo-Ukrainian) war
Assembling ‘Enduring Peoples,' mediating recognition
Governing Indigenous Drinking
Resilience
From Racialization to World Citizenship
Citizen, Academic, Expert, or International Worker? Juggling with Identities at Unesco's Social Science Department, 1946–1955
Reason beyond Rand
"Reading Matthew Farish's "The Contours of America's Cold War
Every Citizen of Empire Implored to Save the Children!'Empire, internationalism and the Save the Children Fund in inter-war Britain
Introduction
Shelling from the ivory tower
Anthropology and world peace
From ethnographic knowledge to anthropological intelligence
The Politics of Knowledge
Geoffrey Gorer and Féral Benga, a Collaboration
The Chrysanthemum and the Sword
From Whirlwind to Mitre
Anthropology today
Liberal America and the Third World
War Without Mercy
Section of Anthropology
The Cold War and the University
Ten Theories in Search of Reality
Culture and Personality Studies, 1918-1960
Cultural Patterns and Technical Change
New Lives for Old
Margaret Mead Amongst the Natives of Great Britain
Encountering Development
The Uses of Anthropology
Anthropology and Politics in Studies of National Character
Unesco and Anthropology
Subtle Means and Enticing Carrots
Changing Styles of Anthropological Work
Cold war anthropology
| Unique citing works | 17 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,13 |
| Citation span | 2011 - 2023 (13) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 17 |