Read: Freeman, Margaret Mead and Samoa, chapters 16, 19, and 20

1. What points does Freeman raise in his attempt to refute Mead's characterization of adolescent sexual activity in Samoa? How do his interpretations of moetotolo and the taupo's virginity differ from hers? What is his evidence? Do you find his points persuasive?

2. Why, according to Freeman, did Mead make errors of such great magnitude? Was it a problem of evidence? A problem of interpretation? Some of each?

3. What lessons do the differences between Mead and Freeman have for anthropologists today?

4. In social situations, when people learn that I am an anthropologist, they sometimes ask, "Wasn't Margaret Mead wrong?" How might you answer that question?

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