MIKE MENDIS

Essay #1:

Female Genital Cutting: Its Relation to Female Sexuality, the Family, and Society

Word Count: 1,734 words + References

Format: AAA

ABSTRACT: This paper discusses the highly controversial issue of female genital cutting (also referred to in the literature as female genital mutilation and clitoridectomy) as practiced traditionally in various parts of Africa and the Middle East. It presents both sides of the issue, outlining arguments for and against the practice with special reference to female sexuality and the role of women in the family and society. Drawing upon research done in the West among immigrants who have undergone the procedure, the paper makes the argument that the practice must be understood and evaluated within the context of the social norms and values in which it evolved.

KEYWORDS: Female genital cutting; mutilation; clitoridectomy; infibulation; defibulation; Pharaonic circumcision; sexual responsiveness; breasts; vagina; clitoris; vulva; Female Sexual Function Index;  psychosexual life; genital-image; body-image; family honour

Essay #2:

Gender Roles and Biological Determinism in Mead and Chagnon

Word Count: 1,777 words + References

Format: AAA

ABSTRACT: This essay compares and contrasts the controversial work of Margaret Mead among the Samoans and the equally controversial conclusions of Napoleon Chagnon following from his work among the Yanomamö of Venezuela. It focuses in particular on gender roles in the two societies against the backdrop of the debate in anthropology over the issue of whether human social behaviour is culturally or biologically determined. Mead and Chagnon came to very different conclusions with regard to biological determinism, Mead appearing to clinch the argument in favour of cultural determinism and Chagnon coming down firmly on the side of biological determinism. Mead focused on adolescent sexual behavior; Chagnon looked at the proclivity for war among the Yanomamö. Mead reported that Samoans did not experience adolescence as a time of stress and trauma as adolescents in the West do, and concluded from this that a traumatic adolescence must therefore be culturally conditioned. Chagnon attributed the aggressive behaviour and the high incidence of inter-tribal warfare among the Yanomamö to the biological urge to procreate and spread one’s genes as widely as possible. The essay concludes with the observation that the Samoans of Mead’s time and the Yanomamö of Chagnon’s time lived under very similar idyllic conditions, a similarity that raises the question as to why the biological urge to procreate did not produce in the Samoans the same war-like proclivities that Chagnon claims it produced in the Yanomamö.

KEYWORDS: Margaret Mead; Napoleon Chagnon; gender roles; cultural determinism; biological determinism; war; sexual mores; adolescence; puberty; Samoa; Yanomamo; inter-tribal aggression

Essay #3:

Honour among the Bedouins

Word Count: 1,636 words + References

Format: AAA

ABSTRACT: This essay outlines the concept of honour among the Bedouins, especially as it relates to the hierarchical structure of Bedouin society. Honour, along with status and autonomy, is part of a trinity of concepts that form the basis of Bedouin social interaction and social control. The essay examines how these three social values interact to create the unique set of relationships that govern Bedouin life. Bedouin society is organized along the same lines as the Bedouin family, the latter being viewed as a microcosm of the former. The “power” of tribal leaders derives from their capacity to behave honourably towards other members of the tribe, just as the power of the male head of the household rests on his ability to relate with honour to those under his care and protection. Freedom, a notion closely associated with autonomy, is highly prized among the Bedouin, and is maintained by invoking the notion of voluntary dependence for those in the lower levels of the social hierarchy, namely, women, younger men, and children. Dishonour is to be avoided at all costs, and this is achieved institutionally through a segregation of the sexes and the generations. The essay concludes with the observation that the Bedouin honour system is a highly effective means of exercising social control in Bedouin society.

KEYWORDS: Bedouin; honour; autonomy; status; dependency; hierarchical; family; freedom; tyranny; hospitality; wealth' reciprocity' gender segregation; generational segregation

Essay #4

Controversy in Anthropology: Margaret Mead's Coming of Age in Samoa

Word Count: 4,234 words + References

Format: AAA

ABSTRACT: This paper examines the controversy sparked by the publication of Margaret Mead’s classic popular anthropological text, Coming of Age in Samoa, a controversy that arose in the context of the debate over the issue of cultural determinism versus biological determinism that split the field of anthropology in the early twentieth century. The paper traces the roots of this debate as well as its influence on Mead and on her decision to undertake ethnographic work in American Samoa under the tutelage of her mentor, Franz Boas, a proponent of cultural determinism. While Mead’s work was initially well received, it later came under attack from Derek Freeman, who himself engaged in ethnographic work in Western Samoa, beginning in 1940. Freeman claimed that his work did not corroborate Mead’s findings regarding the sexual permissiveness of the Samoans. He accused Mead of being blinded by her loyalty to her mentor, Boas, who was one of the strongest proponents of cultural determinism in the field at the time. Freeman also charged that Mead had been duped by her Samoan informants. Following these initial allegations, other anthropologists sought to replicate Mead’s work in an attempt to exonerate her, or at the very least clear her of the charge of malfeasance. The paper goes on to review the work of these later anthropologists, who acknowledge that Mead did make some minor mistakes, but that she was right in terms of her overall conclusions. As an additional aspect to the discussion, the paper presents the findings of the last three or four decades with regard to the social behaviour of bonobos, which seem to give plausibility to Mead’s observations. The essay concludes with an assessment by Mead’s daughter, Mary Catherine Bateson.

KEYWORDS: Margaret Mead, Derek Freeman, Samoa, cultural determinism, biological determinism, adolescence, sexual mores, permissiveness, bonobos, paedomorphism, Malinowski, Trobriand Islanders, Mary Catherine Bateson