Ruth Benedict: Beyond Relativity, Beyond Pattern (Critical Studies in the History of Anthropology)

393 Pages·2005·2.23 MB·English

by  Virginia Heyer Young

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Ruth Benedict
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1 CriticalStudiesintheHistoryofAnthropology
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3 series editors: RegnaDarnell,StephenO.Murray
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Ruth Benedict
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9 Beyond Relativity,
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15 Beyond Pattern
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34 university of nebraska press
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lincoln and london
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1 ©2005bytheBoardofRegents
2 oftheUniversityofNebraska.
3 Allrightsreserved.Manufactured
4 intheUnitedStatesofAmerica.
5 SetinAdobeMinionbyKimEssman.
6 DesignedbyRichardEckersley.
7 PrintedbyThomson-Shore,Inc.
8 (cid:1)(cid:1)
9 LibraryofCongressCataloging-
10 in-PublicationData
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12 Young,VirginiaHeyer.
13 RuthBenedict:beyondrelativity, [-4], (4)
14 beyondpattern/VirginiaHeyerYoung.
15 p.cm.–(Criticalstudiesinthehistory
16 ofanthropology) Lines: 79 to 140
17 Includesbibliographicalreferences
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18 andindex. 160.15193pt PgVar
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19 isbn0-8032-4919-5(cloth:alk.paper)–
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20 isbn0-8032-0511-2(electronic)
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21 1.Benedict,Ruth,1887–1948. 2.Women
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22 anthropologists–UnitedStates–Biography.
23 3.Anthropology–History.
24 I.Title. II.Series. [-4], (4)
25 gn21.b45y682005
26 301'.092–dc22
27 2004028319
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KimE—UNLPress/Pageiv/ /RuthBenedict:BeyondRelativity,BeyondPattern/Young
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2 contents
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4 SeriesEditors’Introduction vii
5 PrefaceandAcknowledgments ix
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7 1.RuthBenedict’sLifeandWork 1
8 2.TheSearchforBoas’sSuccessor 39
9 3.FriendshipwithMargaretMead 53
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4.BeyondCulturalRelativity 77
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5.BeyondPsychologicalTypes 103
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6.TeachersandStudents 145
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7.RuthBenedict’sContribution
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15 toAnthropology 163
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appendixes
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19 WritingtheCourse“Texts” 203
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20 1.SocialOrganizationofPrimitive
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21 Peoples 209
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22 2.PersonalityandCulture 223
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3.SeminarinContemporary
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EuropeanCultures 271
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4.ReligionsofPrimitivePeoples 277
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5.Theory,Culture 299
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Notes 331
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References 341
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31 Index 359
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2 series editors’introduction
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4 Ruth Benedict’s Patterns of Culture was a bestseller in 1934,catapulting its
5 authortoprominenceasanarticulatespokespersonforexaminingdifferent
6 cultural patternings. Her ability to write clearly and aesthetically opened
7 the insights of cultural anthropology to a general audience, even without
8 the kind of exoticizing “free love” titillation that helped make Benedict’s
9 studentMargaretMead’sComingofAgeinSamoaabestsellersixyearsearlier.
10 Benedict brought to life the consequences at cultural borders of cultural
11 relativity,both as method and epistemology,while providing a critique of
12 interwarU.S.societythatwasmoreimplicitbutalsomorecomprehensive [First Page]
13 thanMead’sdiscussionofotherlifewaysasproviding“lessons.”
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14 Popularsuccessisrarelyaboontoaprofessionalcareer.Fewanthropol-
15 ogists now know much about Benedict’s work after 1934, except that she,
16 alongwithBoas,wroteagainstraceintheNaziyearsandduringWorldWar
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17 II.FewofBenedict’sprojectsotherthanthedescriptionofJapaneseethos(es)
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18 werefinishedorpublished.TheChrysanthemumandtheSword:Patternsof
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19 Japanese Culture (1946), a bestseller at the time, is remembered, if at all,
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20 as a period piece,reflecting a rather naive anthropological effort to advise
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21 an American government first combating and then occupying Japan. The
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22 influenceofthisbookinthepostwarreconstructionofJapanandtheready
23 acceptanceofanthropologicalexpertiseinthepublicdomainhavereceded
24 fromprofessionalawarenessinamorecynicalera. [-7], (1)
25 Onseveralcounts,VirginiaHeyerYoung’sworkredressestheimbalance
26 inrememberingRuthBenedict.First,Youngconcentratesonthelateryears,
27 when Benedict herself spoke of the need to move“beyond relativity.”The
28 contemporarychallengetotheanthropologicalconceptof culturalrelativ-
29 ityfromculturalstudies,philosophy,andsoforthrendersitimperativeto
30 reexaminethelimitsoftheconceptinthethinkingofoneofitsprimaryar-
31 chitects.Benedictwasunwillingtodissolveintonihilism;indeed,shewanted
32 arelativityinunderstandingculturaldifferencetogroundthecomparative
33 scientificstudyofculturalvalues,atboththepsychologicalandgrouplevels.
34 Second,thepositionof theauthorasastudentof Benedict’sinthefinal
35 yearsofherlifeprovidesreadersapersonalizedaccesstoBenedict’sthoughts
36 andactionsasateachingandsenioranthropologist.Feministscholarswill
37 beintriguedbythewomen’snetworksaroundBenedict.Younghasherown
38 take on Benedict as a scholar and mentor, but she is also faithful to her
39 documentarysources(inadditiontotheclassnotessheandotherspreserved,
40 correspondence,andotherdocumentsnotpreviouslyavailabletoscholars).
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SeriesEditors’Introduction
1 Third,thereisanenormousdocumentarylaborreflectedinthecollection
2 ofclassnotesfromstudentsinBenedict’slatercourses.Althoughthesenotes
3 are hardly the polished products Benedict might have crafted them into
4 beforepublishingthem,readerswillbeabletoevaluateforthemselvesthe
5 problemsshewasgrapplingwithandtheemergingnatureofherconclusions.
6 Benedict’sstoryalsoshedslightonthestoryoftheColumbiadepartmentof
7 anthropologyofwhichshewasamemberforsolong.
8 Finally,manyofBenedict’slaterideas,suchasthoseonsocialcohesionand
9 synergy,areremarkablycontemporaryintoneandinsight.Sheforeshadowed
10 theinterdigitationofliterarycriticismandpoeticswithethnographicwrit-
11 ing.Sheusedcross-culturalcontextasastandpointfromwhichtocritique
12 herownsociety.ThelaterBenedictwhoemergesfromthisbookisremark-
13 ablycontemporaryanddeservingofreexamination,howeverbelatedly.
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preface and acknowledgments
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4 IcouldnevertossoutmygraduateschoolnotesfromRuthBenedict’scourses.
5 Theybecameeventuallythebeginningpointforthisbook.Ineachculling
6 of myfilesforanofficeorhousemove,Ithrewoutsomeof myColumbia
7 anthropology notes, but with just a glance at those from Ruth Benedict’s
8 courses I was reminded of the steady flow of original ideas and interpre-
9 tations, the critiques and references within anthropology, and the special
10 points she had written little about but introduced in her courses,in some
11 cases fully developed, at other points an outline of a conceptual scheme,
12 sometimesmerelynotingpromiseincolleagues’ideas.FascinatedasIwasby [First Page]
13 Benedict’steaching,Ihardlyunderstoodherfullthoughtorherplaceinthe
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14 intellectual climate of her times,although when I worked for her research
15 projectinmysecondyearasagraduatestudentIcouldobserveheratthe
16 centerofalargegroupofcongenialintellectualslaunchedonaninnovative
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17 endeavor,the study of national character. Benedict’s thought and writings
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18 had gone far beyond Patterns of Culture, yet when she died suddenly she
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19 hadnotcompletedseveralmajorprojects,andnooneexceptherknewwhat
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20 allthepieceswere,wheretheywerepreliminarilypresented,orhowtheyfit
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21 together.Nooneamongherassociatestriedtoputthepiecestogether,and
22 I,asathird-yeargraduatestudent,didnotrecognizewhatmightbedone. PgEnds: TEX
23 Anthropology moved far away from Benedict’s methods and concepts
24 soon after she died. Even the culture and personality field,which she had [-9], (1)
25 helpedshapeandwhichshefavoredasthecenterofculturalanthropology,
26 turnedtoamorespecializeddevelopmentofapsychoanalyticframework.In
27 ethnography,anew“thickdescription”madecomparisonofculturesmore
28 difficultandprevailedoverthemethodandobjectiveofcomparativismthat
29 Benedicthadpromoted.Specialistsfrompoliticalscience,psychology,and
30 literarystudies,whomshehadbroughttogethertointegratediversedataand
31 viewpointsthewayshehaddoneinherholisticnationalculturepapers,went
32 intheirowndirections.Thenewtrendsforcedquestioningofthevalidityof
33 theideaofculturepattern,oftheholisticframeworkthatshesought,andof
34 thereliabilityofethnography.
35 Anthropologists, including myself, worked within the new trends. Pat-
36 ternsofCulturecontinuedtobereadasaclassictreatiseonculture,andThe
37 Chrysanthemum and the Sword was generally admired as an achievement
38 inholisticrepresentationofculture,yetnoonetriedtoreplicateBenedict’s
39 methods.When the study of national cultures reemerged in anthropology
40 afterthreedecades,fewofitsproponentsmadereferencetoBenedict’sprevi-
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