Reference Information
Title: Coming of Age in Samoa
Author: Margaret Mead
Editor: Harper Perennial, 1928 (1971)
Chapter 7: Formal Sex Relations
Summary
This chapter discussed how relationships between men and women work in the culture. From a young age, both genders practice avoidance of each other until puberty, when they began to form relationships and sneak away at night. Marriage is regarded as a social and economic arrangement, and varies depending on rank. Divorce is as simple as returning home to one's family.
Discussion
I found it interesting that marriages were so likely to not be monogamous, and that it was considered to be prestigious if a village could successfully kidnap the taupo of another village. This seems weird since in many ways, it is not like our own culture.
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