Ethnography reaction

     Ok, so I may have a biased reaction / viewpoint, as reading Wikipedia is boring and frustrating.... but here it goes. I think it's cool that there's a science out there that studies how people perceive the world. It's very thought provoking. I mean, when someone is interesting or does interesting things, you can't help but wonder if their world view is different from your own. This is an oversimplification though, Ethnographies seem more focused towards groups or cultures of people. They're designed to learn how THAT specific culture effects a small group of individuals within that culture. I like Ethnographies because they create serious empathy toward other cultures of groups. It really mediates a higher understanding.

     On an other note, "Coming of Age in Samoa" by Margaret Mead. This is cool because by studying a group of young Samoa girls Margaret not only see's how culture affects the process of growing up for girls in Samoa, but also see's more clearly how American culture effects girls in America. She concludes that American girls struggle with several contradicting messages and that in Samoa, girls have one clear role model and because of this adolescence isn't as difficult for them as it is in the states. Afterwards alot of controversy ensued ( naturally ).
     In my opinion "Coming of Age in Samoa" is cool book and makes alot of sense. I'm a little disappointed in all the controversy mostly because, to me, it seems steeped from ideological differences and not genuine scientific query. And the results show!