RUTH FULTON BENEDICT was an American anthropologist and folklorist born on this date (d: 1948).
She was born
in New York City, attended Vassar College and graduated in 1909. After
studying anthropology at the New School of Social Research under Elsie
Clews Parsons, she entered graduate studies at Columbia University in
1921, where she studied under Franz Boas. She received her PhD and
joined the faculty in 1923. Margaret Mead, with whom she shared a
romantic relationship, and Marvin Opler, were among her students and colleagues.
Benedict was
President of the American Anthropological Association and was also a
prominent member of the American Folklore Society. She became the first woman to be recognized as a prominent leader of a learned profession. She
can be viewed as a transitional figure in her field, redirecting both
anthropology and folklore away from the limited confines of
culture-trait diffusion studies and towards theories of performance as
integral to the interpretation of culture. She studied the relationships
between personality, art, language and culture, insisting that no trait
existed in isolation or self-sufficiency, a theory which she championed
in her 1934 book Patterns of Culture.
Margaret Mead and
Ruth Benedict are considered the two most influential and famous
anthropologists of their time. One of the reasons why Mead and Benedict
got along well was the fact that they both shared a passion for their
work and they each felt a sense of pride in the fact that they were
successful working women during a time when this was uncommon. They
were frequently known to critique each other's work; they entered into a
companionship which began through their work, but during its early
period, it also had an erotic character. Both
Benedict and Mead wanted to dislodge stereotypes about women which were
widely believed during their time and show people that working women
could also be successful even though working society was seen as a man's
world. In her memoir about her parents, With a Daughter's Eye, Margaret Mead's daughter implies that the relationship between Benedict and Mead was sexual.
Benjamin Breens recent history of the early days of psychedelic science, Tripping On Utopia, Margaret Mead, The Cold War and the Troubled Birth of Psychedelic Science, more than "implies" their intimacy, and delves deeply into the longterm relationship of the two women.
In 1946, Benedict
received the Achievement Award from the American Association of
University Women. After Benedict died of a heart attack in 1948, Mead
kept the legacy of Benedict's work going by supervising projects that
Benedict would have looked after, and editing and publishing notes from
studies that Benedict had collected throughout her life.
The American
Anthropology Association awards an annual prize named after Benedict.
The 'Ruth Benedict Prize' has two categories, one for monographs by one
writer and one for edited volumes. The prize recognizes 'excellence in a
scholarly book written from an anthropological perspective about a
lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender topic'.
A U.S. 46¢ Great
Americans series postage stamp in her honor was issued on October 20,
1995. Benedict College in Stony Brook University has been named after
her.
In 2005 Ruth Fulton Benedict was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.
|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|
Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute
"With the
increasing commodification of gay news, views, and culture by powerful
corporate interests, having a strong independent voice in our community
is all the more important. White Crane is one of the last brave
standouts in this bland new world... a triumph over the looming
mediocrity of the mainstream Gay world." - Mark Thompson
Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989!
www.whitecraneinstitute.org
|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|