Goodale, Jane C. (Jane Carter), 1926-2008

American anthropologist and photographer, Goodale was born in 1926 and educated at Radcliffe College (B.A. 1948), Harvard University (M.A. 1951) and the University of Pennsylvania (Ph. D. 1959). She conducted fieldwork for her dissertation among the Tiwi of Northern Australia and later studied Kaulong speaking people on New Britain Island in Papua New Guinea between 1962 and 1974. With support from National Geographic Magazine, Goodale produced extensive still photodocumentation of Kaulong culture and went on to collect and transcribe song performances. Goodale is professor emeritus from Bryn Mawr College where she taught from 1961 to 1995.

Biography

Jane C. Goodale, American anthropologist, photographer, and carver was born on May 18, 1926. Goodale attended Radcliffe College (B.A., 1948), continued her Ph.D. study at Harvard University (M.A., 1951) and at the University of Pennsylvania (Ph.D., 1959). She studied with and was influenced by Carlton Steven Coon, A. Irving Hallowell, Loren Eiseley, and Ward Goodenough.

Her first independent fieldwork was at Melville Island in North Australia in 1954, where Goodale stayed for ten months among the Tiwi and conducted research for her dissertation (1959) and book TIWI WIVES (1971). In 1962, she went to southwest New Britain with her colleague in anthropology, Ann Chowning, and they conceived a joint fieldwork project. They found two inland areas with people speaking two distinct Austronesian languages and practicing traditional ways of life and rituals. Goodale focused on Kaulong-speaking communities and Chowning studied Senseng-speaking people. The study areas were located north of the administrative headquarters at Kandrian. The initial objective of fieldwork was the holistic ethnographic description of culture, social, economic, and religious organization, as well as beliefs and practices. With support from the National Science Foundation, Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, National Institute for Mental Health, National Geographic Society, and American Council of Learned Societies, Goodale made a total of four visits to New Britain, spending about three years among the Kaulong people.

During her first visit to the village of Umbi, in 1963-1964, Goodale focused on studying the nature of gender differences and gender relations and learning Kaulong and Tok Pisin languages. During her second visit to the village of Angelek in 1967-1968, Goodale studied gender differentiation and attitudes towards sexuality and marriage even more closely and also focused on politics, the ritual of death, and song performances accompanying rituals. During her final visit to Angelek in 1974, Goodale continued to study song performances and solely focused on transcribing 300 recorded songs that were in her possession by that time. With extensive photographic support from the National Geographic Society, Goodale was able to take over 240 rolls of color slides documenting in detail daily life and customs in Umbi and Angelek. A fair number of slides were later published in "Blowgun Hunters of the South Pacific" in the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE (Vol. 129, No. 6, 1966) and in her other books and articles.

Goodale has published extensively on social life and customs, self-perception, identity, gender identity, and gender relations among the Tiwi of North Australia and Kaulong people of New Britain Island. Goodale is especially known for her three monographs TIWI WIVES: A STUDY OF THE WOMEN OF MELVILLE ISLAND OF NORTH AUSTRALIA (1971), TO SING WITH PIGS IS HUMAN: THE CONCEPT OF PERSON IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA (1995), and THE TWO PARTY-LINE: CONVERSATIONS IN THE FIELD (1996). In addition to books, she has also published chapters in books, articles, and given numerous conference presentations.

Goodale taught anthropology at Bryn Mawr College from 1961 until her retirement in 1995. She has also taught at the University of Pennsylvania and at Barnard College, Columbia University. From 1950 to 1961 she was a research assistant at the University of Pennsylvania Museum.

Jane Goodale is professor emeritus at Bryn Mawr College and resides in Massachusetts.