Freeman, Derek

Prominent Australian anthropologist and author of the controversial book Margaret Mead and Samoa (1983), Derek Freeman was born in New Zealand in 1916 and educated at the University of London and Cambridge University. He received a masters (1948) for research on Samoa and a doctorate (1953) for fieldwork among the Iban of Borneo. Freeman was a professor at Australian National University and professor emeritus at ANU's Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies. Beginning in 1983 he stirred international controversy and debate with his critique of Margaret Mead's Coming of Age in Samoa. Further research into Mead's fieldwork in Samoa led to the publication of The Fateful Hoaxing of Margaret Mead (1999). Derek Freeman died in 2001.

From the description of Papers, 1940-2000. (University of California, San Diego). WorldCat record id: 45105611