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Bali: Personality Formation
 Mead
and Bateson were married in 1936 in Singapore as they headed for
fieldwork in Bali in the Netherlands East Indies (today Indonesia).
In this pioneering work in visual anthropology, they used a variety
of methods to explore the role of culture in personality formation.
They documented Balinese culture
in extensive field notes and through the innovative use of still
photographs and motion picture film. Collaborating with other
Westerners living in Bali and with Balinese secretary-informants,
Mead and Bateson produced multiple layers of documentation of
such behaviors as parent-child interactions, ritual performances
and ceremonies, and artists at work. In addition to other objects,
they collected Balinese art from adults and children and acquired
over 1200 pieces of artwork. Among the works they produced from
their research in Bali are the film Trance and Dance in Bali
(1952) and the book Balinese Character: A Photographic Analysis
(1942). The latter contains a selection of 759 still photographs,
arranged thematically to illustrate theoretical points about Balinese
culture and character formation. For instance, they used photographs
to show how children learned physical skills passively by having
their bodies moved into the necessary positions by their teachers.
While this field work is still
considered groundbreaking, it has been criticized, particularly
for not accounting sufficiently for the role of religion in Balinese
culture.
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Margaret Mead's
admissions
permit for Batavia,
Java, Netherlands East Indies,
March 16, 1936. Government document.
Manuscript
Division (194a)
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Going to Bali
Travel to the field was complicated and required elaborate
planning. Sometimes plans changed at the last minute. Mead
and Bateson intended to marry in Java on their way to Bali
to do fieldwork, but the Dutch government would not allow
it. Instead they flew to Singapore and were married, then
returned to Java and went on to Bali. Shown here is Mead's
admissions permit to return to Batavia (now Jakarta, Indonesia)
after her marriage to Bateson.
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Medicine Book
Among Mead's many roles while working in the field was
tending to medical needs of the people she was studying.
Reducing people's suffering also gave Mead the opportunity
to talk to those she was treating, gaining their confidence
and getting information that helped with her anthropological
work. In addition to being present at births and deaths,
Mead diagnosed and treated injuries, as well as ailments
ranging from scabies to malaria, with medical supplies she
brought with her into the field. In this notebook, which
Mead kept as a record of medical care she provided in Bali,
she described treating children's infected ears.
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Margaret Mead.
"Medicine Book, Bajoeng Gede,
June 14, 1936-June 1937."
Bound notebook.
Manuscript Division
(182)
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Margaret Mead
reaching out towards
Doemoen, about 18 months, in the arms
of her mother's brother's wife,
December 12, 1936.
Gelatin silver print.
Manuscript
Division (199)
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Reaching Out
As a woman, Margaret Mead had an advantage over male anthropologists
in gaining access to women and children. In Bali, however,
she found that her customary manner of dealing with children
did not work. Mead wrote in Balinese Character:
"Mothers whose babies I had medicated, although they returned
for more medicine, remained so unwon that the babies screamed
in terror in their arms whenever they saw me." Mead attributed
this to a prevailing emotional tone of fear in the culture,
which babies experienced through their mothers. Mead found
that when she expressed herself in an exaggerated, theatrical
way, the mothers and children relaxed.
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Afternoon with the Karmas
On the night of September 20, 1936, Margaret Mead wrote
to Ruth Benedict about a "grand day" of fieldwork. While
Madé Kalér recorded Nang Karma's answers to
Mead's questions, she took notes on two Karma children,
as Bateson photographed them. Then they recorded the children's
interactions with their mother when she arrived. Mead reported
that Bateson took approximately 60 still photos that day
and 200 feet of motion picture film. After the success of
this day, Mead and Bateson altered their fieldwork method,
investing in much more intensive photography than they had
planned. In conjunction with systematic notetaking by Mead
and Madé Kalér, this new approach enabled
them to recreate entire sequences of events. They ended
up with about 25,000 still photographs, (instead of the
2000 they had planned) and 22,000 feet of film.
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Margaret Mead.
"Afternoon with the
Karmas,"
September 20, 1936.
Typescript.
Manuscript Division
(185)
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Gregory Bateson, photographer.
Margaret Mead medicating the
feet of I Kenjoen, held by her father, Nang Karma. Bajoeng
Gedé, Bali, September 20, 1936. Gelatin silver print.
Manuscript Division
(200b)
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Gregory Bateson, photographer.
Nang Karma holding infant daughter
I Kenjoen in his lap, with son I Gata
alongside.
Bajoeng Gedé, Bali,
September 20, 1936.
Gelatin silver print.
Manuscript Division
(200n)
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Gregory Bateson, photographer.
Nang Karma holding infant daughter
I Kenjoen in his arms, with son I Gata
leaning across his lap.
Bajoeng Gedé, Bali, September 20, 1936.
Gelatin silver print.
Manuscript Division
(200v)
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Gregory Bateson, photographer.
Nang Karma holding infant daughter
I Kenjoen in his arms, with
son I Gata behind.
Bajoeng Gedé, Bali,
September 20, 1936.
Gelatin silver print.
Manuscript Division
(200p)
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Child Nurses
Mead used certain categories to classify behavior across
the cultures she studied. One of these was "child nurse."
She used this term to refer to older children charged with
the care of younger children. In Balinese Character
(1942), she devotes a section of photographs to the subject.
Displayed here are photographs from a sequence of I Gati
holding her younger sister, I Kenjoen, in a sling. Due to
I Gati's inexperience using the sling, I Kenjoen was jostled
around and began to cry. In a later photo [right], I Kenjoen
is held by an older sister.
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Gregory Bateson, photographer.
I Gati holding I Kenjoen in a sling,
Bajoeng Gedé, Bali, August 19, 1937.
Gelatin silver print.
Manuscript Division
(193a)
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Gregory Bateson, photographer.
I Karmi holding I Kenjoen on her lap,
Bajoeng Gedé, Bali, February 12, 1939.
Gelatin silver print.
Manuscript Division
(193b).
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Madé Kalér and Margaret Mead at Work
Key to Mead's Balinese work were the Balinese secretary-informants
she and her colleagues, Jane Belo (1904-1968) and Katharane
Mershon (1892-1986) used. Mead and Bateson employed I Madé
Kalér in this capacity. Madé Kalér,
who spoke five languages, took notes on events, interviewed
people, and collected other necessary information. He produced
more than 500 Balinese language texts to supplement Mead's
notes. Here, Madé Kalér is pictured with Mead,
as they both take notes on a conversation Mead is having
with Nang Karma and his son I Gata.
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Gregory Bateson, photographer.
Margaret Mead and I Madé Kalér
interviewing Nang Karma and I Gata,
Bajoeng Gedé, Bali.
Undated, probably ca. 1937.
Gelatin silver print.
Manuscript Division
(217a)
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Ken Heyman, photographer.
Margaret Mead
holding a baby who is teething on Mead's necklace.
Bajoeng Gedé (Bayung Gedé), Bali, January
1958.
Courtesy of photographer Ken Heyman
Manuscript
Division (277)
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Bali, 1958
Mead returned to Bali in December of 1957, with photographer
Ken Heyman, who collaborated on projects with her for the
next two decades. In Heyman's words: "Dr. Mead loved
this photograph, and the following year she used it as her
Christmas card. Village mothers put a white spot on their
babies' heads as a charm to protect them from evil, in accordance
with the local form of Hinduism."
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Teaching and Learning
Mead and Bateson settled in the highlands of Bali, in the
village of Bajoeng Gedé (now Bayung Gedé).
Although this was their base, they traveled to other areas
of Bali to conduct more specialized studies, particularly
of the arts. Mead and Bateson used these two photographs
to illustrate the concepts of visual and kinesthetic learning:
the pupil learns either by observing an act or by having
his body moved into the correct positions by a teacher.
They argued that this teaches passivity and "a separate
awareness in different parts of the body."
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Gregory Bateson, photographer.
Nang Oera teaching his son
Karba,
aged 393 days, to play the xylophone.
Bajoeng Gedé, Bali, February 5, 1937.
Gelatin silver print.
Manuscript Division
(204a)
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Gregory Bateson, photographer.
I Mario of Tabanan teaching
I Dewa P. Djaja of Kedere to dance.
Tabanan, Bali, December 1, 1936.
Gelatin silver print.
Manuscript Division
(204c)
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Recording Methods
Mead and Bateson evolved a method in which she took notes
on a scene while he took still and moving picture photographs,
with her drawing his attention to scenes occurring outside
his view. When she typed up her notes, she would include
the date of the event at the top right and the date typed
at the top left. She inserted the time of day at various
points so her notes could be synchronized with other data
collected, and she also indicated when still and moving
picture film was shot. Mead's running narrative of events
is in a column to the left and other thoughts or stage directions
are on the right. This photograph shows I Karbo helping
give I Sami a bath. Mead's notes at 9.46 and 9.47 indicate
that Leicas (still photos) were taken of this activity.
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Margaret Mead.
"Bathing I Sami (Sama),"
field notes for April 30, 1937.
Bajoeng Gedé, Bali.
Typescript.
Manuscript Division
(204g)
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Gregory Bateson, photographer.
I Karbo, 14 ½ months, splashing
water on I Sami, 7 months,
who is in a wash tub,
April 30, 1937.
Manuscript Division
(204e)
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Library of Congress