Ruth Benedict
born 5 June 1887 in New York for college parents. His father was a surgeon in that city when Benedict was born.
When Benedict was not yet two years, his father became ill and died a few months later. His illness the family moved into the field and lived with his mother's parents, where Benedict's younger sister was born. To keep their daughters, his mother, Bertrice, began work as a teacher in small towns . After a while, the family returned to his home state when he got a job as a librarian Bertrice.
Benedict and his sister were very good students and received scholarships to study at a private school and then at Vassar College where she majored in Ruth English.
As a student, Benedict read Studies in the History of the Renaissance (Studies in the History of the Renaissance) to his then teacher, Walter Pater . After completing felt "like if my soul had been returned to me, his eyes open and look forward to the new understanding ". Pater believed that one should be "always curiously testing new opinions and judging new impressions, never indulge in a superficial orthodoxy" and this belief Benedict signaled deep.
In 1909, Benedict and graduated with two students from the University, traveled to Europe. Returning to America, did social work for a year in New York and then Los Angeles worked as a teacher at Girls' Schools .
In 1914 she married Stanley Benedict, a biochemist professor in Cornell Medical School in New York . The marriage gave him material security, but left unsatisfied its role as housewife. Her husband did not want to work out, so Benedict began a project biographies of strong women, starting with feminists Mary Wolstonecraft , Margaret Fuller and Olive Schreiner , but the project failed to Unable to find a publisher.
began publishing poetry under the pseudonym of Ruth Stanhope and Anne Singleton . His marriage soon collapsed and the couple separated, but not divorced.
In 1918 Benedict returned to college and began his studies in anthropology and a few years later, working as an assistant in classes Franz Boas (who was his mentor) he met Margaret Mead . The two women developed a romantic friendship and eventually became an affair. Even after their relationship ended, Benedict and Mead maintained a strong friendship for the rest of their lives .
After receiving his doctorate, running for the post of professor in the College Bernard But was not chosen for the job. In 1931, Benedict was hired as assistant professor of anthropology at Columbia University. This work gave Benedict monetary stability which allowed divorce.
In 1934 Benedict published Patterns in Culture ( Patterns of Culture.) His thesis is that each culture values \u200b\u200band privileges certain behaviors and personality types. Thus, one can not evaluate a culture using the standards of another. She also noted that each culture puts pressure on its members to conform patterns of society and tends to reward those who do.
In the thirties, with the advent of the Nazis, Benedict began working with various organizations to educate people about the threat of racism .
At the same time, Benedict fell in love with a medical student named Natalie Raymond and lived together, but in 38 were separated. But Benedict soon meet to psychologist Ruth Valentine, who became his partner for the rest of his life.
In 1943 he worked for the Office of Information war, which she thought to use for " makers rules that take into account different habits and customs of other parts of the world" .
In 1946 wrote The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture (Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture), a deep study of Japanese culture.
After the war, the Office of Naval Research began a program of human behavior and Benedict was elected to head one of the initial projects. So the organization could establish Research in Contemporary Cultures . Among those named parra steer it were Valentine and Margaret Mead Ruth .
In 1946 was elected the first woman president of the American Anthropological Association . Then in 1948 accept an invitation from UNESCO to read at a seminar in Czechoslovakia. Two days after returning to NY Benedict suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized.
died September 17, 1948.
Reading:
Synthesis of the book "Man and Culture"
glbtq.com Missing
credits: Text by Miss Russ, copying Lesbian Culture. Http://culturalesbiana.blogsome.com/2006/02/07/ruth-benedict/
