the wizard from Oz meets the wicked witch of the East: Freeman, Mead, and ethnographic authority

In recent years considerable attention has been paid to various anthropological writing styles, to the ways anthropologists construct their written accounts (texts), and to the bases of ethnographic authority. Derek Freeman's 1983 critique of Margaret Mead's Samoan writings provides a well‐known and highly publicized case with which to explore the issues of anthropological writing and text construction. I examine the choice of words in Margaret Mead and Samoa: The Making and Unmaking of an Anthropological Myth in order to reveal one way Freeman constructs his critique and to illuminate some of the rhetorical devices he uses to undermine Mead's ethnographic authority and enhance his own. The examination highlights an important issue in the debate over ethnographic authority by showing that Freeman overemphasizes experience and the extent to which “the facts” speak for themselves in ethnographic writing. [ Mead‐Freeman controversy, rhetoric, ethnographic authority ]