Beatrice Blyth Whiting facts for kids
Beatrice Blyth Whiting (born April 14, 1914, in New York City – died September 29, 2003, in Cambridge, Massachusetts) was an American anthropologist. Anthropologists study human societies and cultures. Beatrice specialized in how children grow up in different parts of the world.
She worked closely with her husband, John Whiting, who was also an anthropologist. They were important people at Harvard University and helped start the study of childhood across different cultures.
Beatrice was born on Staten Island in 1914. She earned her first degree from Bryn Mawr College in 1935. Then, she studied anthropology at Yale. In 1943, she became one of the first women to get a PhD from Yale's anthropology department. Her research for this degree was about the Paiute Native Americans in Oregon.
Beatrice and John Whiting often did their research together. Beatrice focused on the lives of women and girls. John focused on the lives of men and boys.
Studying Children Around the World
Beatrice Whiting joined the Harvard faculty in 1952. In 1954, she and her husband started a huge project called the "Six Cultures Study of Socialization." This project involved studying how children grew up in six different places:
- Mexico
- India
- Kenya
- Okinawa (Japan)
- The Philippines
- The United States
This study is still seen as one of the most important projects to compare child development and family life across cultures.
In 1966, the Whitings created the Child Development Research Unit. This unit was at the University of Nairobi in Kenya. They wanted to do more detailed studies there.
Beatrice Whiting made history at Harvard University. In 1974, she became one of the first women to get a permanent teaching position, called "tenure." She was named a professor at the graduate school of education.
After they retired from Harvard in the 1980s, the Whitings continued their research. They started the Comparative Adolescence Project. This project focused on how older children and teenagers grow up in different cultures. In 1981, she was chosen as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. This is a special honor for important thinkers and leaders.
Her Life Outside Work
When they were not working in Cambridge or doing research trips, the Whitings spent time in Chilmark. This is a town on Martha's Vineyard, an island where John had grown up. They had two children.
