Beatrice Blyth Whiting (14 April 1914, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

– 29 September 2003, in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

), was an American anthropologist specializing in the comparative study of

child development Child development involves the Human development (biology), biological, developmental psychology, psychological and emotional changes that occur in human beings between birth and the conclusion of adolescence. Childhood is divided into 3 stages o ...

. Together with her husband

John Whiting John Robert Whiting (15 November 1917 – 16 June 1963) was an English actor, dramatist and critic. Life and career Born in Salisbury, he was educated at Taunton School, "the particular hellish life which is the English public school" as he ...

, she was a key figure in the

Harvard Department of Social Relations The Department of Social Relations for Interdisciplinary Social Science Studies, more commonly known as the "Department of Social Relations", was an interdisciplinary collaboration among three of the social science departments at Harvard University ...

and a pioneer in the cross-cultural study of childhood and child development. Born on Staten Island in 1914, she received her B.A. from

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United ...

in 1935. She then studied anthropology at

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

. In 1943, she became one of the first women to receive a PhD from that department for her fieldwork among the

Paiute Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three groups do not form a single set. The term "Paiu ...

Indians of Oregon. Her dissertation advisor was anthropologist

George Murdock George Peter ("Pete") Murdock (May 11, 1897 – March 29, 1985), also known as G. P. Murdock, was an American anthropologist who was professor at Yale University and University of Pittsburgh. He is remembered for his empirical approach to ethn ...

.Whiting, Beatrice Blyth. ''The role of sorcery in social control: A study of the Harney Valley Paiute.'' Yale University, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1942. Beatrice Whiting did much of her work in collaboration with her husband John Whiting, also an anthropologist at Harvard. Often they did fieldwork together, with Beatrice focusing on the experience of women and girls and John focusing on the experience of men and boys. Beatrice Whiting joined the Harvard faculty in 1952. In 1954, she and her husband began the Six Cultures Study of Socialization, a project that involved field studies in Mexico, India, Kenya, Okinawa, the Philippines and the United States. The project continues to be regarded as one of the most ambitious comparative studies of child development and family life. In 1966, the Whitings founded the Child Development Research Unit at the University of Nairobi to conduct more intensive studies in Kenya. She became one of the first women to receive tenure at Harvard University when she was named professor at the graduate school of education in 1974. In the 1980s, after their retirement from Harvard, the Whitings turned their attention to older children, directing the Comparative Adolescence Project. She was elected a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

in 1981.

Personal life

When not in Cambridge or on fieldwork expeditions, the Whitings spent significant time in Chilmark, on Martha's Vineyard, where John had grown up. They had two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whiting, Beatrice Blyth 1914 births 2003 deaths American women anthropologists Bryn Mawr College alumni Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Harvard Graduate School of Education faculty 20th-century American anthropologists 21st-century American women