Research Colloquium

Autonomy, Values, & the Anthropology of Childhood: Dorothy Lee at Merrill-Palmer

In 1953, based on a collaborative discussion between Pauline Knapp and the renowned anthropologist Margaret Mead, the Merrill-Palmer School hired its first permanent cultural anthropologist to its faculty, Dorothy Demetracopoulou Lee. An expert on the linguistics and folklore of Indigenous peoples, Lee was seemingly an unusual choice for the position. But over the next six years, Lee developed an international reputation as an expert on questions of autonomy and values in childhood and family studies, publishing twenty-nine papers culminating in her 1959 book, Freedom and Culture. 

This talk explores Lee's role at Merrill-Palmer and beyond through an analysis of three of her key publications from this period, and highlights the integration of anthropological knowledge into the curriculum.

Dr. Chrisomalis is a linguistic anthropologist who specializes in the anthropology of mathematics and the interaction of language, cognition, and culture. His four-field anthropological training includes work in cultural, cognitive, archaeological and linguistic anthropology. His most recent book, "Reckonings: Numerals, Cognition, and History," published by MIT Press in 2020, investigates numbers and mathematics as both sociocultural and cognitive phenomena.

Presented By: 

Stephen Chrisomalis, PhD

Dept. of Anthopology,

Wayne State University

Student Introduction by Jeanine Johnson

In-person - Hoobler Room (71 E. Ferry St., Detroit, MI) 

12 – 1pm

Followed by meeting with MPSI Fellows and Trainees 1-2pm