Mary Catherine Bateson

The late cultural anthropologist Mary Catherine Bateson was known for her popular books exploring the meaning-making dimensions of ordinary lives, including Composing a Life and  Willing to Learn: Passages of Personal Discovery. She also authored a reflection on her famous parents, Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, called With A Daughter’s Eye, which actually served as the impetus for her move into literature focused on life discoveries and the challenges women face in becoming fully realized individuals. Her academic work included positions at Harvard, Amherst, and George Mason University. In her 2015 interview with Krista Tippett at On Being, Dr. Bateson described an essential aspect of her vision: “In a sense, human beings remain childlike. They’re open to new learning and even very deep learning that changes your personality, really. Right through the life cycle, human beings remain playful — and play is a very important part of learning — and experimental.”

Photo by Marilyn Humphries