Martha Warren Beckwith was an American folklorist and ethnographer, a pioneer of folklore studies in the United States. She is best known for her work on Hawaiian mythology and Jamaican folklore.
Martha Beckwith
Martha Warren Beckwith
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Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- Born in 1871 in Connecticut, she grew up partly in Hawaii, which fueled her interest in Pacific cultures.
- In 1920, she became the first holder of a chair in folklore at an American university, at Vassar College.
- She published 'Hawaiian Mythology' in 1940, a landmark work on Hawaiian traditions.
- She translated and annotated the 'Kumulipo', the Hawaiian creation chant, published in 1951.
- She died in 1959, also leaving behind important studies of Jamaican and Native American folklore.
Works & Achievements
Translation of a Hawaiian tale collected in the 19th century, one of her first major works showcasing the oral literature of Hawaii.
A pioneering collection of Jamaican folktales that preserves the tradition of Anansi the spider, inherited from West Africa.
An ethnographic study of the daily life, beliefs, and festivals of Jamaica's rural communities.
A landmark synthesis that organizes and compares the whole body of Hawaiian myths, still consulted by scholars today.
A scholarly translation and commentary on the great Hawaiian creation chant, the culmination of decades of work.
The first American university body dedicated to folklore, which she directed and which made her a pioneer of the discipline.
Anecdotes
Born in Massachusetts in 1871, Martha Beckwith spent part of her childhood on the island of Maui, in Hawaii, where her family settled. It was there, surrounded by Hawaiian tales and chants, that the passion which would guide her entire life took root: to understand and preserve the oral traditions of peoples.
In 1923, she became the first person in the United States to hold a university position devoted entirely to folklore, thanks to the Folklore Foundation created for her at Vassar College. No one before her had made folklore a true discipline of higher education in the country.
Her lifelong companion, the naturalist and paleontologist Annie Montague Alexander, quietly funded the foundation that allowed Martha to carry out her research. This friendship and support made possible a body of work that the institutions of the time rarely financed for a woman.
At Columbia, she studied under Franz Boas, regarded as the father of American anthropology, who championed the idea that each culture should be understood according to its own values and not judged as “inferior.”
She devoted years to translating and annotating the Kumulipo, an immense Hawaiian creation chant of more than two thousand verses that tells of the birth of the world. Her landmark edition appeared in 1951, when she was already 80 years old.
Primary Sources
A monumental study that gathers and compares the narratives, genealogies, and deities of the Hawaiian archipelago, presented as a coherent system of beliefs rather than as a scattering of isolated legends.
An account of the customs, beliefs, festivals, and everyday practices of Jamaica's rural communities, the fruit of several stretches of fieldwork on the island.
A collection of tales from the Jamaican tradition featuring Anansi the spider, the cunning hero inherited from West African traditions, transcribed as faithfully as possible to the storytellers' own words.
A translation and commentary on the great Hawaiian cosmogonic chant, which describes the gradual birth of the world—from sea creatures to gods and chiefs—out of the original darkness (“pō”).
Key Places
Birthplace of Martha Beckwith, in the Boston area, United States.
Island where she spends part of her childhood and discovers Hawaiian culture, which would become the central subject of her research.
Women's college in Massachusetts where she earned her first degree in 1893.
University where she earned her doctorate in 1918, in the tradition of Franz Boas's anthropology.
College where the Folklore Foundation was created for her in 1923: the heart of her academic career.
Caribbean island where she conducted several fieldwork studies on Anansi tales and folk life.
Typical Objects
Notebook in which the folklorist jotted down on the spot the tales, songs, and customs she gathered from her informants. It was the central tool of ethnographic fieldwork.
Recording device used by ethnographers in the early 20th century to capture the voices of storytellers and the melodies of songs. It allowed them to preserve a sound record of traditions in danger of disappearing.
A long Hawaiian creation chant, transmitted orally, that tells of the birth of the world from the primordial darkness. Beckwith produced its definitive scholarly translation and edition.
A double gourd used as a drum to keep the rhythm of the hula dance and Hawaiian chants. It is a central instrument in the rituals and stories that Beckwith studied.
A storyteller's character, the cunning spider Anansi is the recurring hero of Jamaican tales inherited from West Africa. Beckwith collected many of his stories.
The scholar's working tool for laying out and publishing her transcriptions and analyses. It turned field notes into scholarly books.
School Curriculum
Vocabulary & Tags
Key Vocabulary
Tags
Daily Life
Morning
During his field stays in Hawaii or Jamaica, her mornings were devoted to meeting storytellers and elders, listening to their tales and writing them down word for word in her notebooks. The work began early, when the inhabitants were available before the day's chores.
Afternoon
At Vassar College, the afternoon was divided between teaching, directing the Folklore Foundation, and reading the work of other folklorists. She tirelessly classified and compared the versions of the myths she had collected.
Evening
In the evening, she would write up her notes neatly, translate chants such as the Kumulipo, and compose her books. This patient work of transcription often filled her evenings for years on end.
Food
An American academic of the first half of the 20th century, she followed a classic East Coast diet. In the field, she shared the local foods, from fish and root crops in Hawaii to the Creole dishes of Jamaica.
Clothing
She wore the plain, covering outfits of the well-to-do women of her time: long dresses, buttoned bodices, and hats, suited to her status as a researcher and teacher.
Housing
Her life unfolded between the university buildings of the East Coast of the United States and modest lodgings during her field investigations, as well as a shared life later on in California with her companion Annie Montague Alexander.
Historical Timeline
Period Vocabulary
Liens externes & ressources
Références
Œuvres
The Hawaiian Romance of Laieikawai
1919
Jamaica Anansi Stories
1924
Black Roadways: A Study of Jamaican Folk Life
1929
Hawaiian Mythology
1940
The Kumulipo: A Hawaiian Creation Chant
1951
Fondation de la Folklore Foundation (Vassar College)
1923
