Margaret Lantis

Margaret Lantis (September 1, 1906 – September 8, 2006) was an American anthropologist, Eskimologist, and author.

Margaret Lantis obtained her BA from the University of Minnesota in 1930 with a double major in Spanish and anthropology. Afterwards, she went on to study anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley under Robert Lowie and A. L. Kroeber. Lantis earned her Ph.D. in 1939 and returned to study at the University of Chicago in 1942 and at the Washington School of Psychiatry in 1947. As a woman at that time, Lantis received few opportunities in the field of Anthropology. For many years she taught at a number of different universities. Lantis was elected president of the American Ethnological Society in 1964 to 1965 and was recognized for her strong ethnographic research skills.

Throughout her work as an anthropologist, Lantis' extended ethnographic work led other anthropologists' interest to never before explored arctic cultures. While she published a number of articles and field notes, her books can be found in both local and university libraries. Eskimo childhood and interpersonal relationships: Nunivak biographies and genealogies (1960) is one of Lantis' books that has been widely reviewed. With 18 autobiographical accounts and biological sketches from Nunivak Island in east Bering Sea, the book reveals the strains and complaints felt by the small community of approximately 200 Inuit people. The book is based on three different field trips: the first in 1939-40 laid the ethnographic framework of her second trip in 1946 and finally her third trip was in 1956 where she collected data to bring the life records up to date. Furthermore, these accounts are based on personality sketches and Rorschach tests from 12 men and 6 women from the island. While Lantis' purpose is to give an inside view of Nunivak culture, she also explores Nunivak personality dynamics. Her findings of high suicide and psychosis rates on the island are closely related to these sketches and life stories. In a population of 200, Lantis notes 5 cases of people suffering from psychiatric disorders of serious nature. Among these five cases are: 3 suicides, one 'mental break' and one who "appeared psychotic" which is presented as a figure of 2.5%. Being one of the first anthropologists to work with these Alaskan cultures, Lantis is known as "an authority on the contemporary culture of Alaskan Eskimos". To both non-anthropological scientists, and to anthropologists not specifically concerned with Eskimos, the Nunivak life histories present certain intriguing features that may help other field studies.

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