Mary Catherine Bateson (1939-2021) was a best-selling author, linguist, cultural anthropologist, and daughter of Margaret Mead. She had an unconventional childhood, often accompanying her parents on international trips. She spent part of her 16th year on a kibbutz, where she learned Hebrew. She went on to learn classical Arabic, Armenian, Turkish, Tagalog, Farsi, and Georgian, according to The New York Times. She entered Radcliffe at 17, studied Semitic languages and history, and graduated in two and a half years. She earned her Ph.D. in linguistics and Middle Eastern languages at Harvard in 1963.
Bateson's first book Arabic Language Handbook (1967) is still used as an educational text. Our Own Metaphor: A Personal Account of a Conference on the Effects of Conscious Purpose on Human Adaptation, came out in 1972. With A Daughter's Eye: A Memoir of Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson was on the New York Times Best of the Year list in 1984. Her New York Times best-selling Composing a Life was published in 1991. The New York Times obituary of Bateson says Jane Fonda hailed it as an inspiration, as did Hillary Clinton, who as first lady invited Dr. Bateson to advise her. Many other books followed. She was in residence in 1993, 1996, and 1997 and an active member of the local community. She was well known locally for her monthly salon-style gatherings at the Mariposa Museum in Peterborough, which included topics based on her approach to life; “Learning from...” prompts included: learning from children, other cultures, nature, and from death.
In the later part of her life, she was dedicated to preserving our natural world and addressing the social and environmental impacts of climate change and the dire need for intergenerational communication. She was a visiting scholar for the Sloan Center on Aging and Work at Boston College, served on the ethics committee for the American Society of Cybernetics, and on the board of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. In 2000 she wrote Full Circles, Overlapping Lives: Culture and Generation in Transition, reflecting on her time teaching at Spelman College with a diverse age group of students exploring women’s life histories.
Bateson taught and lectured, both nationally and internationally. Her teaching and research included time at Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ateneo de Manila, University, Brandeis University, Damavand College in Tehran, Amherst College, George Mason University, Spelman College, University of VA, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies, and Harvard Graduate School of Education. She was the Dean, Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Northern Iran, Dean of Faculty at Amherst College, and President of the Institute of Intercultural Studies in New York City. Her literary legacy will be cataloged at the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University.
In 2004 she founded Granny Voter, now a program of Generations United, where she was part of developing ongoing efforts to involve seniors on behalf of children. She was a co-chair of Seniors4Kids.org and served on The Possibility Project's advisory board, founded by her son in law.
"We are not what we know but what we are willing to learn." Mary Catherine Bateson
