Description
Book SynopsisThis unprecedented collection of articles is an introduction to the study of cultural variations in childhood across the world and to the theoretical frameworks for investigating and interpreting them.
Trade Review"I recommend this book as a good introduction to the study of child development that draws upon anthropology's unique ability to hone in on both the extraordinary complex phenomenon of individual childhood agency and the social constructions ilia1 lend 1.0 bind and limit our notions of children as social actors." (
Journal of Anthropological Research, 2010)
“Not unexpectedly, LeVine and New – true scholars – have rendered a reader, a reference, and a stunningly prescient volume that should be savored and studied, not merely read. Of sweeping breadth across time and place and of unparalleled depth regarding the nature of children and childhood, Anthropology and Child Development challenges deeply held conventions while provoking invigorating ways of thinking and acting – an indispensable, intellectual compass for globalists, futurists, and all who care about children.”
Sharon Lynn Kagan, Columbia University “The cutting-edge scholarship presented in this important and timely book richly documents that the nuances of cultural context constitute a fundamental basis for significant variation in the development of diverse children and adolescents.”
Richard Lerner, Tufts University“This is an artfully organized collection of seminal papers, a collection that pulls together research across stages of childhood; domains (of the development of emotion, thought, and language); theories; methods; and, of course, cultures. The collection also provides a sense of the historical development of the field, as a chronological reading of the papers, from a Boas essay published in 1911 to several papers published in the new millennium, reveals the changing concerns, concepts, and theories that have characterized work on culture and child development over the past 100 years.”
Joseph Tobin, Arizona State University
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments x
Introduction 1
Robert A. LeVine and Rebecca S. New
Part I Discovering Diversity in Childhood: Early Works 9
Introduction 11
1 Plasticity in Child Development 18
Franz Boas
2 The Ethnography of Childhood 22
Margaret Mead
3 Childhood in the Trobriand Islands, Melanesia 28
Bronislaw Malinowski
4 Tallensi Childhood in Ghana 34
Meyer Fortes
5 Continuities and Discontinuities in Cultural Conditioning 42
Ruth Benedict
Part II Infant Care: Cultural Variation in Parental Goals and Practices 49
Introduction 51
6 The Comparative Study of Parenting 55
Robert A. LeVine, Suzanne Dixon, Sarah E. LeVine, Amy Richman, Constance Keefer, P. Herbert Liederman, and T. Berry Brazelton
7 Infant Care in the Kalahari Desert 66
Melvin J. Konner
8 Multiple Caregiving in the Ituri Forest 73
Edward Z. Tronick, Gilda A. Morelli, and Steve Winn
9 Fathers and Infants among Aka Pygmies 84
Barry S. Hewlett
10 Swaddling, Cradleboards and the Development of Children 100
James S. Chisholm
11 Talking and Playing with Babies: Ideologies of Child-Rearing 115
Catherine Snow, Akke De Blauw, and Ghislaine Van Roosmalen
12 Attachment in Anthropological Perspective 127
Robert A. LeVine and Karin Norman
13 An Experiment in Infant Care: Children of the Kibbutz 143
Melford E. Spiro with the assistance of Audrey G. Spiro
Part III Early Childhood: Language Acquisition, Socialization, and Enculturation 157
Introduction 159
14 The Acquisition of Communicative Style in Japanese 165
Patricia M. Clancy
15 Why African Children Are So Hard to Test 182
Sara Harkness and Charles M. Super
16 Autonomy and Aggression in the Three-Year-Old: The Utku Eskimo Case 187
Jean L. Briggs
17 Narrating Transgressions in U.S. and Taiwan 198
Peggy J. Miller, Todd L. Sandel, Chung-Hui Liang, and Heidi Fung
18 Child’s Play in Italian Perspective 213
Rebecca S. New
19 Discussione and Friendship in Italian Peer Culture 227
William A. Corsaro and Thomas A. Rizzo
Part IV Middle and Later Childhood: Work, Play, Participation, and Learning 245
Introduction 247
20 Age and Responsibility 251
Barbara Rogoff, Martha Julia Sellers, Sergio Pirrotta, Nathan Fox, and Sheldon H. White
21 Child and Sibling Caregiving 264
Thomas S. Weisner and Ronald Gallimore
22 Altruistic and Egoistic Behavior of Children in Six Cultures 270
John W. M. Whiting and Beatrice Blyth Whiting
23 Children’s Daily Lives among the Yucatec Maya 280
Suzanne Gaskins
24 Children’s Work, Play, and Relationships among the Giriama of Kenya 289
Martha Wenger
Epilogue 307
Index 309
