Palgrave Studies on the Anthropology of Childhood and Youth – serie

The study of childhood in academia has been dominated by a mono-cultural or WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic) perspective. Within the field of anthropology, however, a contrasting and more varied view is emerging. While the phenomenon of children as workers is ephemeral in WEIRD society and in the literature on child development, there is ample cross-cultural and historical evidence of children making vital contributions to the family economy. Children’s “labor” is of great interest to researchers, but widely treated as extra-cultural—an aberration that must be controlled. Work as a central component in children’s lives, development, and identity goes unappreciated. Anthropological Perspectives on Children as Helpers, Workers, Artisans, and Laborers aims to rectify that omission by surveying and synthesizing a robust corpus of material, with particular emphasis on two prominent themes: the processes involved in learning to work and the interaction between ontogeny and children’s roles as workers.

While studies of San children have attained the peculiar status of having delineated the prototype for hunter-gatherer childhood, relatively few serious ethnographic studies of San children have been conducted since an initial flurry of research in the 1960s and 1970s. Based on the author’s long-term field research among several San groups of Southern Africa, this book reconsiders hunter-gatherer childhood using “play” as a key concept. Playfulness pervades the intricate practices of caregiver-child interactions among the San: immediately after birth, mothers have extremely close contact with their babies. In addition to the mother’s attentions, other people around the babies actively facilitate gymnastic behavior to soothe them. These distinctive caregiving behaviors indicate a loving, indulgent attitude towards infants. This also holds true for several language genres of the San that are used in early vocal communication. Children gradually become involved in various playful activities in groups of children of multiple ages, which is the major locus of their attachment after weaning; these playful activities show important similarities to the household and subsistence activities carried out by adults. Rejuvenating studies of San children and hunter-gatherer childhood and childrearing practices, this book aims to examine these issues in detail, ultimately providing a new perspective for the understanding of human sociality.

While studies of San children have attained the peculiar status of having delineated the prototype for hunter-gatherer childhood, relatively few serious ethnographic studies of San children have been conducted since an initial flurry of research in the 1960s and 1970s. Based on the author’s long-term field research among several San groups of Southern Africa, this book reconsiders hunter-gatherer childhood using “play” as a key concept. Playfulness pervades the intricate practices of caregiver-child interactions among the San: immediately after birth, mothers have extremely close contact with their babies. In addition to the mother’s attentions, other people around the babies actively facilitate gymnastic behavior to soothe them. These distinctive caregiving behaviors indicate a loving, indulgent attitude towards infants. This also holds true for several language genres of the San that are used in early vocal communication. Children gradually become involved in various playful activities in groups of children of multiple ages, which is the major locus of their attachment after weaning; these playful activities show important similarities to the household and subsistence activities carried out by adults. Rejuvenating studies of San children and hunter-gatherer childhood and childrearing practices, this book aims to examine these issues in detail, ultimately providing a new perspective for the understanding of human sociality.

This book aims to provide comprehensive ethnographic documentation of pastoralist childhood and child learning, based on the author’s long-term fieldwork in pastoralist Maasai society in southern Kenya. It conveys a timely account of the developmental niche in contemporary Maasai society, in children’s lives, social roles, work, play, and learning in family routines. Pastoralism is an important livelihood system that has allowed humans to live in arid and semi-arid lands for centuries. Children in pastoralist societies are expected to, and indeed do, actively and independently participate in and contribute to local subsistence from an early age. Compared to studies of other forms of livelihood, anthropological investigations into pastoralist children remain limited, particularly in light of critical social changes pastoralists have undergone in the last three decades. Less is known about their local parenting ethnotheories, childhood play, and children’s practices of self-reliance in making positive changes in their families and local communities. Having a better understanding of pastoral childhood in concurrent natural and social complexities is vital for further investigation of human development in general and the pastoralist culture in particular.

This book aims to provide comprehensive ethnographic documentation of pastoralist childhood and child learning, based on the author’s long-term fieldwork in pastoralist Maasai society in southern Kenya. It conveys a timely account of the developmental niche in contemporary Maasai society, in children’s lives, social roles, work, play, and learning in family routines. Pastoralism is an important livelihood system that has allowed humans to live in arid and semi-arid lands for centuries. Children in pastoralist societies are expected to, and indeed do, actively and independently participate in and contribute to local subsistence from an early age. Compared to studies of other forms of livelihood, anthropological investigations into pastoralist children remain limited, particularly in light of critical social changes pastoralists have undergone in the last three decades. Less is known about their local parenting ethnotheories, childhood play, and children’s practices of self-reliance in making positive changes in their families and local communities. Having a better understanding of pastoral childhood in concurrent natural and social complexities is vital for further investigation of human development in general and the pastoralist culture in particular.