This 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.
Presents a history of cross-cultural approaches to child-development
Recent articles examine diverse contexts of childhood in ecological, semiotic, and sociolinguistic terms
Includes ethnographic studies of childhood in the Pacific, Africa, Latin America, East Asia, Europe and North America
Illuminates the process through which people become the bearers of culturally/historically specific identities
Serves as an ideal text for anthropology courses focusing on childhood, as well as classes on development psychology
Acknowledgments. Introduction: Robert A. LeVine and Rebecca S. New.
Part I: Discovering Diversity in Childhood: Early Works:.
Introduction.
1. Plasticity in Child Development: Franz Boas.
2. The Ethnography of Childhood: Margaret Mead.
3. Childhood in the Trobriand Islands, Melanesia: Bronislaw Malinowski.
4. Tallensi Childhood in Ghana: Meyer Fortes.
5. Continuities & Discontinuities in Cultural Conditioning: Ruth Benedict.
Part II: Infant Care: Cultural Variation in Parental Goals and Practices:.
Introduction.
6. The Comparative Study: 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: Melvin J. Konner.
8. Multiple Caretaking in the Ituri Forest: Edward Z. Tronick, Gilda A. Morelli and Steve Winn.
9. Fathers and Infants among Aka Pygmies: Barry S. Hewlett.
10. Swaddling, Cradleboards and the Development of Children: James S. Chisholm.
11. Talking and Playing with Babies: Ideologies of Child-Rearing: Catherine Snow, Akke de Blauw and Ghislaine Van Roosmalen.
12. Attachment in Anthropological Perspective: R. LeVine and Karin Norman.
13. An Experiment in Infant Care: Children of the Kibbutz: Melford E. Spiro with the assistance of Audrey G. Spiro.
Part III: Early Childhood: Language Acquisition, Socialization and Enculturation:.
Introduction.
14. The Acquisition of Communicative Style in Japanese: Patricia M. Clancy.
15. Why African Children Are So Hard to Test: Sara Harkness and Charles M. Super.
16. Autonomy and Aggression in the Three-Year-Old: the Utku Eskimo Case: Jean L. Briggs.
17. Narrating Transgressions in U.S. and Taiwan: Peggy J. Miller, Todd L. Sandel, Chung-Hui Liang and Heidi Fung.
18. Child's Play in Italian Perspective: Rebecca S. New.
19. Discussione and Friendship in Italian Peer Culture: William A. Corsaro and Thomas A. Rizzo.
Part IV: Middle and Later Childhood: Work, Play, Participation, Learning:.
Introduction.
20. Age and Responsibility: Barbara Rogoff, Martha Julia Sellers, Sergio Pirrotta, Nathan Fox, and Sheldon H. White.
21. Child and Sibling Caregiving: Thomas Sl Weisner and Ronald Gallimore.
22. Altruistic and Egoistic Behavior of Children in Six Cultures: John W. M. Whiting and Beatrice Blyth Whiting.
23. Children's Daily Lives among the Yucatec Maya: Suzanne Gaskins.
24. Children's Work, Play, and Relationships among the Giriama of Kenya: Martha Wenger.
Epilogue.
Index
