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Teaching: Natural Or Cultural?, David F. Lancy
Teaching: Natural Or Cultural?, David F. Lancy
Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications
In this chapter I argue that teaching, as we now understand the term, is historically and cross-culturally very rare. It appears to be unnecessary to transmit culture or to socialize children. Children are, on the other hand, primed by evolution to be avid observers, imitators, players and helpers—roles that reveal the profoundly autonomous and self-directed nature of culture acquisition (Lancy in press a). And yet, teaching is ubiquitous throughout the modern world—at least among the middle to upper class segment of the population. This ubiquity has led numerous scholars to argue for the universality and uniqueness of teaching as a …
Playing With Knives: The Socialization Of Self-Initiated Learners, David F. Lancy
Playing With Knives: The Socialization Of Self-Initiated Learners, David F. Lancy
Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications
Since Margaret Mead’s field studies in the South Pacific a century ago, there has been the tacit understanding that as culture varies, so too must the socialization of children to become competent culture users and bearers. More recently, the work of anthropologists has been mined to find broader patterns that may be common to childhood across a range of societies. One improbable commonality has been the tolerance, even encouragement, of toddler behavior that is patently risky, such as playing with or attempting to use a sharp-edged tool. This laissez faire approach to socialization follows from a reliance on children as …
Why Anthropology Of Childhood? A Short History Of An Emerging Discipline, David F. Lancy
Why Anthropology Of Childhood? A Short History Of An Emerging Discipline, David F. Lancy
Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications
The paper has four goals: to refute the claim that anthropologists have not studied childhood; to provide a cursory history of the field; to provide an organizational schema for reviewing the literature in the field and; to suggest a strategy for future scholarship in the anthropology of childhood.
Unmasking Children's Agency, David F. Lancy
Unmasking Children's Agency, David F. Lancy
Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications
The goal of this paper is to identify (unmask) and critique the movement to promote children’s agency as a cornerstone of research, care, education and intervention with children. The article makes a case that this movement is harmful to a scientific approach to the study of childhood, distorts or ignores key understandings of the evolution of childhood and culture. The article demonstrates that the agency movement is ethnocentric, classist and hegemonic representing the dominance of contemporary bourgeoisie child-rearing. It imposes a single, privileged ethnotheory of childhood upon the diverse societies of the world with alternative ethnotheories and practices. Lastly, the …
“Getting Noticed”: Middle Childhood Incross-Cultural Perspective, David F. Lancy, M. Annette Grove
“Getting Noticed”: Middle Childhood Incross-Cultural Perspective, David F. Lancy, M. Annette Grove
Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications
Although rarely named, the majority of societies in the ethnographic record demarcate a period between early childhood and adolescence. Prominent signs of demarcation are: for the first time, pronounced gender separation in fact and in role definition; increased freedom of movement for boys while girls may be bound more tightly to their mothers; and heightened expectations for socially responsible behavior. But, above all, middle childhood is about coming out of the shadows of community life and assuming a distinct, lifetime character. Naming and other rites of passage sometimes acknowledge this transition, but it is, reliably, marked by the assumption or …