Skip to main content

Reconsidering Human Childhood

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Ecology of Playful Childhood
  • 181 Accesses

Abstract

Based on the arguments put forward in preceding chapters, Chapter 11 pursues several theoretical issues pertaining to human sociality, wherein an environment in which nature and culture intersect provides vital resources that shape the experience of childhood. The concept of “play” constitutes a key mode through which to re-theorize structure and agency. At the very least, this perspective is vital to understanding the process of socialization in rapidly changing (post-)hunter-gatherer communities and provides a means to improve their future prospects. At the same time, it indicates how playful human activities are embedded in the environmental structure.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Barnard, A. (2002). The foraging mode of thought. Senri Ethnological Studies, 60, 5–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernstein, N. A. (1996). On dexterity and its development. In M. Latash, & M. T. Turvey (Eds.), Dexterity and its development (pp. 3–244). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss 1: Attachment. London, UK: Hogarth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and loss 2: Separation. New York, NY: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Csordas, T. (1990). Embodiment as a paradigm for anthropology. Ethos, 18, 5–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Darwin, C. (1859). On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life (1st ed.). London, UK: John Murray.

    Google Scholar 

  • Darwin, C. (1871). The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex (1st ed.). London, UK: John Murray.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures: Selected essays. New York, NY: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goffman, E. (1967). Interaction ritual: Essays on face behavior. New York, NY: Pantheon Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gratier, M., & Apter-Danon, G. (2009). The improvised musicality of belonging: Repetition and variation in mother-infant vocal interaction. In S. Malloch, & C. Trevarthen (Eds.), Communicative musicality: Exploring the basis of human companionship (pp. 301–327). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hays, J. (2016a). Owners of learning: The Nyae Nyae village schools over twenty-five years. Basel Namibia Studies Series 16. Basel, Switzerland: Basler Afrika Bibliographien.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hays, J. (2016b). Who owns education? Schooling, learning and livelihood for the Nyae Nyae Ju|’hoansi. Journal of Namibian Studies, 20, 37–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hewlett, B. S. (2016). Evolutionary cultural anthropology: Containing Ebola outbreaks and explaining hunter-gatherer childhoods. Current Anthropology, 57(S13), S27–S37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hewlett, B. S., Hudson, J., Boyette, A. H., & Fouts, H. N. (2019). Intimate living: Sharing space among Aka and other hunter-gatherers. In N. Lavi, & D. E. Friesem (Eds.), Towards a broader view of hunter-gatherer sharing (pp. 39–56). Cambridge, UK: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hrdy, S. B. (2009). Mothers and others: The evolutionary origins of mutual understanding. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ingold, T. (2000). The perception of the environment: Essays on livelihood, dwelling and skill. London, UK: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaye, K. (1982). The mental and social life of babies: How parents create persons. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Konner, M. J. (2005). Hunter-gatherer infancy and childhood: The !Kung and others. In B. S. Hewlett, & M. E. Lamb (Eds.), Hunter-gatherer childhoods: Evolutionary, developmental, and cultural perspectives (pp. 19–64). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Konner, M. J. (2016). Hunter-gatherer infancy and childhood in the context of human evolution. In C. L. Meehan, & A. N. Crittenden (Eds.), Childhood: Origins, evolution, and implications (pp. 123–154). Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Low, C. H. (2008). Khoisan medicine in history and practice. Research in Khoisan Studies 20. Cologne, Germany: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malloch, S. N. (1999). Mothers and infants and communicative musicality. Musicae Scientiae, Special Issue 1999–2000, 3(1), 29–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meehan, C. L., Helfrechr, C., & Malcom, C. D. (2016). Implications of lengthy development and maternal life history: Allomaternal investment, peer relationships, and social networks. In C. L. Meehan, & A. N. Crittenden (Eds.), Childhood: Origins, evolution, and implications (pp. 199–220). Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morelli, G. A., Chaudhary, N., Gottlieb, A., Keller, H., Murray, M., Quinn, N., et al. (2017). Taking culture seriously: A pluralistic approach to attachment. In H. Keller, & K. A. Bard (Eds.), The cultural nature of attachment: Contextualizing relationships and development (pp. 139–169). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ochs, E., & Schieffelin, B. B. (2012). The theory of language socialization. In A. Duranti, E. Ochs, & B. B. Schieffelin (Eds.), The handbook of language socialization (pp. 1–21). Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ochs, E., Solomon, O., & Sterponi, L. (2005). Limitations and transformations of habitus in child-directed communication. Discourse Studies, 7(4–5), 547–583.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rogoff, B. (2003). The cultural nature of human development. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sapir, E. (1929). The unconscious patterning of behavior in society. In E. S. Dummer (Ed.), The unconscious: A symposium (pp. 114–142). New York, NY: Knopf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shostak, M. (1976). A !Kung woman’s memories of childhood. In R. B. Lee, & I. DeVore (Eds.), Kalahari hunter-gatherers: Studies of the !Kung San and their neighbors (pp. 246–278). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Takada, A. (2015). Narratives on San ethnicity: The cultural and ecological foundations of lifeworld among the !Xun of north-central Namibia. Kyoto, Japan and Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Kyoto University Press and Trans Pacific Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Takada, A. (2016). Education and learning during social situations among the Central Kalahari San. In H. Terashima, & B. S. Hewlett (Eds.), Social learning and innovation in contemporary hunter-gatherers: Evolutionary and ethnographic perspectives (pp. 97–111). Tokyo, Japan: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, J. L., & Nelson, A. J. (2016). Childhood and patterns of growth in the genus Homo. In C. L. Meehan, & A. N. Crittenden (Eds.), Childhood: Origins, evolution, and implications (pp. 75–101). Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello, M. (1999). The cultural origins of human cognition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wertsch, J. V. (1985). Vygotsky and the social formation of mind. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press (Kindle version).

    Google Scholar 

  • Widlok, T. (1994). The social relationships of changing Haiǁon hunter-gatherers in northern Namibia, 1990–1994. PhD dissertation, London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Widlok, T. (1999). Living on Mangetti. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Takada, A. (2020). Reconsidering Human Childhood. In: The Ecology of Playful Childhood. Palgrave Studies on the Anthropology of Childhood and Youth. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49439-1_11

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49439-1_11

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-49438-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-49439-1

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics