On Learning and Tradition: A Comparative View

Abstract

We are both anthropologists, working with different American Indian peoples. We have a deep interest in the phenomenon of learning as it is continued through tradition in these peoples. In a very real sense we think that these Indian processes of learning cannot be found in the school type of learning which is prevalent in the West. At the same time, we are convinced that culture specific learning processes and strategies are probably the core of sociogenesis as it is understood in the contributions to the present book. We hold that such an anthropological perspective on learning in a sociocultural context is not in contrast with a Vygotskian view (embraced by many of the contributors), but offers rather a multicultural and comparative expansion of it. In that sense, our conclusions stress two very specific points, both of which are important critical addenda to the sociogenesis approach (in Vygotskian terms or otherwise) of today: (1) the role of history in the sociogenetic approach is typically Western and is not to be found in oral cultures; (2) the analysis of other learning processes (Apache and Navajo) may help to broaden the models presented so far.