Abstract
This chapter sets up the main agenda for Part II, namely reconsidering childhood in San and other communities, using “play” as a key concept. Play is important not only for children in San groups, such as the Ju|’hoan, !Xun, and Gǀui/Gǁana, but also in a variety of populations in different times and places. Therefore, the author first provides an overview of the importance of play in studies of childhood, with reference to various ethnographic works on children’s play. A number of key questions about the nature of play are addressed: What is play? When do children play? What is used for play? Who participates in play? What happens during play? Why do children play? The focus of the chapter then shifts to several issues specific to the San. In subsequent chapters, these issues will be further examined through analysis of concrete examples, as shown in the developmental timetable.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Boyette, A. H. (2013). Social learning during middle childhood among Aka foragers and Ngandu farmers of the Central African Republic. PhD dissertation, Washington State University.
Bruner, J. (1990). Culture and human development: A new look. Human Development, 33, 344–355.
Cartmill, E. A., & Byrne, R. W. (2010). Semantics of primate gesture: Determining intentional meanings. Animal Cognition, 13, 793–804.
Corsaro, W. (1992). Interpretive reproduction in children’s peer cultures. Social Psychology Quarterly, 55(2), 16–77.
Csibra, G., & Gergely, G. (2011). Natural pedagogy as evolutionary adaptation. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 366, 1149–1157.
Duncan, R. M. (1995). Piaget and Vygotsky revisited: Dialogue or assimilation? Developmental Review, 15, 458–472.
Geertz, C. (1972). Deep play: Notes on the Balinese cockfight. Daedalus, 101(1), 1–37.
Goffman, E. (1964). The neglected situation. American Anthropologist, 66(6), 133–136.
Goldman, L. R. (1998). Child’s play: Myth, mimesis and make-believe. Oxford, UK: Berg.
Göncü, A., Mistry, J., & Mosier, C. (2000). Cultural variations in the play of toddlers. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 24, 321–329.
Gray, P. (2013). Free to learn: Why unleashing the instinct to play will make our children happier, more self-reliant, and better students for life. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Hall, G. S. (1906). Youth: Its education, regimen, and hygiene. New York, NY: D. Appleton.
Harkness, S., & Super, C. M. (1986). The cultural structuring of children’s play in a rural African community. In K. Blanchard (Ed.), The many faces of play (pp. 96–103). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Lancy, D. F. (1996). Playing on the mother-ground: Cultural routines for children’s development. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Lancy, D. F. (2001). Cultural constraints on children’s play. Play and Culture Studies, 4, 53–62.
Lancy, D. F. (2007). Accounting for variability in mother-child play. American Anthropologist, 109, 273–284.
Lancy, D. F. (2016). Playing with knives: The socialization of self-initiated learners. Child Development, 87(3), 654–665.
Lancy, D. F. (2018). Anthropological perspectives on children as helpers, workers, artisans, and laborers. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan (Kindle version).
Marshall, L. (1976). The !Kung of Nyae Nyae. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Mead, M. (1943). Coming of age in Samoa: A study of adolescence and sex in primitive societies. New York, NY: Penguin.
Mead, M., & Wolfenstein, M. (1955). Childhood in contemporary cultures. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Nielsen, M. (2011). Imitation, pretend play, and childhood: Essential elements in the evolution of human culture? Journal of Comparative Psychology, 126(2), 170–181.
Patrick, G. T. W. (1916). The psychology of relaxation. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
Piaget, J. (1999). Play, dreams, and imitation in childhood [Formation du symbole chez l'enfant]. Abingdon, UK: Routledge (C. Gattegno, & F. M. Hodgson, Trans.; originally published in French in 1951).
Sawyer, K. (1995). A developmental model of heteroglossic improvisation in children’s fantasy play. Sociological Studies of Children, 7, 127–153.
Schieffelin, B. B. (1990). The give and take of everyday life: Language socialisation of Kaluli children. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Stivers, T., Mondada, L., & Steensig, J. (2011). Knowledge, morality and affiliation in social interaction. In T. Stivers, L. Mondada, & J. Steensig (Eds.), The morality of knowledge in conversation (pp. 3–26). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Tomasello, M., & Camaioni, L. (1997). A comparison of the gestural communication of apes and human infants. Human Development, 40, 7–24.
Van Leeuwen, T. (2004). Introducing social semiotics: An introductory textbook. London, UK: Routledge.
Vygotsky, L. S. (2016). Play and its role in the mental development of the child. International Research in Early Childhood Education, 7(2), 3–25 (N. Veresov, & M. Barrs, Trans.; originally published in Russian in 1966).
Wartofsky, M. (1983). The child’s construction of the world and the world’s construction of the child: From historical epistemology to historical psychology. In F. S. Kessel, & A. W. Siegel (Eds.), The child and other cultural inventions: Houston Symposium 4 (pp. 188–215). New York, NY: Praeger.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Takada, A. (2020). Children and Play. 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_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49439-1_4
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)