ANT 330: Cross-Cultural Child-Rearing Practices

Dr. Susan Mazur-Stommen

Theme of the class

• “Cross-cultural examination of child-rearing practices from the perspective of major anthropological theories of personality formation and its relationship with culture.”

History and anthropology of childhood

• This class will look at the anthropology of child rearing in cultures and regions across the world, including the Ituri rainforest, Yucatec Mayan lowlands, and the Kalahari Desert

• The theme for the class will be the incredible wonderful diversity of child-rearing methods around the world, and how, even though cultures differ, all around the planet children are raised to be healthy functional adults.

• Topics for discussion will include, parenting styles, infant care, gender roles, socialization and enculturation, play and learning.

Class style and teaching philosophy

• The style of the class will be hands-on, with lots of teamwork and fun in-class activities. Participation and discussion is strongly encouraged.

• This course will be using the book, ▫ Anthropology and Child Development:

▫ A Cross-Cultural Reader

• ISBN: 978-0-631-22976-6

Heads up on reading for short session• Normal college courses require 3 hours of reading per every ONE hour in class.

▫ Figure it by the credits. This would normally be 3 units (or three hours a week) spread over 16-17 weeks in a semester. 3 x 3 = 9 hours of reading per week, about an hour and 20 minutes a day.

• Instead, you guys are halving that amount of time, so you can expect to be spending DOUBLE that reading for this class:▫ two hours and forty minutes per day. This is not a mini-course, or a lite version of the

regular course. • Many people make the mistake of taking more units than they can manage,

thinking, 'oh I can do 12 hours in class on top of my regular life, work, family, etc." There is a reason that 12 units is considered FULL TIME and that is because it is intended to include the reading, homework, and prep time: ▫ e.g. 12 hours in class plus (3x12 reading hours) = 48 HOURS a week!

• So, for this class, for an A, you must expect to be reading 2 hours a day. I don't make the rules, I just enforce them:-)

• http://www.sigep.org/documents/academic-success-tips.pdf

Anthropology

▫ Anthropology is the study of humanity and everything to do with humanity – throughout time and across all cultures and ethnicities.

• What does anthropology as a discipline contribute to child development studies?▫ Cultural relativism vs moral relativism▫ Combating ethnocentrism as explicit goal in this class

• Franz Boas▫ Father of American Anthropology▫ Four fields▫ Racism, diversity, variation

Methods and Practices

• Fieldwork

• Ethnography – written description of culture

• Ethnologies – comparison of cultural traits

• Participant observation

• Interviews and informants

• Bronislaw Malinowski▫ Father of modern fieldwork

▫ Subjectivity vs objectivity

▫ Emic vs etic

Discussion for hour five

• Chapter 3. Childhood in the Trobriands

• How is the family life depicted in the article similar to your own?

• How is it different?

Four Fields• The subject material is so broad, it is generally divided up into several sub-fields:

archaeology, cultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and physical or biological anthropology:▫ Archaeology is the study of human artifacts – anything created by humans from ancient temples to

yesterday’s garbage. Archaeology is closely allied with history, as you might guess.

▫ Cultural anthropology is the study of living human societies and cultures. Cultural anthropologists often work with psychologists and sociologists, as well as economists, political

scientists, and historians.

▫ Linguistic anthropology is concerned with the development and relationships of language(s). What we say is a map to how we view the world. Linguistic anthropologists also often work with psychologists and sociologists.

▫ Physical, or biological anthropology is the study of the human organism, throughout time and in various states. Paleo-anthropologists study the earliest humans and our other ancestors further back in time.

They often work with geologists, and paleo-botanists (what do you think paleo means?).

Other biological anthropologists study everything from population genetics, to disease, to breastfeeding. They collaborate with biologists and geneticists.

Forensic anthropologists are often featured on shows like FBI Files. They work with the police and coroner’s departments to determine who somebody is and how they died in

cases of unknown corpses.

Four Field Approach

• Qualititative and Quantitative data and methods• Empirical

▫ of the senses• Phenomenological

▫ embodied research• Experiential and reflexive

▫ bringing the researcher in• Holistic perspective

▫ Anthropologists often focus on problems that stretch across several disciplinary boundaries, because human behavior is rarely simply biological, or economic, or political in nature, rather it is often determined by a number of factors. Because of this, anthropology is considered to be holistic – it is the study of a problem or question in human affairs within a whole context. ‘Flavor’ of a culture

Scientific Method

• Observation▫ Hypothesis – the scientific guess

• Experiment - verifying the hypothesis▫ Testing – useful null hypothesis

• Data collection▫ Storage, curation, classification, organization

• Analysis▫ Themes, connections

• Dialogue – with peers thru publications, conferences• Replication – by non altruistic peers• Theory – NOT a hypothesis. Data best supports…

Scientific method

• Biology▫ Biocultural evolution

Caesarean example

• Developmental stages▫ Ontogeny and phylogeny

• Evolution▫ Adaptation▫ Natural selection

• Inheritance – why we don’t all look alike• Gene flows and distribution – we are all one ‘race’• Epigenetics – the new frontier in understanding

http://anthro.palomar.edu/adapt/images/map_of_skin_color_distribution.gif

Discussion for hour six

• Chapter 10. Cradleboards and swaddling

• What is the main point/argument in this article?

• Do you agree or disagree with his conclusion? ▫ Why?

Behavior

• Behavioral constraints▫ Nature vs Nurture

▫ Sociobiology

• Environment

• Ecology▫ Behavioral –ecology

• Jane Goodall

• K vs R strategies; Primate infant care

Discussion for hour eight

• Chapter 1. Plasticity in child development

• What is Boaz arguing?

• What is his reason for making this argument?

Society

• Social animals and sociality▫ Humans have domesticated themselves

• Social structures▫ External to us, but intangible

• Trajectories▫ X,y, z axis

• Pierre Bourdieu▫ Distinctions and social capitals

Society

• Ranks▫ Alpha dogs

▫ Division of labor

• Roles▫ Gender, class, ethnicity, regionality

• Performances

• Irving Goffman▫ Performance of the self in everyday life

What is the self?

Discussion for hour nine

• Chapter 13. Experiment in infant care: The kibbutz

• Do WE see pregnancy as a ‘normal’ condition? ▫ Why or why not?

Give examples for your position.

• What appeals to you about this method of childcare?

• What do you think you

• would dislike?

Culture

• Learned▫ Prenatal, neonate, infant, young child▫ What do they know

perception, or the awareness of one’s existence, precedes conception, specific knowledge about what defines you for who you are. Descartes, a famous French philosopher and mathematician, summed this up as cogito ergo sum, “I think, therefore I am.” Think back, can you remember your earliest memory? How old were you?

• Shared• Patterned▫ Ruth Benedict, Patterns of Culture

Discussion for hour eleven

• Chapter 5. Continuities and Discontinuities

• What did you find surprising or interesting about this article?

• How could you use this theory in your own experience with children?

Culture

• Language▫ Emic vs. etic; meaning vs. form.

• Thought▫ Langue vs parole

• Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf▫ Our thinking is shaped by the linguistic community we inhabit. Our

language’s content reflects culture/history.

Culture

• Internal, cognitive, intangible, individual

• Behavior ‘out in the world’ as a proxy for cultural values and themes.

• Functions of culture▫ Adaptive

▫ Survival

• Materialist perspective/barrel model of culture: we do things because we are cued to by our environment▫ Marvin Harris: Oedipal complex caused by war, war caused

by infrastructural factors.

Discussion for hour thirteen

• Chapter 4. Childhood among the Tallensi in Ghana

• How do you think you would manage among the Tallensi?

• How are Tallensi children different from American children? ▫ Why is this?

• Can we learn anything from the Tallensi?▫ and if so, what?

Studying Child-rearing practices

• Margaret Mead▫ Samoa

▫ Negative example

▫ Freudian theories

Discussion for hour fourteen

• Chapter 2. Ethnography of childhood

• Do you find the terms, “lap baby”, “Knee baby”, and “yard child” useful?

• Can you give examples of children you have seen in these stages?

Beatrice Whiting and Irving Child• Dependence training promotes group identification and compliance with the goals

of the group and society. ▫ Often, this is associated with extended families, or families made up of more than one

generation or nuclear unit. These groups are often rural, and act almost like corporations. They need general harmony among the members for their collective survival.

• Children are often indulged, fed on demand, have their whims gratified, until they reach school age when they are made aware of their responsibilities to the group. ▫ children given important family chores at early age, to give sense they are actively

supporting the family• This creates people who are eager to support one another, and help out.

▫ tends to promote obedient, supportive, non-competitive, responsible, and loyal group members . Example, Japanese Amae: http://www.sociology.org/content/vol005.001/smith-nomi.html

• On the other hand, any kind of deviance from the norms of the group is seen as threatening the groups’ survival and success and can be severely punished. ▫ Do you know the term deviance? What about norms? Can you give me an example of a

social norm in the United States? What is considered deviant behavior here?

Beatrice Whiting and Irving Child

• Independence training emphasizes individual independence, self-reliance, and personal achievement. ▫ It commonly occurs in industrialized countries, where the need for individual mobility (to go to school, take jobs, etc.)

encourages the formation of smaller family groups.

Societies like this are sometimes called atomized, because they can be broken down into smaller, more varied groups (political affiliations, volunteer associations, religions, hobbyists, what have you).

• In this type of childrearing, babies are often put on a schedule (feedings, naps, baths, reading time) and every step of independence (eating solid foods, holding own cup or bottle) is praised.

▫ Babies and children are more likely to have their own space, be it crib or bedroom, and they are often expected to play by themselves.

• Growing up, children often have less responsibility within the family, contributing little or nothing to the welfare of the family,.

• In these societies, a wider range of behavior concerning personal habits and choices, like career, or sexuality, are often tolerated.

• Remembering that both of these types are generalizations, which style of child-rearing sounds familiar?

▫ What examples do you have of being expected to be independent /dependent as a child?

Lifestages

• Lifestages as cultural constructs▫ Sigmund Freud’s schema

• Age grades and Age sets▫ Arnold Van Gennep’s rites of passage

▫ Victor Turner’s Theory of Liminality

• Demography▫ Cohorts ; baby boomers and the like

▫ Fertility; maximum human constant, Hutterite

▫ Mortality – age pyramid; robust females

Discussion for hour sixteen

• Chapter 20. Age and responsibility▫ Skip pp 255-260. Computer analysis. Resume at

Discussion

• Give examples you have seen, heard, or read about children of the age of 5-7 years:▫ “attaining the age of reason”

▫ “given more responsibilities”

▫ “being incorporated into the adult world of gender, sexual and work roles.”

Theories of Childhood

• Historical perspective▫ Jean-Jacques Rousseau

• History of the family▫ Stephanie Koontz

▫ Linda Stone

• Changing nature of childhood▫ Phillipe Aries

Theories of child-rearing

• Conception▫ TAP: When does life begin?

• Pregnancy

• Birth

• Infant care▫ Discipline

▫ Socialization and learning

• Dark Side: Infanticide http://encyclopedia.kids.net.au/page/in/Infanticide

http://www.popline.org/docs/1116/107367.html

Theories of child-rearing

• History of Western trends▫ Changes in 20th century

▫ Contemporary views

• Anthropology of childhood▫ Overview of anthropological schools

Culture and Personality

Structural-functionalism

Structuralism

Materialism

Post-modernism

▫ How does their emphasis affect their data and conclusions?