This unprecedented collection of articles is an introduction to the study of cultural variations in childhood across the world and to the theoretical frameworks for investigating and interpreting them. With a focus on the child's participation in, and acquisition of, cultural practices, the readings include ethnographic studies of childhood among hunting-and-gathering, agricultural, and urban-industrial peoples in the Pacific, Africa, Latin America, East Asia, Europe, and North America. Introductions to each section provide the student with an historical and conceptual framework for understanding the significance of the particular studies and their implications for developmental theory and educational practice. From the earliest analysis of cultural difference to the most recent articles examining ecological, semiotic, and sociolinguistic difference, Anthropology and Child Development illuminates the process through which people become the bearers of their historically and culturally specific identities.
"I recommend this book as a good introduction to the study of childdevelopment that draws upon anthropology's unique ability to honein on both the extraordinary complex phenomenon of individualchildhood agency and the social constructions ilia1 lend 1.0 bindand limit our notions of children as social actors." (Journal ofAnthropological Research, 2010)
"Not unexpectedly, LeVine and New - true scholars- have rendered a reader, a reference, and a stunninglyprescient volume that should be savored and studied, not merelyread. Of sweeping breadth across time and place and of unparalleleddepth regarding the nature of children and childhood, Anthropologyand Child Development challenges deeply held conventions whileprovoking invigorating ways of thinking and acting - anindispensable, intellectual compass for globalists, futurists, andall who care about children."
Sharon Lynn Kagan, Columbia University
"The cutting-edge scholarship presented in this importantand timely book richly documents that the nuances of culturalcontext constitute a fundamental basis for significant variation inthe development of diverse children and adolescents."
Richard Lerner, Tufts University"This is an artfullyorganized collection of seminal papers, a collection that pullstogether research across stages of childhood; domains (of thedevelopment of emotion, thought, and language); theories; methods;and, of course, cultures. The collection also provides a sense ofthe historical development of the field, as a chronological readingof the papers, from a Boas essay published in 1911 to severalpapers published in the new millennium, reveals the changingconcerns, concepts, and theories that have characterized work onculture and child development over the past 100 years."
Joseph Tobin, Arizona State University
"Not unexpectedly, LeVine and New - true scholars- have rendered a reader, a reference, and a stunninglyprescient volume that should be savored and studied, not merelyread. Of sweeping breadth across time and place and of unparalleleddepth regarding the nature of children and childhood, Anthropologyand Child Development challenges deeply held conventions whileprovoking invigorating ways of thinking and acting - anindispensable, intellectual compass for globalists, futurists, andall who care about children."
Sharon Lynn Kagan, Columbia University
"The cutting-edge scholarship presented in this importantand timely book richly documents that the nuances of culturalcontext constitute a fundamental basis for significant variation inthe development of diverse children and adolescents."
Richard Lerner, Tufts University"This is an artfullyorganized collection of seminal papers, a collection that pullstogether research across stages of childhood; domains (of thedevelopment of emotion, thought, and language); theories; methods;and, of course, cultures. The collection also provides a sense ofthe historical development of the field, as a chronological readingof the papers, from a Boas essay published in 1911 to severalpapers published in the new millennium, reveals the changingconcerns, concepts, and theories that have characterized work onculture and child development over the past 100 years."
Joseph Tobin, Arizona State University