The Cultural Nature of Human DevelopmentThree-year-old Kwara'ae children in Oceania act as caregivers of their younger siblings, but in the UK, it is an offense to leave a child under age 14 ears without adult supervision. In the Efe community in Zaire, infants routinely use machetes with safety and some skill, although U.S. middle-class adults often do not trust young children with knives. What explains these marked differences in the capabilities of these children? Until recently, traditional understandings of human development held that a child's development is universal and that children have characteristics and skills that develop independently of cultural processes. Barbara Rogoff argues, however, that human development must be understood as a cultural process, not simply a biological or psychological one. Individuals develop as members of a community, and their development can only be fully understood by examining the practices and circumstances of their communities. |
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Page 4
... regarding the age at which children enter a stage or should be capable of a certain skill. A cultural approach notes that different cultural communities may expect children to engage in activities at vastly different times in childhood ...
... regarding the age at which children enter a stage or should be capable of a certain skill. A cultural approach notes that different cultural communities may expect children to engage in activities at vastly different times in childhood ...
Page 18
... regarding cultural processes. A clear example appears in a letter to a friend that Thomas Jefferson wrote in the early 1800s: Let a philosophic observer commence a journey from the savages 18 THE CULTURAL NATURE OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT ...
... regarding cultural processes. A clear example appears in a letter to a friend that Thomas Jefferson wrote in the early 1800s: Let a philosophic observer commence a journey from the savages 18 THE CULTURAL NATURE OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT ...
Page 22
... regarding children's group membership was removed, European American adults judged the European American children's style as more skillful and indicating a greater chance of success in reading. In contrast, African American adults found ...
... regarding children's group membership was removed, European American adults judged the European American children's style as more skillful and indicating a greater chance of success in reading. In contrast, African American adults found ...
Page 23
... regarding objects than were French mothers. The African mothers often structured interaction with their infants around other people, whereas the French mothers often focused interaction on exploration of inanimate objects (see also ...
... regarding objects than were French mothers. The African mothers often structured interaction with their infants around other people, whereas the French mothers often focused interaction on exploration of inanimate objects (see also ...
Page 40
... regarding what one can use as evidence. Indeed, Luria noted that nonliterate people's reasoning and deduction followed the rules when dealing with immediate practical experience; they made excellent judgments and drew the implied ...
... regarding what one can use as evidence. Indeed, Luria noted that nonliterate people's reasoning and deduction followed the rules when dealing with immediate practical experience; they made excellent judgments and drew the implied ...
Contents
3 | |
37 | |
3 Individuals Generations and Dynamic Cultural Communities | 63 |
4 Child Rearing in Families and Communities | 102 |
5 Developmental Transitions in Individuals Roles in Their Communities | 150 |
6 Interdependence and Autonomy | 194 |
7 Thinking with the Tools and Institutions of Culture | 236 |
8 Learning through Guided Participation in Cultural Endeavors | 282 |
9 Cultural Change and Relations among Communities | 327 |
References | 371 |
Credits | 413 |
Index | 415 |
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Common terms and phrases
activities adolescents adults African American approach asked attention autonomy baby behavior biological boys caregivers Caucasian American chil child child-rearing child’s children learn Chudacoff classroom cognitive community’s concepts context contrast contribute cultural communities cultural practices cultural processes cultural tools developmental different communities dren engage etic everyday example expected father figure focus gender roles girls goals guided participation Harkness & Super human development ideas important Indian individuals infants institutions interaction Inuit involved Japanese Kaluli Kipsigis language Leiderman literacy lives Marquesan mature Mayan Mayan language Mexican American middle-class European American middle-class U.S. mother mother’s munity Navajo nsolo observe one’s organization parents patterns people’s person perspective play preschool problem questions regarding relations responsibility Rogoff siblings situations skills social societies sociocultural structure Suina talk teachers tests thinking tion toddlers traditions tural understanding Vai script values Whiting women young children