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
... skills. For the most part, the claims have been generic 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 ...
... skills. For the most part, the claims have been generic 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 ...
Page 5
... by ten years of age Aka children know enough subsistence skills to live in the forest alone if need be. (Hewlett, 1991, p. 34) figure 1.1 This 6-year-old Mayan An Efe baby of 11 months skillfully cuts a fruit. Orienting Concepts 5.
... by ten years of age Aka children know enough subsistence skills to live in the forest alone if need be. (Hewlett, 1991, p. 34) figure 1.1 This 6-year-old Mayan An Efe baby of 11 months skillfully cuts a fruit. Orienting Concepts 5.
Page 6
... skill and judgment to handle dangerous implements? “Ah! Of course, it depends,” readers may say, after making some guesses based on their own cultural experience. Indeed. It depends. Variations in expectations for children make sense ...
... skill and judgment to handle dangerous implements? “Ah! Of course, it depends,” readers may say, after making some guesses based on their own cultural experience. Indeed. It depends. Variations in expectations for children make sense ...
Page 9
... skills taught. In this pattern, children's relationships often involve multiparty collaboration in groups rather than interactions with one person at a time. I examine these and related regularities throughout this book. Other Patterns ...
... skills taught. In this pattern, children's relationships often involve multiparty collaboration in groups rather than interactions with one person at a time. I examine these and related regularities throughout this book. Other Patterns ...
Page 13
... skills, gender roles, and ways that communities arrange for children to learn. The research literature that I draw on in these chapters is wide-ranging, involving methods from psychology, anthropology, history, sociolinguistics ...
... skills, gender roles, and ways that communities arrange for children to learn. The research literature that I draw on in these chapters is wide-ranging, involving methods from psychology, anthropology, history, sociolinguistics ...
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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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