Anthropology and Child Development: A Cross-Cultural Reader - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0631229752 ISBN 13: 9780631229759

Publisher: Blackwell Pub, 2008

Synopsis

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.

• Presents a history of cross-cultural approaches to child-development
  
• Recent articles examine diverse contexts of childhood in ecological, semiotic, and sociolinguistic terms
  
• Includes ethnographic studies of childhood in the Pacific, Africa, Latin America, East Asia, Europe and North America
  
• Illuminates the process through which people become the bearers of culturally/historically specific identities
  
• Serves as an ideal text for anthropology courses focusing on childhood, as well as classes on development psychology

About this title

Book Description:

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 childrsquo;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, The Anthropology of Childhood illuminates the process through which people become the bearers of their historically and culturally specific identities.

About the Author:

Robert A. LeVine is a professor emeritus of education and anthropology at Harvard University. He has been investigating child rearing and development for more than 50 years, in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. His recent books include Childhood Socialization: Comparative Studies of Parents, Learning and Educational Change (2003), Japanese Frames of Mind: Cultural Perspectives on Human Development (2001), and Child Care and Culture: Lessons from Africa (1994).

Rebecca S. New is associate professor of education and research fellow at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She has spent three decades studying the cultural nature of child development and early education, most often in Italy and recently in Head Start programs serving immigrant populations. Publications include the four-volume Early Childhood Education: An International Encyclopedia (2007).

About this edition

• Publisher: Blackwell Pub
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0631229752
• ISBN 13: 9780631229759
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 324
• Editor: Levine Robert A., New Rebecca S.