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.

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).

Acknowledgments.

Introduction: Robert A. LeVine and Rebecca S. New.

Part I: Discovering Diversity in Childhood: Early Works:.

Introduction.

1. Plasticity in Child Development: Franz Boas.

2. The Ethnography of Childhood: Margaret Mead.

3. Childhood in the Trobriand Islands, Melanesia: Bronislaw Malinowski.

4. Tallensi Childhood in Ghana: Meyer Fortes.

5. Continuities & Discontinuities in Cultural Conditioning: Ruth Benedict.

Part II: Infant Care: Cultural Variation in Parental Goals and Practices:.

Introduction.

6. The Comparative Study: Robert A. LeVine, Suzanne Dixon, Sarah E. LeVine, Amy Richman, Constance Keefer, P. Herbert Liederman and T. Berry Brazelton.

7. Infant Care in the Kalahari Desert: Melvin J. Konner.

8. Multiple Caretaking in the Ituri Forest: Edward Z. Tronick, Gilda A. Morelli and Steve Winn.

9. Fathers and Infants among Aka Pygmies: Barry S. Hewlett.

10. Swaddling, Cradleboards and the Development of Children: James S. Chisholm.

11. Talking and Playing with Babies: Ideologies of Child-Rearing: Catherine Snow, Akke de Blauw and Ghislaine Van Roosmalen.

12. Attachment in Anthropological Perspective: R. LeVine and Karin Norman.

13. An Experiment in Infant Care: Children of the Kibbutz: Melford E. Spiro with the assistance of Audrey G. Spiro.

Part III: Early Childhood: Language Acquisition, Socialization and Enculturation:.

Introduction.

14. The Acquisition of Communicative Style in Japanese: Patricia M. Clancy.

15. Why African Children Are So Hard to Test: Sara Harkness and Charles M. Super.

16. Autonomy and Aggression in the Three-Year-Old: the Utku Eskimo Case: Jean L. Briggs.

17. Narrating Transgressions in U.S. and Taiwan: Peggy J. Miller, Todd L. Sandel, Chung-Hui Liang and Heidi Fung.

18. Child's Play in Italian Perspective: Rebecca S. New.

19. Discussione and Friendship in Italian Peer Culture: William A. Corsaro and Thomas A. Rizzo.

Part IV: Middle and Later Childhood: Work, Play, Participation, Learning:.

Introduction.

20. Age and Responsibility: Barbara Rogoff, Martha Julia Sellers, Sergio Pirrotta, Nathan Fox, and Sheldon H. White.

21. Child and Sibling Caregiving: Thomas Sl Weisner and Ronald Gallimore.

22. Altruistic and Egoistic Behavior of Children in Six Cultures: John W. M. Whiting and Beatrice Blyth Whiting.

23. Children's Daily Lives among the Yucatec Maya: Suzanne Gaskins.

24. Children's Work, Play, and Relationships among the Giriama of Kenya: Martha Wenger.

Epilogue.

Index