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Palgrave Macmillan

The Ecology of Playful Childhood

The Diversity and Resilience of Caregiver-Child Interactions among the San of Southern Africa

  • Book
  • © 2020

Overview

Authors:
  1. Akira Takada

    1. ASAFAS, Kyoto University, Sakyo, Japan

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  • Presents an important contribution to existing scholarship given the relatively few recent studies in the area
  • Will serve as a valuable resource for scholars and students across disciplines including anthropology, developmental psychology, human evolution, and cultural studies
  • Holds wider relevance and value in that that the hunter-gatherer lifestyle has implications for the human condition generally

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Table of contents (11 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxv
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  2. Part I

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
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    2. Children in the Wild

      • Akira Takada
      Pages 3-19

    3. The Last Hunter-Gatherers of the Kalahari

      • Akira Takada
      Pages 21-37

    4. Minding Hunter-Gatherer Childhood

      • Akira Takada
      Pages 39-54

  3. Part II

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 55-55
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    2. Children and Play

      • Akira Takada
      Pages 57-68

    3. Pleasure in Nursing

      • Akira Takada
      Pages 69-95

    4. Playful Gymnastics

      • Akira Takada
      Pages 97-123

    5. The Joy of Early Vocal Communication

      • Akira Takada
      Pages 125-150

    6. Imitation in Playful Activities

      • Akira Takada
      Pages 151-174

    7. Socialization Through Singing and Dancing Activities

      • Akira Takada
      Pages 175-199

    8. Learning to Work

      • Akira Takada
      Pages 201-224

    9. Reconsidering Human Childhood

      • Akira Takada
      Pages 225-238

  4. Back Matter

    Pages 239-244
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Keywords

About this book

While studies of San children have attained the peculiar status of having delineated the prototype for hunter-gatherer childhood, relatively few serious ethnographic studies of San children have been conducted since an initial flurry of research in the 1960s and 1970s. Based on the author’s long-term field research among several San groups of Southern Africa, this book reconsiders hunter-gatherer childhood using “play” as a key concept. Playfulness pervades the intricate practices of caregiver-child interactions among the San: immediately after birth, mothers have extremely close contact with their babies. In addition to the mother’s attentions, other people around the babies actively facilitate gymnastic behavior to soothe them. These distinctive caregiving behaviors indicate a loving, indulgent attitude towards infants. This also holds true for several language genres of the San that are used in early vocal communication. Children gradually become involved in various playful activities in groups of children of multiple ages, which is the major locus of their attachment after weaning; these playful activities show important similarities to the household and subsistence activities carried out by adults. Rejuvenating studies of San children and hunter-gatherer childhood and childrearing practices, this book aims to examine these issues in detail, ultimately providing a new perspective for the understanding of human sociality.

Authors and Affiliations

  • ASAFAS, Kyoto University, Sakyo, Japan

    Akira Takada

About the author

Akira Takada is currently an associate professor at the Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies (ASAFAS) at Kyoto University, Japan.

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