Book
Playing on the mother-ground: cultural routines for children's development
Guilford press • New York • Published In 1996 • Pages: xii, 240
By: Lancy, David F..
Abstract
This book provides ethnographic account of childhood among the Kpelle of Liberia as observed in 1967-1973. The focus is on the processes through which children, who are 6-13 years old, learn the skills they need to succeed as adults. It argues that Kpelle children, unlike their counterparts in Western soceities,are not instructed but rather learn through observation and imitation. They author shows this through a careful documentation of child conversation and interaction in a wide variety of settings including playing, farming, hunting and gathering, marketing, weaving, building and making medicine and smithing. The author also uses this evidence to reflect on limits of Western psychological theories when applied to non-Western soceities.
- HRAF PubDate
- 2009
- Region
- Africa
- Sub Region
- Western Africa
- Document Type
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Anthropologist
- Document Rating
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- Analyst
- Teferi A. Adem; 2007
- Field Date
- 1967-1969, 1973
- Coverage Date
- 1950-1996
- Coverage Place
- Liberia
- Notes
- David F. Lancy
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 217-230) and indexes
- LCCN
- 96033423
- LCSH
- Children, Kpelle-Education/Children, Kpelle-Games/Children, Kpelle-Cultural assimilation/Learning, Psychology of/Child development-Liberia-Gbarngasuakwelle/Child psychology-Liberia--Gbarngasuakwelle/Gbarngasuakwelle (Liberia)-Social life and customs