The Ecology of Playful Childhood: The Diversity and Resilience of Caregiver-Child Interactions among the San of Southern Africa

This book reconsiders hunter-gatherer childhood using "play" as a key concept, highlighting the loving and indulgent attitude towards infants among the San, with mothers having close contact and other people facilitating gymnastic behavior. Children gradually become involved in playful activities in groups of children of multiple ages, which is the major locus of their attachment after weaning.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 244 pages
Publication date: 20 August 2021
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland AG

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 authors 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 mothers 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.

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 authors 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 mothers 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.

Weight: 359g
Dimension: 210 x 148 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783030494414
Edition number: 1st ed. 2020