The Anthropology of Childhood
Cherubs, Chattel, Changelings

Enriched with findings from anthropological scholarship, this book provides a guide to childhood in different cultures, past and present.

David F. Lancy (Author)

9781108837781, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 10 March 2022

584 pages
25.3 x 19.4 x 3 cm, 1.43 kg

'In this deeply enriched and utterly compelling new edition, David Lancy continues to break ethnocentric and widespread assumptions about child socialization, learning, and parenting, making vital contributions to the anthropology of childhood and youth. While so recently published, this book has already become a classic in childhood studies and beyond.' Dr. Camilla Morelli, Lecturer in Social Anthropology, The University of Bristol

How are children raised in different cultures? What is the role of children in society? How are families and communities structured around them? Now in its third edition, this deeply engaging book delves into these questions by reviewing and cataloging the findings of over 100 years of anthropological scholarship dealing with childhood and adolescence. It is organized developmentally, moving from infancy through to adolescence and early adulthood, and enriched with anecdotes from ethnography and the daily media, to paint a nuanced and credible picture of childhood in different cultures, past and present. This new edition has been expanded and updated with over 350 new sources, and introduces a number of new topics, including how children learn from the environment, middle childhood, and how culture is 'transmitted' between generations. It remains the essential book to read to understand what it means to be a child in our complex, ever-changing world.

Preface
1. Where do children come from?
2. The value of children
3. To make a child
4. It takes a village
5. Making sense
6. Of marbles and morals
7. The chore curriculum
8. Living in limbo
9. Taming the autonomous learner
10. Elastic childhood
References
Author index
Topic index
Society index.

Subject Areas: Child care & upbringing [VFXC], Philosophy & theory of education [JNA], Child & developmental psychology [JMC], Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC]