[Paper Spotlight] Teaching among the Aka

Hot off the press, new paper on teaching among Aka foragers and Ngandu farmers of the Congo Basin, by Adam Boyette and Barry Hewlett in Human Nature. Follow this link to see the full paper. 

Abstract: The significance of teaching to the evolution of human culture is under debate. We contribute to the discussion by using a quantitative, cross-cultural comparative approach to investigate the role of teaching in the lives of children in two small-scale societies: Aka foragers and Ngandu farmers of the Central African Republic. Focal follows with behavior coding were used to record social learning experiences of children aged 4 to 16 during daily life. “Teaching” was coded based on a functional definition from evolutionary biology. Frequencies, contexts, and subtypes of teaching as well as the identity of teachers were analyzed. Teaching was rare compared to observational learning, although both forms of social learning were negatively correlated with age. Children received teaching from a variety of individuals, and they also engaged in teaching. Several teaching types were observed, including instruction, negative feedback, and commands. Statistical differences in the distribution of teaching types and the identity of teachers corresponded with contrasting forager vs. farmer foundational cultural schema. For example, Aka children received less instruction, which empirically limits autonomous learning, and were as likely to receive instruction and negative feedback from other children as they were from adults. Commands, however, exhibited a different pattern suggesting a more complex role for this teaching type. Although consistent with claims that teaching is relatively rare in small-scale societies, this evidence supports the conclusion that teaching is a universal, early emerging cognitive ability in humans. However, culture (e.g., values for autonomy and egalitarianism) structures the nature of teaching.

FCS presents poster at the SAA!

Our poster entitled How do hunter-gatherer children learn to make material culture? A meta-ethnographic review was recently presented at the 82nd Society for American Archeology Annual Meeting (March 29th-April 2nd 2017). Do check out our poster here!

Abstract: This poster aims to extrapolate forager-wide trends in how, when, and from whom hunter-gatherer children learn to produce material culture. We use a meta-ethnographic approach, which allows for the systematic extraction, synthesis, and comparison of quantitative and qualitative publications. We extracted a total of eleven publications from psychology, cultural anthropology, and ethnoarchaeology, including studies on the Baka, Aka, San, Kaytetye, Gidra, Penan, Batek, Khanty, Cree and Sioux. Our findings suggest that, cross-culturally, forager children learn to make simple tools effectively by middle childhood, but continue to learn and perfect the skills of complex, multicomponent tool manufacture well into adulthood. From infancy, adults make models of tools like bows, arrows, and digging sticks to give children, from which they are expected during early and middle childhood to reverse engineer their own small tools. During middle childhood, the playgroup is especially important, creating miniature camps complete with hearths and dwellings. As they enter later childhood and adolescence, children begin to receive their first direct instruction on the production of complex material culture like basketry, sledges, or skis. These findings suggest that children create and contribute to material culture in vital ways that archaeologists often fail to consider.

FCS presents poster at SHARING!

Our first poster on learning to share among hunter-gatherers was recently presented at SHARING the Archaeology and Anthropology of Hunter-Gatherers at the University of Cambridge (Sept. 20th-21st 2016). 

Check it out here!

Abstract: Sharing, often considered a foundational schema for hunter-gatherers, acts as a leveling mechanism, systematically disengaging people from property and therefore from the potential for property to create dependency. While most studies on sharing tend to focus on the distribution of large game meat, the demand to share includes a great variety of food items and objects, as well as the sharing of time, actions, spaces and experiences. Though many studies have explored the importance of sharing to hunter-gatherers, few have examined how sharing beliefs and behaviours are transmitted across generations. Furthermore, to our knowledge, no studies have employed a cross-cultural approach to understand how, when, and from whom hunter-gatherer children learn to share. To address this gap, we perform a meta-ethnography, which allows us to compare quantitative and qualitative publications on this topic. Seven publications met our inclusion criteria, and these focused on Hadza, Aka, San, Nayaka and Batek children. Our results indicate that sharing is actively taught, starting from infancy. Mothers play a central role in teaching sharing behaviours in early life. In early and middle childhood, other children play a prominent role in teaching sharing behaviours, through instruction, commands, participation, and norm enforcement. Through participation in the daily activity of food distribution, sharing knowledge is also imparted. These results contribute to the debate regarding whether teaching occurs in the forager context, by highlighting that teaching sharing behaviours occurs throughout childhood. Furthermore, the fact that forager children transmit sharing behaviours to others highlights that they are not passive, but instead contribute to constructing cultural norms and meaning. Further research should investigate how children’s participation in teaching sharing behaviours enables them to internalize these behaviours, making them more competent social agents.