The Anthropology of Learning in Childhood offers a large, mural-like portrait of childhood across time, culture, species, and environment. Even a casual reading of the literature on childhood will persuade one that learning is a very important topic that commands the attention of tens of thousands of scholars and practitioners. Yet, anthropological research on children has exerted relatively little influence on this community. This book will change that. The book demonstrates that anthropologists studying childhood can offer a description and theoretically sophisticated account of children's learning and its role in their development, socialization, and enculturation. Further, it demonstrates the particular contribution that children's learning makes to the construction of society and culture as well as the role that culture-acquiring children play in human evolution. Chapters have been contributed in archaeology, primatology, biological and cultural anthropology, and cross-cultural psychology.

Chapter 1. Putting Learning in Context Chapter 2. An Evolutionary Perspective on Learning in Social, Cultural, and Ecological Context Chapter 3. The Cross-Cultural Study of Children's Learning and Socialization: A Short History Chapter 4. Parental Ethnotheories of Children's Learning Chapter 5. Learning through Observation in Daily Life Chapter 6. Work, Play, and Learning Chapter 7. The Role of Adults in Children's Learning Chapter 8. Learning from Other Children Chapter 9. Learning in Schools Chapter 10. Learning Communicative Competence Chapter 11. Learning Morality Chapter 12. Learning Gender Roles Chapter 13. Skill Learning For Survival in Non-Human Primates Chapter 14. Learning the Environment Chapter 15. Learning to Hunt Chapter 16. Learning In and From the Past Chapter 17. Learning on the Streets: Peer Socialization in Adverse Environments Chapter 18. Children's Learning in New Settings