[Paper spotlight] Cultural Transmission of Foundational Schemas among Congo Basin Hunter-Gatherers

This paper by Sonoda and colleagues in African Study Monographs examines how BaYaka children acquire foundational schemas.

Abstract: Congo Basin hunter-gatherer societies are said to share cultural models, such as egalitarianism, respect for individual autonomy, and the process of giving and sharing. In this paper, we assume foundational schemas as any coherence connected to these cultural models at a fundamental level. In describing the process of reproduction and acquisition of foundational schemas in everyday interaction found in two different societies, we aim to assess whether foundational schemas have the potential to challenge social and ecological changes. For several decades, these societies have faced multiple social and ecological changes. These include sedentarization, the reduction of access to their territory and resources, higher access to schooling, and variable access to health services among others. Considering the increasing access of external actors into their territories, one could wonder what the impacts are on hunter-gatherer’s transmission of foundational schemas and cultural knowledge. Therefore, this paper explores the processes of cultural transmission and reproduction of foundational schemas among Congo Basin hunter-gatherer children, by focusing specifically on children’s interactions as well as interactions between children and adults, while performing their daily activities. By presenting data from long-term fieldwork conducted among the Mbendjele BaYaka from Republic of the Congo and the Baka from Cameroon, this paper aims to bring new elements to understanding the processes involved in the transmission of cultural values. By taking a child-focused approach, this article discusses how a foundational schema emerges in the production of cultural knowledge, what kind of changes challenge transmission of foundational schemas, and how the current challenges faced by these societies are affecting this transmission.

[Paper spotlight] Social Networks and Knowledge Transmission Strategies among Baka Children, Southea

A new paper by Gallois and colleagues in Human Nature examines the flow of knowledge in networks along the Baka. Check it out here!

Abstract: The dynamics of knowledge transmission and acquisition, or how different aspects of culture are passed from one individual to another and how they are acquired and embodied by individuals, are central to understanding cultural evolution. In small-scale societies, cultural knowledge is largely acquired early in life through observation, imitation, and other forms of social learning embedded in daily experiences. However, little is known about the pathways through which such knowledge is transmitted, especially during middle childhood and adolescence. This study presents new empirical data on cultural knowledge transmission during childhood. Data were collected among the Baka, a forager-farmer society in southeastern Cameroon. We conducted structured interviews with children between 5 and 16 years of age (n = 58 children; 177 interviews, with children being interviewed 1–6 times) about group composition during subsistence activities. Children’s groups were generally diverse, although children tended to perform subsistence activities primarily without adults and with same-sex companions. Group composition varied from one subsistence activity to another, which suggests that the flow of knowledge might also vary according to the activity performed. Analysis of the social composition of children’s subsistence groups shows that vertical and oblique transmission of subsistence-related knowledge might not be predominant during middle childhood and adolescence. Rather, horizontal transmission appears to be the most common knowledge transmission strategy used by Baka children during middle childhood and adolescence, highlighting the importance of other children in the transmission of knowledge.

[Paper spotlight] Who teaches children to forage?

This paper was presented by Sheina Lew-Levy  in the session Ages and Stages at the 2018 AAA annual meeting. Sheina is a PhD student in the department of psychology at the University of Cambridge. This paper was co-authored by Stephen M. Kissler (junior research fellow in mathematics at University of Cambridge), Adam H. Boyette (postdoctoral fellow in the Thompson Writing Program, Duke University), Alyssa N. Crittenden (professor of anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas), Barry S. Hewlett (professor of anthropology, Washington State University), and Michael E. Lamb (professor of psychology, University of Cambridge).

Abstract: Teaching is cross-culturally widespread but few studies have considered children as teachers as well as learners. This is surprising, since forager children spend much of their time playing and foraging in child-only groups, and thus, have access to many potential child teachers. Using the Social Relations Model, we examined the prevalence of child-to-child teaching using focal follow data from 35 Hadza and 38 BaYaka 3- to 18-year-olds. We investigated the effect of age, sex and kinship on the teaching of subsistence skills. We found that child-to-child teaching was more frequent than adult-child teaching. Additionally, children taught more with age, teaching was more likely to occur within same-sex versus opposite-sex dyads, and close kin were more likely to teach than non-kin. We also found distinct learning patterns between the two groups; teaching was more likely to occur between sibling dyads among the Hadza than among the BaYaka, and a multistage learning model where younger children learn from peers, and older children from adults, was evident for the BaYaka, but not for the Hadza. We attribute these differences to subsistence and settlement patterns. These findings highlight children’s role in the intergenerational transmission of subsistence skills.