Subsistence ecology and play among the okavango delta peoples of botswana |
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Authors: | Email author" target="_blank">John?BockEmail author Sara?E?Johnson |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Anthropology, California State University, Fullerton, 92834 Fullerton, CA, USA |
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Abstract: | Children’s play is widely believed by educators and social scientists to have a training function that contributes to psychosocial
development as well as the acquisition of skills related to adult competency in task performance. In this paper we examine
these assumptions from the perspective of life-history theory using behavioral observation and household economic data collected
among children in a community in the Okavango Delta of Botswana where people engage in mixed subsistence regimes of dry farming,
foraging, and herding.
We hypothesize that if play contributes to adult competency then time allocation to play will decrease as children approach
adult levels of competence. This hypothesis generates the following predictions: (1) time allocated to play activities that
develop specific productive skills should decline in relation to the proportion of adult competency achieved; (2) children
will spend more time in forms of play that are related to skill development in tasks specific to the subsistence ecology in
which that child participates or expects to participate; and (3) children will spend more time in forms of play that are related
to skill development in tasks clearly related to the gender-specific productive role in the subsistence ecology in which that
child participates or expects to participate.
We contrast these expectations with the alternative hypothesis that if play is not preparatory for adult competence then time
allocated to each play activity should diminish at the same rate. This latter hypothesis generates the following two predictions:
(1) time allocation to play should be unaffected by subsistence regime and (2) patterns of time allocation to play should
track patterns of growth and energy balance.
Results from multiple regression analysis support earlier research in this community showing that trade-offs between immediate
productivity and future returns were a primary determinant of children’s activity patterns. Children whose labor was in greater
demand spent significantly less time playing. In addition, controlling for age and gender, children spent significantly more
time in play activities related to tasks specific to their household subsistence economy. These results are consistent with
the assertion that play is an important factor in the development of adult competency and highlight the important contributions
of an evolutionary ecological perspective in understanding children’s developmental trajectories.
John Bock is an associate professor of anthropology at Cal State Fullerton and Associate Editor of Human Nature. He received a Ph.D. in Anthropology (Human Evolutionary Ecology) from the University of New Mexico in 1995, and from 1995
to 1998 was an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation postdoctoral fellow in demography and epidemiology at the National Centre for Epidemiology
and Population Health at Australian National University. His recent research has focused on the application of life-history
theory to understanding the evolution of the primate and human juvenile period. Bock has been conducting research among the
Okavango Delta peoples of Botswana since 1992, and his current research there is an examination of child development and family
demography in relation to socioecology and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Other research is focused on health disparities among minorities
and indigenous peoples in Botswana and the United States related to differential access to health care.
Sara E. Johnson is an assistant professor of anthropology at California State University, Fullerton. She received her Ph.D.
in Anthropology (Human Evolutionary Ecology) from the University of New Mexico in 2001. She uses behavioral ecology and life-history
theory to address her research interests in the evolution of primate and human growth; ecological variation and phenotypic
plasticity in growth and development; ecological variation in life course trajectories, including fertility, health, morbidity,
and mortality differentials; food acquisition and production related to nutrition; societal transformation and roles of the
elderly among indigenous peoples; and women’s reproductive and productive roles in both traditional and nontraditional societies.
Over the past 10 years she has conducted research on these issues in several different populations, including chacma baboons
in the Okavango Delta of Botswana, two multiethnic communities of forager/agropastoralists in the Okavango Delta of Botswana,
and among New Mexican men. |
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Keywords: | Botswana Children’ s play Human evolutionary ecology Life-history theory Time allocation |
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