Autonomous hunter-gatherer children in hierarchical schools: a review of the literature from the global South

Abstract

We recently conducted a review of the literature regarding hunter-gatherer children’s schooling experiences in the global South (Ninkova et al 2024). In this research note, we highlight one central finding of our review: that the autonomy granted to hunter-gatherer children determines their participation in school. Children decide for themselves whether they will attend. Children also decide for themselves whether they will pursue alternative endeavours such as subsistence activities or play. When children do attend school, autonomous behaviour is generally not tolerated within the hierarchical classroom structure. Hunter-gatherer children are often reprimanded or punished when they fail to observe hierarchical rules, leading them to drop out. An important conclusion of our review is that if the global development priority of universal education is to be realised, the focus must be on local needs rather than broad global solutions. For hunter-gatherer children, local needs involve designing schools which reflect and respect hunter-gatherer autonomy.