Cultural Learning Among Pastoralist Children

Abstract

Cultural learning is a key feature of culture and our humanity. Although studies exist on children’s learning in subsistence farmers and hunter-gatherers, comparable cross-cultural studies have not been conducted for pastoralists. The purpose of this paper is to identify and describe patterns of cultural learning in pastoralists and to compare these patterns to what we know about cultural learning in hunter-gatherers. The study utilizes 13 cultures coded as pastoralists in eHRAF World Cultures. The search located 198 texts in ethnographies with precise information on how pastoral children learn. Overall, we found that children acquired most pastoral skills and knowledge in early childhood, children were most likely to learn from parents (vertical transmission) and non-parental adults (oblique transmission), a relationship between age and specific modes of transmission did not exist, various forms of teaching were the most frequently mentioned processes of learning, and the frequency of teaching did not vary by the child’s age. When hunter-gatherer’s and pastoralist’s patterns of cultural learning were compared several similarities emerged: most accounts of learning occurred in early childhood, children were most likely to learn from parents and non-parental adults, and various forms of teaching were the most frequently mentioned processes of learning. Several differences in cultural learning between the two groups were identified: pastoralist ethnographers were less likely than hunter-gatherer ethnographers to mention learning from peers and more likely to mention learning via local enhancement and stimulus enhancement.