Growing up in a changing world. A case study among Baka children (southeastern Cameroon)

Abstract

While many studies have explored the impacts of the multiple pressures faced by small-scale societies on adult livelihoods and on the maintenance of their cultural knowledge, few have focused on the way hunter-gatherer children are living in this changing context. This study aims to assess how children are both affected by and involved in this process of change, and evaluate how the different changes might impact children's daily life and cultural learning. By working among the Baka, a small-scale society from the Congo Basin who have been facing several changes for more than 50 years, I analyze Baka children's daily life and perception toward their own culture and their expectation toward their future. The results of this work show that children's daily life and perceptions are intimately related to their expectations toward adulthood. These results are discussed on the light of the specificity of Baka childhood and the influence of general trends conveyed by external actors on Baka perceptions.