Learning How to Make the Right Pots: Apprenticeship Strategies and Material Culture, a Case Study in Handmade Pottery from Cameroon

Abstract

For more than half a century, archaeologists have focused their research on understanding the mechanisms underlying the making of human cultures. Thus, many have analyzed various aspects of culture hoping to identify not only how traditions are set and perpetuated, but also how innovations occur. As a result, research on material culture and style embraces other disciplines of study and integrates every aspect of society. Style, for example, is no longer reduced to a surface attribute that primarily marks the boundaries of ethnic groups. Technological, social, psychological, and religious parameters surrounding material culture are understood to be a part of style and to influence the production of material culture. This article presents research among Cameroonian potters concerning the learning processes specific to ceramic production. This kind of study helps to identify the social and technical factors that condition teaching and learning procedures. Ultimately, it attempts to demonstrate the existence...