Abstract
The dynamics of knowledge transmission and acquisition, or how different aspects of culture are passed from one individual to another and how they are acquired and embodied by individuals, are central to understanding cultural evolution. In small-scale societies, cultural knowledge is largely acquired early in life through observation, imitation, and other forms of social learning embedded in daily experiences. However, little is known about the pathways through which such knowledge is transmitted, especially during middle childhood and adolescence. This study presents new empirical data on cultural knowledge transmission during childhood. Data were collected among the Baka, a forager-farmer society in southeastern Cameroon. We conducted structured interviews with children between 5 and 16 years of age (n = 58 children; 177 interviews, with children being interviewed 1–6 times) about group composition during subsistence activities. Children’s groups were generally diverse, although children tended to perform subsistence activities primarily without adults and with same-sex companions. Group composition varied from one subsistence activity to another, which suggests that the flow of knowledge might also vary according to the activity performed. Analysis of the social composition of children’s subsistence groups shows that vertical and oblique transmission of subsistence-related knowledge might not be predominant during middle childhood and adolescence. Rather, horizontal transmission appears to be the most common knowledge transmission strategy used by Baka children during middle childhood and adolescence, highlighting the importance of other children in the transmission of knowledge.
Highlights
The dynamics of knowledge transmission and acquisition, or how different aspects of culture are passed from one individual to another and how they are acquired and embodied by individuals, are central to understanding cultural evolution (Guglielmino et al 1995; Henrich and Broesch 2011; Hewlett and Cavalli-Sforza 1986)
We know that oblique and horizontal transmission become important once children enter middle childhood (Hewlett 2014a), we know less about how these pathways operate during middle childhood and adolescence
Given that cultural transmission is affected by context and content biases (Broesch et al 2014; Salali et al 2016), we propose that documenting group composition during the performance of subsistence activities is a promising venue for understanding the process of cultural transmission, contributing to identification of children’s role models (Henrich and Broesch 2011)
Summary
The dynamics of knowledge transmission and acquisition, or how different aspects of culture are passed from one individual to another and how they are acquired and embodied by individuals, are central to understanding cultural evolution. Analysis of the social composition of children’s subsistence groups shows that vertical and oblique transmission of subsistence-related knowledge might not be predominant during middle childhood and adolescence. Previous research in small-scale societies has advanced our knowledge of the predominance of different pathways for cultural knowledge transmission during childhood, suggesting that the relative importance of each of the different pathways depends on the learner’s stage in the life cycle (Bird and Bliege Bird 2002; Demps et al 2012; Gurven and Kaplan 2006; Haselmair et al 2014; Ingold 2010; Kline et al 2013; Rogoff et al 2007). We know that oblique and horizontal transmission become important once children enter middle childhood (Hewlett 2014a), we know less about how these pathways operate during middle childhood and adolescence
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