The New Childhood Studies: Reflections on Some Recent Collaborations between Anthropologists and Psychologists

Abstract

Introduction One day, while living in the rain forest of Cote d’Ivoire, I was chatting with a young mother I’ll call “Au”. Previously, I had noticed that whenever her nine-month-old son, “Kwame,” saw me, he crawled nervously to his mother, clutching her long skirt or clambering firmly into her lap. Once, I left the duo for a few minutes. When I returned, Kwame was happily exploring the external microphone of my tape recorder that I had left on the ground. Remembering lab experiments by psychologists that aim to measure “stranger anxiety” in children just this age, I seized the opportunity to assess how anxious my presence made Kwame. Sitting down, I moved the microphone a bit nearer to me, just out of his reach – and in the opposite direction of his mother. With me back, Kwame stopped indulging his curiosity. Turning to look nervously at his mother, he dropped his interest in the microphone and retreated quickly to her lap, then her breast. Only after a long, reassuring breastfeeding session did he slowly detach from his mother. Eventually, he made his way to playing with a bowl next to her (Figure 4). The microphone that had fascinated him minutes before lay a scant 30 cm. from his reach. He glanced at it with regret – but turned back to the bowl. Those 30 cm. represented too great a distance to travel from his mother, in the presence of a stranger – myself. The profile of such a child was hardly exotic to me. My own son had acted similarly at that age. At the time, my husb