Navajo Infancy: An Ethological Study of Child Development

by Chisholm,James S.

• ISBN13: 9780202362519
• ISBN10: 0202362515
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2009-07-15
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Navajo Infancy describes the major sources of changeand continuity in Navajo infant development. It does so bycombining concepts and methods of classical ethology withthose of social-cultural anthropology. The goal is to establishthe relationships between human nature and culture. Buyconsidering the nature of adaptation, and the evolution ofhuman developmental patterns, and through analyses ofthe determinants of change and continuity in Navajo infantdevelopment, Navajo Infancy outlines how the process ofdevelopment itself may bridge nature and culture.With its special focus on the effect of the cradleboardon Navajo mother-infant interaction, Navajo Infancyraises important developmental issues in its analyses ofwhy the effects of the cradleboard do not last. Incorporatingthe Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scaleinto its ethological-anthropological methods, NavajoInfancy demonstrates significant Navajo-Anglo-Americandifferences in newborn temperament. It finds a strongcorrelation between newborn behavior and prenatalenvironmental factors, arguing that racial and ethnic differencesin behavior at birth go well beyond simple genepool differences.Navajo Infancy also describes the individual and groupdifferences in the development of Navajo and Anglo-American children’s fear of strangers and patterns ofmother-infant interaction. Aspects of attachment theory,transactional theories of development, and anthropologicaltheories of socialization are related to this broad newevolutionary approach to the process of development andnature-culture interaction.

Author Biography

James S. Chisholm is professor at the school of Anatomy and Human Biology at the University of Western Australia. His research interests include Biological and Biological Anthropology. He is the author of Death, Hope, and Sex and Cultural Persistence: Continuity in Meaning and Moral Responsibility Among the Bear Lake Athapaskans (with S. Rushforth). Cary Michael Carney is the program director of the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) student testing program, covering Missouri and Kansas for the Department of Defense.

Table of Contents

Introduction to the Transaction Edition	p. ix
Preface	p. xv
Development In an Evolutionary Context
The Process of Adaptation	p. 1
Ontogeny and Phylogeny	p. 12
Adaptability and Development	p. 24
Summary	p. 39
The Environment of Navajo Infancy
Perturbations in the Environment of Navajo Infancy	p. 41
The Navajo	p. 42
Cottonwood Springs	p. 51
The Cradleboard
The Cradleboard and Swaddling in Cross-Cultural Perspective	p. 71
Previous Studies of the Cradleboard	p. 79
The Hypotheses: Does the Cradleboard Affect Navajo Child Development	p. 87
The Research
Anthropology and Ethology in Child Development Research	p. 93
The Samples	p. 97
The Methods	p. 108
The Behavior of Navajo and Anglo Newborn Infants
The Analysis of Brazelton Scale Data: Methods and Rationale	p. 126
Prenatal Influences on Navajo-Anglo Group Differences in Newborn Behavior	p. 130
Discussion and Conclusion	p. 135
Navajo and Anglo Children's Fear of Strangers
Similarities and Differences in Navajo and Anglo Fear of Strangers	p. 142
Environmental Correlates of Navajo Fear of Strangers	p. 152
Discussion and Conclusion	p. 156
Mother-Infant Interaction and The Cradleboard
The Immediate Effects of the Cradleboard	p. 164
Some Situational Determinants of Cradleboard Use	p. 172
The Longer-Term Effects of the Cradleboard	p. 174
Discussion and Conclusion	p. 198
The Determinants of Mother-Infant Interaction	p. 199
Deriving the Determinants	p. 199
Navajo Neonatal Behavior and Mother-Infant Interaction in the First Quarter	p. 203
The Child's Opportunity for Interaction with Others	p. 206
Discussion and Conclusions	p. 212
Summary and Conclusions: Development as Adaptation
Summary	p. 215
Synthesis and Implications	p. 225
Bibliography	p. 251
Index	p. 265
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