The Archaeology of Childhood Children, Gender, and Material Culture

by BAXTER, JANE EVA

• ISBN13: 9780759103313
• ISBN10: 0759103313
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-01-18
• Publisher: AltaMira Press

Summary

The study of children and childhood in historical and prehistoric life is an overlooked area of study that Jane Baxter addresses in this brief book. Her timely contribution stresses the importance of studying children as active participants in past cultures, instead of regarding them mainly for their effect on adult life. Using the critical concepts of gender and socialization, she develops new theoretical and methodological approaches for the archaeological study of this large but invisible population.

Author Biography

Jane Eva Baxter is assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology and a member of the American Studies Program Committee at DePaul University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
The Archaeology of Childhood in Context	1	(14)
Childhood and Anthropology	4	(3)
Childhood Research in Archaeology	7	(3)
The Importance of an Archaeology of Childhood	10	(1)
Chapter Organization	11	(4)
Theorizing Childhood in Archaeology	15	(12)
Introducing the Child's World	16	(1)
Children and Gender: Cultural Categories in Archaeology	17	(4)
Children as Active Participants in the Past	21	(2)
Moving Forward: Socialization and the Study of Childhood	23	(4)
The Cultural Creation of Childhood: The Idea of Socialization	27	(12)
Socialization as Intergenerational Discourse	28	(1)
Agents of Socialization and the Imparting of Cultural Knowledge	29	(3)
Children, Peer Groups, and the Negotiation of Cultural Knowledge	32	(2)
Socialization in the Past	34	(1)
Socialization across Cultures	35	(4)
Socialization and the Material Culture of Childhood	39	(18)
Multiple Meanings and Material Culture	39	(2)
Socialization in the Use of Material Culture: Toys and Playthings	41	(5)
Identifying Toys in Archaeological Contexts	46	(4)
Socialization in the Making of Material Culture: Apprenticeship and Situated Learning	50	(3)
Studying Apprenticeship and Learning in the Archaeological Record	53	(4)
Socialization, Behavior, and the Spaces and Places of Childhood	57	(24)
Children as a ``Distorting Factor'' in the Archaeological Record	58	(1)
Socialization and the Use of Space	59	(3)
Children at Play	62	(1)
Children at Work	63	(4)
Children and Space across Cultures	67	(5)
Children and Space in the Archaeological Record	72	(7)
Socialization, Space, and Archaeology of Childhood	79	(2)
Socialization, Symbols, and Artistic Representations of Children	81	(12)
Depicting Childhood, Depicting Gender	83	(4)
Children at Work and at Play	87	(1)
Child Rearing and Parenting	88	(1)
Children as Cultural Symbols	89	(4)
Socialization, Childhood, and Mortuary Remains	93	(16)
What Are We Studying When We Analyze Mortuary Remains?	94	(1)
Children as a Category in Mortuary Archaeology	95	(2)
Identifying Age-Based Categories through Mortuary Remains	97	(2)
Childhood Health, Nutrition, and Mortality	99	(2)
Children and the Elucidation of Horizontal Social Categories	101	(2)
Children as Indicators of Vertical Social Status	103	(2)
Mortuary Monuments and Representations of Children	105	(1)
The Symbolic Construction of Childhood: Implications for Socialization	106	(3)
Themes and Lessons from the Archaeology of Childhood	109	(8)
Socialization, Gender, and the Cultural Construction of Childhood	111	(1)
Casting Children as Actors	112	(1)
Child, Family, Community, Society	113	(1)
All Archaeology Is the Archaeology of Childhood	114	(3)
Bibliography	117	(24)
Index	141	(2)
About the Author	143