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Bringing up Good Babies : an Ethnography of Moral Apprenticeship in Saraguro

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Bringing up Good Babies : an Ethnography of Moral Apprenticeship in Saraguro View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by OPUS: Open Uleth Scholarship - University of Lethbridge Research Repository University of Lethbridge Research Repository OPUS http://opus.uleth.ca Theses Arts and Science, Faculty of 2011 Bringing up good babies : an ethnography of moral apprenticeship in Saraguro Jenson, Jennifer J. Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Anthropology, 2011 http://hdl.handle.net/10133/3070 Downloaded from University of Lethbridge Research Repository, OPUS BRINGING UP GOOD BABIES: AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF MORAL APPRENTICESHIP IN SARAGURO Jennifer J. Jenson B.A., B.S.B.A., Drake University, 2002 A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of the University of Lethbridge in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS – ANTHROPOLOGY Department of Anthropology University of Lethbridge LETHBRIDGE, ALBERTA, CANADA © Jennifer J. Jenson 2011 Abstract This thesis is based on an ethnographic investigation of indigenous childrearing theories of the Saraguros of southern Ecuador, with particular emphasis on the effect they believe their childrearing practices to have on infants’ and toddlers’ moral apprenticeship. To understand this learning process, I focused on children from newborn to age three and their caregivers, using everyday decisions involving babywearing and sleep practices as a window onto the ways apprenticeship is practiced among Saraguros and their particular moral standards. The moral apprenticeship of Saraguro babies is therefore considered as a product of local learning styles, constructions of childhood, and infant care practices, which create cultural self-fulfilling prophecies regarding young children’s development and capabilities. Their experiential learning system is being challenged by national children’s rights programs, which are informed by universalized visions of proper childhoods, rendering early childhood in Saraguro an interesting site from which to view the process of cultural change. iii Acknowledgements Many thanks go first and foremost to all the Saraguro babies, parents, grandparents, and care workers who shared their experiences with me. I am furthermore heavily indebted to my supervisor, Dr. Jan Newberry, who not only offered a tremendous amount of assistance in the writing of this thesis but also in understanding what was to me the new world of anthropology. Together with Dr. Newberry, Dr. Louise Barrett helped me jump into childhood at the deep end, embroiling me in the scholarly divide between biology and culture whilst simultaneously encouraging me to straddle it. Their alternative perspectives and approaches were invaluable to me. I would also like to thank Dr. Patrick Wilson for the insights and literature about Saraguro, Ecuador, and the Andes more generally that helped me prepare for the fieldwork experience. The gestation of ideas for this thesis coincided with the expansion of my family, and what a pleasure it is to see what they have developed into today. Many thanks go to my daughter, Mandalay, and to my son, Kiva, for inspiring my research interests, easing my entrance and data collection in the field, and for tolerating what at times must have seemed to be their mother’s favoritism towards this other ‘baby.’ Both their direct participation in my research and our many hours spent apart whilst studying and writing have made this topic and this finished product a truly personal work. I am doubly indebted to my husband, Jason, without whose support I would not have finished the thesis. In addition, I benefited immensely from his contemporaneous research in the field, gaining deeper understandings of Saraguro culture through his data. Finally, I wish to extend my gratitude to Dr. Heather Rae-Espinoza at California State University-Long Beach and the University of Lethbridge administrative staff who enabled my remote thesis defense, thus sparing my children an extra 5000 kilometers of seat-belted agony on my thesis’ behalf. iv Table of Contents Title Page ............................................................................................................................................................ i Signature Page .................................................................................................................................................. ii Abstract .............................................................................................................................................................. iii Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................................ v List of Tables .................................................................................................................................................. vii List of Figures ................................................................................................................................................ viii List of Abbreviations ..................................................................................................................................... ix Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 1 Field Site Description and Background ................................................................................................... 3 Theoretical Background: The Nature-Nurture Debate ....................................................................... 8 Sleep Practices and Babywearing as Points of Analysis .................................................................... 14 Sleep Practices ......................................................................................................................................... 15 Babywearing ............................................................................................................................................. 19 Roadmap for the Thesis ............................................................................................................................. 22 Chapter 1: Methods and Mothering .............................................................................................. 27 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 29 Ethnographic Methods and Participant Groups ................................................................................. 30 Bulldozing Barriers: Identity, Access, and the Ethnographer’s Babies .......................................... 38 Analytical and Logistical Hurdles Posed by Researchers’ Children .............................................. 43 Chapter 2: Towards Infant-Centered Ethnography ................................................................... 48 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 48 The Anthropological (In-)Significance of Childhood ........................................................................ 49 Current Theoretical Debates and the Future of Childhood in Anthropology ............................. 55 Why Study Children? ................................................................................................................................. 57 Why Did Anthropologists Lose Interest in Children?....................................................................... 60 Psychology as a Springboard for Anthropological Research on Infancy ...................................... 67 Evolutionary Perspectives of Infant Agency ........................................................................................ 70 The Nonverbal Language Barrier ........................................................................................................... 72 Little Agents ................................................................................................................................................. 77 Ethnographic Fieldwork Examples of Infant Agency ...................................................................... 83 The Rights of Childhood and Saraguro Contestations ...................................................................... 87 The Full Pursuit of Partial Understanding .......................................................................................... 91 Methodological Suggestions for Future Infant Research ................................................................. 94 v Chapter 3: Ways of Knowing: Children in the Chalina .............................................................. 98 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 98 Development Models, Apprenticeship, and Ethnotheories of Learning ........................................ 99 Theories of Learning: Cognitive Development and Language Acquisition ............................. 99 Cultural Variation in Learning .......................................................................................................... 100 Apprenticeship and Guided Participation ......................................................................................
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