Maya Children
Subtitle: Helpers at the Farm
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: May 31, 2005
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 272
ISBN-13: 9780674016903
Subjects: Anthropology; Indigenous peoples; Work & labour; Social Science; Archaeology / Anthropology; Sociology; Anthropology - Cultural; Children's Studies; Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural; Sociology - General; Agriculture; Economic Conditions; Maya children; Mayas; Mexico; Social conditions; Yucatan (State); Yucatâan (State)
Description: "Among the Maya of Xculoc, an isolated farming village in the lowland forests of the Yucatan Peninsula, children contribute to household production in considerable ways. Thus this village, the subject of anthropologist Karen Kramer's study, affords a remarkable opportunity for understanding the economics of childhood in a pre-modern agricultural setting." "Drawing on a range of theoretical perspectives and extensive data gathered over many years, Kramer interprets the form, value, and consequences of children's labor in this maize-based culture. She looks directly at family size and birth spacing as they figure in the economics of families; and she considers the timing of children's economic contributions and their role in underwriting the cost of large families. Kramer's findings - in particular, that the children of Xculoc begin to produce more than they consume long before they marry and leave home - have interesting implications for the study of family reproductive decisions and parent-offspring conflict, and for debates within anthropology over children's contributions in hunter/gatherer versus agricultural societies."--Jacket.