The Cultural Construction of Childhood

Abstract

The article examines the concept of childhood in an African society and tracks a contemporary shift in thinking about what a child is when a major sociocultural transformation effects a large segment of that population. The Pare, traditionally patrilineal highland cultivators, have recently experienced a change in their subsistence base from hoe cultivation to wage labor. This brought about a shift away from reliance on lineage authority to more couple-centered relations in some couples. A consequence of this has been a reduction in fertility in these couples and a view on children which departs from the traditional one. The article compares the daily lives of the children and the two types of parents' conceptualizations of childhood.