Maya children : helpers at the farm / Karen L. Kramer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kramer, Karen.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Maya children--Mexico--Yucatan (State)--Social conditions.

Maya children.

Maya children--Mexico--Yucatan (State)--Economic conditions.

Mayas--Agriculture--Mexico--Yucatan (State).

Mayas.

Mayas--Kinship--Mexico--Yucatan (State).

Sustainable agriculture--Mexico--Yucatan (State).

Sustainable agriculture.

Yucatán (Mexico : State)--Social conditions.

Yucatán (Mexico : State).

Yucatán (Mexico : State)--Economic conditions.

Physical Description:

xi, 254 p. : ill.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2005.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Among the Maya of Xculoc, an isolated farming village in the lowland forests of the Yucatán 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 a number of 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. With its theoretical breadth, and its detail on crop yields, reproductive histories, diet, work scheduling, and agricultural production, this book sets a new standard for measuring and interpreting child productivity in a subsistence farming community.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Children as Helpers at the Nest

2. Sources of Variation in Children’s Time Allocation

3. Situating the Maya

4. Maya Families

5. Sampling the Population

6. How Maya Children Spend Their Time

7. Production and Consumption across the Life Course

8. Children’s Help from a Parent’s Perspective

9. How Long to Stay and Help?

10. Do Helpers Really Help?

Postscript: The Unfolding World of the Maya

Appendix A: Tables

Appendix B: Food List

Appendix C: Explanation of Scan and Focal-Follow Variables

Appendix D: Adjusting an Analysis of Variance for Proportional Data

Notes

References

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 221-[244]) and index.

ISBN:

9780674039742

0674039742

OCLC:

1322124261