Poster #185 - Play and work in hunter-gatherer childhoods: The role of gender and age

• In Event: 3-053 - Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: PS 10 Section - Sex, Gender

Integrative Statement

Introduction
Play is an important behavior that characterises all human childhoods (Bakeman et al., 1990). It has been said that play behaviours are uniquely defined by being self-chosen, self-directed, intrinsically motivated, structured by mental rules, imaginative, and produced in an active and alert but non-stressed frame of mind (Gray, 2009). In small-scale societies, play often mimics subsistence behaviours, but while it may occasionally produce food returns, it is distinguished from work in that accomplishment of a subsistence or domestic task is not the primary aim (Konner, 2005).
Studies in small-scale societies have shown that both the frequency and type of play children engage in changes with age. In these societies, play tends to mimic work. Among Baka forager children in Cameroon, up to 61% of all play involves imitating hunting, gathering, and elements of camp life (Kamei, 2005). This observation has been replicated in many small-scale societies, including the Efe foragers of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Maya of Guatemala (Morelli, Rogoff, & Angelillo, 2003), and the Aka foragers and Ngandu farmers of the Central African Republic (Hewlett & Boyette, 2012; Hewlett, 2014; Lew-Levy & Boyette, 2018). As children get older, they increasingly trade off these forms of play in favour of actual work (Bock & Johnson 2004; Ruiz-Mallen et al. 2013l; Boyette 2016a).
Current Study
In the current study play and work were studied to consider the role gender and age have for forager children’s play and work activities. Given previous research showing autonomy and more egalitarian cultural practices children of both genders were expected to demonstrate considerable levels of playing. With some previous research showing gender differences in some aspects of work, it was predicted that girls have shorter periods of play and be more likely to transition from a play state to a work state. To test these hypotheses Forager children within the Central African Republic were observed. These observations were exhaustively and mutually exclusive codes of activity, with work and play as the binary overall work activities.
Results
Time series data analysis was conducted to consider the temporal pattern of play and work for children across gender and ages. In relation to work boys are slightly less likely engage in domestic work or food preparation and domestic work events are on average 25-30% shorter duration (1(e^0.326653) = .72). In addition, boys and girls do not differ greatly on hunting or fishing (though this is a rare activity for both and therefore harder to detect differences in behavior). In contrast foraging or harvesting is less likely take place among boys but foraging events are around three times longer (e^-1.040159 = .72). For play there is a much more consistent pattern. Boys are more likely engage in all play events, particularly games and general play (which subsumes rough and tumble play), but these events are generally shorter in duration. To illustrate the overall pattern we collapsed our work and play codes into single category respectively and refitted the baseline model separately for males and females.

Authors

• Kate Ellis-Davies, Nottingham Trent Univerisity & University of Cambridge
  Non-Presenting Author

• Elle Fleming, Durham University
  Presenting Author

• Sheina Lew-Levy, University of Cambridge
  Non-Presenting Author

• Adam Boyette, Duke University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Thomas Baguley, Nottingham Trent University
  Non-Presenting Author