Culture, History, Biology, and Body: Native and Non‐Native Acquisition of Technological Skill

Abstract

Each culture defines the appropriate ways for people to use their bodies (Mauss 1934). In this paper we examine the uses of the body in a technical skill, that of Zinacantec Maya backstrap loom weaving. We hypothesize that native learners of weaving are different from non‐native learners in that they are endowed from birth on with the biology and cultural experience needed for weaving. Maya newborns have distinctive patterns of motor behavior and visual attention. These patterns, reinforced by cultural experience, are utilized when girls learn to weave, highlighting the interplay between culture and biology. Non‐native learners do not begin life with the same patterns of motor behavior or cultural experience and thus begin the acquisition of the body techniques involved in the complex skill of weaving with a deficit. Conclusions are based on an empirical, historical study of two generations of girls learning to weave in Nabenchauk, a Zinacantec Maya hamlet in Chiapas, Mexico.

Skill Matters

“…At the least it also requires access to raw materials that can support and absorb refined abilities. A social web that can teach, appreciate, and encourage skilled activities is also probably vital (Bamforth 1991;Costin 1998;Maynard et al 1999;Childs 1998). Skilled people, in other words, need to have developed social networks that are specifically keyed to technological activities.…”

How Asabano Children Learn; or, Formal Schooling amongst Informal Learners

“…Most verbal interaction occurs solely to correct errors-and even then it is extremely limited-suggesting that Asabano children learn primarily through observation and self-directed discovery that occurs under the guidance of more skilled individuals. This type of education-emphasizing observation and self-directed learning, and deemphasizing instruction-is commonly reported in the cross-cultural literature (see, e.g., Briggs 1991;Howard 1978;Maynard, Greenfield, and Childs 1999;Schieffelin 1990). It has been referred to as 'informal' (Greenfield, Maynard, and Childs 2000:353), 'proleptic' (Rogoff and Gardner 1984:101), or 'guided discovery' (D'Andrade 1981:185).…”

Cultural context of cognitive development

“…10,55,56,[92][93][94][95][96][97] Studies have targeted diverse cultural practices and associated cognitive developments. Examples include the spatial understandings children develop in weaving, whether with back strap looms in Chiapas, 98,99 straw weaving in Northeastern Brazil, 100 or rug weaving on looms among the Navaho. 101 In the case of young children, investigations include numerical practices with which parents engage children growing up in middle and working class home settings.…”