Oral Storytelling as Evidence of Pedagogy in Forager Societies

Abstract

Teaching is reportedly rare in hunter-gatherer societies, raising the question of whether it is a species-typical trait in humans. A problem with past studies is that they tend to conceptualize teaching in terms of Western pedagogical practices. In contrast, this study proceeds from the premise that teaching requires the ostensive manifestation of generalizable knowledge: the teacher must signal intent to share information, indicate the intended recipient, and transmit knowledge that is applicable beyond the present context. Certain features of human communication appear to be ostensive in function (e.g., eye contact, pointing, contingency, prosodic variation), and collectively serve as “natural pedagogy.” Tellingly, oral storytelling in forager societies typically employs these and other ostensive behaviors, and is widely reported to be an important source of generalizable ecological and social knowledge. Despite this, oral storytelling has been conspicuously overlooked in studies of teaching in preliterate societies. Accordingly, this study presents evidence that oral storytelling involves the use of ostension and the transmission of generic knowledge, thereby meeting the criteria of pedagogy.

Storytelling as Adaptive Collective Sensemaking

“…In forager societies, storytelling may have constituted an effective practice for the transmission of survival‐relevant information, allowing group members to avoid physical, social, and health risks and increase their fitness (Boyd, ; Scalise Sugiyama, , ). Stories about survival‐relevant information reduce the complexity of the natural and social world (e.g., by compressing time relative to the actual experience being transmitted) and reduce the risk involved in acquiring such information.…”

“…In hunter‐gatherer societies, many stories do indeed feature such content. For example, trickster stories reflect the problem of free‐riding, and tellings involve mimicry of the behavior of animals or describe their habitats (Scalise Sugiyama, , ). Similar content biases are apparent in modern‐day stories like urban legends (Stubbersfield et al., ).…”

“…If storytelling confers adaptive benefits related to the transmission of survival‐related information, it should feature prominently in teaching (Scalise Sugiyama, ). Teaching is “behavior evolved to facilitate learning in others” (Kline, , p. 3).…”

Language Learning Great and Small: Environmental Support Structures and Learning Opportunities in a Sociocognitive Approach to Second Language Acquisition/Teaching

“…In sum, human teaching is evolved/innate and co‐evolved with learning. Recent research (e.g., Scalese Sugiyama, ) shows how natural pedagogy continues across the lifespan. Likely examples in SLA include ‘foreigner talk’ and conversational repair.…”

Natural Pedagogy in Second Language Learning and Teaching

“…Scalise Sugiyama () reviewed ethnographic literature on oral storytelling among modern hunter‐gatherers, whose lifeways represent 95% of our species history. Storytelling incorporates gaze, gesture, body movement, and exaggerated intonation—all identified in earlier studies as NP tools.…”