2 research outputs found
Between Will and Thought: Individualism and Social Responsiveness in Amazonian Child Rearing
This essay provides an ethnographic account of how moral dispositions towards independence and social responsiveness are forged during infancy and toddlerhood among the Runa, an indigenous people in the Ecuadorian Amazon. I will show how two local concepts, munay (will) and yuyay (thought) shape childrenâs early experiences of the self and the self in relation to others. In particular, I will argue that, unlike middle class Anglo-Americans who repute paternal responsiveness to be necessary for a âhealthyâ child development, Runa adults strategically chose not to respond to childrenâs will in order to make them âthoughtfulâ. Such state of thoughtfulness, I argue, emerges from socialization practices which stress a childâs unique will while at the same time forcefully encourage the development of social responsiveness