Professional Documents
Culture Documents
the family system, the peer group, the school, and the cul- manageable proportions, authors must make some tough
tural environment. decisions. We have chosen to balance seminal and classical
As in previous editions, Child Psychology integrates studies in the field with up-to-date references of articles
relevant contextual material throughout the text. Thus, in published in the last few years.
addition to discussing the effects of schools, families, and In addition to such general updating, every chapter
peers in separate chapters, we consider such influences for includes a feature entitled Research and Society. These
each of the topics for which they are relevant. For example, sections permit a fuller discussion of some especially
Chapter 11 examines the impact of adverse social circum- interesting recent research developments that have high
stances on the development of attachment, Chapter 12 real-world relevance, such as the mapping of the genome
discusses the ways in which schools can affect self-esteem, or the latest brain imaging techniques. Although our focus
and Chapter 14 considers the impact of both parents and is on current work, we recognize that some truly classic
peers on moral development. This approach allows the studies should be known by every student of human devel-
course to move from one area of development to another opment. This material has been integrated into the text.
in a topical manner, while including the broad tapestry of
variables that affect each area. Topical Organization
We have made three major changes to the present edi-
tion that we believe result in an even stronger presentation We have chosen to organize the book topically. By consid-
of contextual influences. First, we have made the contex- ering each topic area in a single chapter, we believe we can
tual perspective a guiding model throughout the text, with most effectively present and critique the full body of re-
structural reorganization and a conceptual map at the end search and theorizing relevant to that area. The 16 chap-
of every chapter demonstrating key elements of the child’s ters can be grouped into five general parts, integrated
ecosystem that influence development according to each thematically according to an ecological model:
chapter topic. Second, we have reworked the “Families and • Understanding the Contexts of Child Development:
Peers” chapter into two separate chapters: Relationships Chapters 1, 2, and 3 provide the foundation of the disci-
with Peers, and Families and Society. Discussions of peer pline, covering theoretical and historical frameworks for
and family influences still occur throughout the book. The child development, studying child development in context,
new organization, however, permits a fuller consideration and the biological context of development.
of general issues in the study of peers and the family (e.g., • Contexts of Physical Development: Chapters 4-6 focus
parenting styles, the family as a system), and the expanded on aspects of physical development, such as prenatal devel-
coverage in the final chapter on Families and Society opment and birth; the early capacities of infancy, including
allows for a deeper examination of the influence of the motor, sensory, and perceptual development; and physical
exosystem and macrosystem on child development. growth and health.
• Contexts of Cognitive Development: Chapters 7-10
Cultural Diversity cover Piagetian and Vygotskian approaches to cognitive
development; information processing and the core knowl-
Each edition of this book has seen expanded coverage of edge approach; intelligence and schooling; and language
research in diverse communities in North America and in and communciation.
cultures around the world. This remains true for the fifth
edition. Discussions of development in different cultures • Contexts of Social and Emotional Development:
are woven throughout the text. For example, we describe Chapters 11-14 describe social and emotional develop-
how different cultures foster different approaches to lan- ment, including emotional development, attachment, the
guage learning (Chapter 10), we discuss different concep- self-system, moral reasoning, prosocial and antisocial
tions of the self and morality across different cultures behavior, and gender role development.
(Chapters 12 and 14), and we consider cultural variations • Peer, Family, and Community Contexts: Chapters
in childrearing practices (Chapter 16). 15-16 focus on peer relations, families, and influences of
In addition, the inclusion of the contextual model as a the larger society.
guiding perspective has allowed us to provide a conceptual Although the overall organization is topical, the internal
framework within which students can interpret such work. presentation of Chapters 4-16 is developmental. The topic
We believe that this change makes our treatment of devel- area—be it language, gender roles, or whatever—begins with
opment in cultural context exceptionally strong. the newborn and describes development through adolescence.
This approach helps the student to appreciate the continuity
State-of-the-Art Coverage of growth within each area and also to understand the on-
going interactions between biological processes and contex-
Information is being generated in the field of child devel- tual influences. In addition, a new feature highlights content
opment at a staggering rate. To prepare a textbook of links between chapters in the margins of the text.
Preface vii
Readability and Accessibility ment, who talk about the families and children they serve.
In Conversations, these professionals explain, for example,
We have worked hard to make our text above all interest-
how knowledge of child development helps them in the
ing and accessible to the student reader. We believe that
challenges and rewards of working with infants and chil-
the text’s comfortable writing style and the clarity with
dren. Examples include conversations with an adoption
which concepts are introduced, discussed, and interrelated
social worker (Chapter 3), a pediatric physical therapist
will enable students to read and understand a rigorous
(Chapter 5), a speech-language pathologist (Chapter 10),
treatment of the issues. Users of previous editions have
and men in nontraditional roles (Chapter 13).
consistently praised the text’s accessibility.
In addition, we have focused throughout the text on
real-world relevance and application. This is particularly
evident in our use of the Applications and Conversations
features in every chapter.
This feature appears in every chapter and presents exam-
ples of research programs and findings that have been ap-
PEDAGOGICAL FEATURES plied to the solution of practical problems in schools,
homes, hospitals, and other real-world settings. Examples
In our effort to be complete and up to date, we have not include Society, Teens and Sexuality (Chapter 6), Brains in
forgotten that this is a textbook whose audience includes a Box: Do New Age Toys Deliver on the Promise? (Chap-
college sophomores. We have designed into the book a ter 8), and Reducing Stereotype Threat in Minority Popu-
number of features to maximize the likelihood that stu- lations (Chapter 9).
dents will learn the material.
Test Your Mastery Sections
Chapter-Opening Vignettes
At the end of each major section in a chapter, questions are
Each of the chapters begins with a brief story designed to presented that link to the learning objective for that sec-
capture the student’s interest and to introduce the topic tion. This organization encourages students to pause and
under consideration. In Chapter 3, for example, we open reflect on what they have just read and helps set the stage
with the story of Carbon Copy, the cloned kitten, and we for the sections that follow. Learning is reinforced when
consider some of the intriguing ethical questions posed by the answers to the Test Your Mastery sections are provided
the research. In Chapter 8 we preview the discussion of in- in the Chapter Summary.
formation processing with the true story of Josh Waitzkin,
child chess champion, and ask students to consider what
types of thinking might distinguish a novice from an Chapter Summaries
expert in a given domain. Each chapter ends with a summary of the major points
and issues to help students organize and review the chap-
ter’s material. These summaries are designed to facilitate
learning by linking clearly to the learning objectives and
Test Your Mastery sections for each chapter.
Margin Links to Related Content video guide, and media materials. The guide was prepared
by Joyce Hemphill of the University of Wisconsin,
Each chapter features links to related content in other
Madison, and is available on-line at www.wiley.com/
chapters, provided in the margins. This gives students a
college/harwood.
greater appreciation for the ways in which development in
one domain relates to development in other domains.
Test Bank
Illustration Program The test bank provides approximately 120 questions for
each chapter, keyed to the text in multiple-choice and
We reworked many of the figures and drawings from the
essay formats. Each question notes the text page on which
previous edition to create new, effective illustrations in a
the answer can be found and whether the question is
full-color format. We also carefully selected many new
factual or conceptual. The test bank was prepared by Susan
color photos that depict situations and events described
Siaw of the California State Polytechnic University,
in the text, along with some that illustrate laboratory
Pomona and is available on-line at www.wiley.com/
techniques and other research methods.
college/harwood.
Mary Beth Ahlum Nebraska Wesleyan Rob Guttentag University of North Carolina- Dawn Niedner Purdue University Calumet
University Greensboro Sonia Nieves Broward Community College
Daisuke Akiba Queens College of the City Dorathea Halpert Brooklyn College, City Claire Novosad Southern Connecticut State
University of New York University of New York University
Dana Albright Clovis Community College Steven J. Hayduk Southern Wesleyan University Alan Y. Oda Azusa Pacific University
Maria Bravo Central Texas College Beth Hentges University of Houston-Clear Lake Rose R. Oliver Amherst College
Nancy Budwig Clark University Jennifer M. Hill City University of New York Leanne Olson Wisconsin Lutheran College
Bruce Carter Syracuse University Graduate Center Robert Pasternak George Mason University
Juan F. Casas University of Nebraska, Omaha Jeffrey A. Howard Eckerd College Margarita Pérez Worcester State College
Dionne Clabaugh Gavilon College Margaret Hellie Huyck Illinois Institute of Wayne J. Robinson Monroe Community College
Robert Cohen University of Memphis Technology Stephanie Rowley University of Michigan
Donna Couchenour Shippensburg University Marsha Ironsmith East Carolina University Claire Rubman Suffolk County Community
of Pennsylvania Elaine M. Justice Old Dominion University College
Bill Curry Wesleyan College Kathleen N. Kannass University of Kansas Larissa Samuelson University of Iowa
Shawn E. Davis University of Houston- Kevin Keating Broward Community College- Nicholas R. Santilli John Carroll University
Downtown North Campus Pamela Braverman Schmidt Salem State
Melanie Deckert-Pelton University of West Cheri L. Kittrell University of Tampa College
Florida Paul Klaczynski Pennsylvania State University Billy M. Seay Louisiana State University
John Dilworth Kellogg Community College Kathy F. Kufskie Florissant Valley Community Tam Spitzer St. John Fisher College
Janet DiPietro Johns Hopkins University College Richard A. Sprott California State University-
Rosanne K. Dlugosz Scottsdale Community Lloyd Lorin La Rouge The University of Hayward
College Wisconsin, Whitewater Ric Steele University of Kansas
Ken Dobush Bridgewater State College Lana Larsen University of Maryland, University Mary Steir University of Hartford
Gina Annunziato Dow Denisen University College Margaret Szweczyk University of Illinois,
Jerome B. Dusek Syracuse University Cynthia Legin-Bucell Edinboro University of Urbana-Champaign
Anne O. Eisbach Quinnipiac University Pennsylvania Francis Terrell University of North Texas
Khaya Novick Eisenberg University of Detroit- Angeline Lillard University of Virginia David G. Thomas Oklahoma State University
Mercy Wendy M. Little Westmont College Lesa Rae Vartanian Indiana University—
David Estell Indiana University Glenn Lowery Springfield College Purdue University Fort Wayne
S. A. Fenwick Augustana College Arlene R. Lundquist Utica College Amy Wagenfeld Lasell College
Donna Fisher-Thompson Niagara University Saramma T. Mathew Troy State University Alida Westman Eastern Michigan University
William Franklin California State University Jessica Miller Mesa State College Matthew Westra Longview Community College
Harvey J. Ginsburg Southwest Texas State Uni- Terry C. Miller Wilmington College of Ohio Colin William Columbus State Community
versity Mary Mindess Lesley University College
Dennis M. Goff Randolph-Macon Woman’s Elizabeth A. Mosco University of Nevada, Herkie Lee Williams Compton Community
College Reno College
Allen Gottfried California State University Ron Mulson Hudson Valley Community College Laurie A. Wolfe Raritan Valley Community
Elizabeth K. Gray North Park University Robin Musselman Lehigh Carbon Community College
Joelle K. Greene Pomona College College Gretchen Miller Wrobel Bethel College
Jiansheng Guo California State University Jeffrey Nagelbush Ferris State University
ix
x ■ Acknowledgments
We are also grateful to colleagues who Allen Gottfried California State University, Harvey A. Pines Canisius College
provided reviews of the earlier editions of Fullerton Catherine Raeff Indiana University of
the book. Terry R. Greene Franklin & Marshall College Pennsylvania
Brian P. Ackerman University of Delaware Vernon Hall Syracuse University Dina Raval Towson State University
Linda Baker University of Maryland, Baltimore William S. Hall University of Maryland at D. Dean Richards University of California,
County College Park Los Angeles
Marie T. Balaban Eastern Oregon University Yolanda Harper University of Tulsa William L. Roberts York University
Byron Barrington University of Wisconsin- Yvette R. Harris Miami University Marite Rodriguez-Haynes Clarion University
Marathon County Vernon Haynes Youngstown University Karl Rosengren University of Illinois
Karen Bauer University of Delaware Melissa Heston University of Northern Iowa Jane Rysberg California State University, Chico
Dan Bellack College of Charleston Erika Hoff Florida Atlantic University Nicholas R. Santilli John Carroll University
Sarah Bengston Augustana College Kenneth I. Hoving University of Oklahoma Ellin Scholnick University of Maryland
Cynthia Berg University of Utah Marsha Ironsmith East Carolina University Frederick M. Schwantes Northern Illinois
Rebecca Bigler University of Texas, Austin Jane Jakoubek Luther College University
Dana Birnbaum University of Maine Boaz Kahana Cleveland State University Gayle Scroggs Cayuga Community College
Fredda Blanchard-Fields Georgia Institute of Kenneth Kallio SUNY Geneseo Kathleen Sexton-Radek Elmhurst College
Technology Christine Kenitzer Texas Tech University Harriet Shaklee University of Iowa
Cathryn L. Booth University of Washington Janice Kennedy Georgia Southern University Cecilia Shore Miami University
Theodore Bosack Providence College Wallace Kennedy Florida State University Susan Siaw California Polytechnic State
Michelle Boyer-Pennington Middle Tennessee Marguerite D. Kermis Canisius College University
State University Katherine Kipp University of Georgia Robert S. Siegler Carnegie Mellon University
Kristine Brady Rider University Paul Klaczynski Pennsylvania State University Gregory Simpson University of Kansas
Gordon F. Brown Pasadena City College Gerald Larson Kent State University Frank J. Sinkavich York College of Pennsylvania
Harriet Budd Roger V. Burton SUNY at Elizabeth Lemerise Western Kentucky Rita Smith Millersville University of
Buffalo University Pennsylvania
Bruce D. Carter Syracuse University Gary Levy University of Utah Thomas R. Sommerkamp Central Missouri
Stephen J. Ceci Cornell University Angeline Lillard University of Virginia State University
Xinyin Chen University of Western Ontario Pamela Ludeman Framingham State University Kathy Stansbury Mount Holyoke College
Stewart Cohen University of Rhode Island Kevin MacDonald California State University, Debra Cowart Steckler Mary Washington
Jodi Compton Framingham State University Long Beach University
Ed Cornell University of Alberta Barbara Manning University of Nebraska- Ric G. Steele University of Kansas
James Dannemiller University of Wisconsin- Omaha Margaret Szewczyk University of Illinois at
Madison Tammy A. Marche St. Thomas More College Urbana-Champaign
K. Laurie Dickson Northern Arizona University John C. Masters Vanderbilt University Francis Terrell University of North Texas
Janet DiPietro Johns Hopkins University Robert G. McGinnis Ancilla College David G. Thomas Oklahoma State University
Shelly Drazen SUNY Albany Patricia McKane Augustana College Laura Thompson New Mexico State University
Beverly D. Eckhardt Albuquerque Vocational- Margie McMahan Cameron University Katherin Van Giffen California State Univer-
Technical Institute Carolyn Mebert University of New Hampshire sity, Long Beach
Melissa Faber University of Toledo Morton J. Mendelson McGill University Lesa Rae Vartanian Indiana Purdue University,
Beverly I. Fagot University of Oregon Richard Metzger University of Tennessee at Fort Wayne
Shirlee Fenwick Augustana College Chattanooga Diane N. Villwock Moorehead State University
Mary Ann Fischer Indiana University- Barbara Moely Tulane University Leonard Volenski Seton Hall University
Northwest Ernst L. Moerk California State University, Amye Warren University of Tennessee at
William Franklin California State University, Fresno Chattanooga
Los Angeles Derek Montgomery Bradley University Beth Wildman Kent State University
Barry Ghoulson University of Memphis Lisa Oakes University of Iowa Nanci Stewart Woods Austin Peay State
Katherine W. Gibbs University of California, Cynthia O’Dell Indiana University-Northwest University
Riverside Lynn Okagaki Purdue University Alastair Younger University of Ottawa
Gail S. Goodman University of California, Jeff Parker Pennsylvania State University Martha Zlokovich Southeast Missouri State
Davis Vicky Phares University of South Florida University
About the Authors
Robin L. Harwood
Robin Harwood is a Research Scientist at the University of Con-
necticut, Department of Anthropology, and a Visiting Professor at
the Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany. She received her Ph.D.
in developmental psychology from Yale University in 1991. She
has previously authored (with Joan Miller and Nydia Lucca
Irizarry) Culture and Attachment: Perceptions of the Child in
Context. Her research has focused on cultural influences on
parenting and early socioemotional development.
Scott A. Miller
Scott Miller is Professor of Psychology at the University of
Florida. After completing his undergraduate work at Stanford Uni-
versity in 1966, he entered the Institute of Child Development
at the University of Minnesota, where he earned his Ph.D. in
1971. His initial appointment was at the University of Michigan.
He is a Fellow in the American Psychological Association (Divi-
sion 7). He has previously authored Developmental Research
Methods, second edition, and coauthored (with John Flavell and
Patricia Miller) Cognitive Development, fourth edition. His re-
search has been in the cognitive area, focusing on Piaget’s work,
children’s understanding of logical necessity, theory of mind, and
parents’ beliefs about children.
Ross Vasta
Before his death in 2000, Ross Vasta was Distinguished Profes-
sor of Psychology at the State University of New York at Brock-
port. He received his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth
College in 1969 and his Ph.D. in clinical and developmental psy-
chology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in
1974. He was a Fellow in the American Psychological Society
and the American Psychological Association (Division 7). In
1987 he was awarded the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excel-
lence in Teaching. His previous books include Studying Children:
An Introduction to Research Methods, Strategies and Techniques
of Child Study, and Six Theories of Child Development. He also
edited the annual series Annals of Child Development.
xi
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Brief Contents
1 FRAMEWORKS FOR DEVELOPMENT 2
xiii
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Contents
xv
Contents Continued
Observation 42
Interview Methods 44
Case Studies 45
Correlational Research 45
■ CONVERSATIONS Conversations with a Cross-Cultural Psychologist 48
Experimental Research 48
Studying Development 52
Longitudinal Research 53
■ APPLICATIONS Wise Consumers of Research on Development 54
Cross-Sectional Research 54
Cross-Sequential Design 55
Microgenetic Method 56
Issues in the Study of Children 56
Ethical Considerations in Child Development Research 57
Cultural Considerations in Child Development Research 58
■ CONVERSATIONS Studying AIDS Orphans in Africa 60
xvi
Contents xvii
Pathways to Parenthood 91
Assisted Reproduction 91
Effects of ART on Child Development 93
Adoption 93
■ APPLICATIONS Journey to Parenthood 94
■ CONVERSATIONS Conversations with an Adoption Social Worker 96
Birth 130
Labor and Delivery 130
Childbirth and Society 131
■ CONVERSATIONS Conversations with a Certified Professional Midwife 132
The Newborn 135
Assessing the Newborn’s Health 135
Birth Complications 136
Birthweight and Gestational Age 137
■ APPLICATIONS Caring for Preterm and Low-Birthweight Infants in the NICU 138
xviii
Contents xix
xx
Contents xxi
xxii
Contents xxiii
xxiv
Contents xxv
xxvi
Contents xxvii
14 Moral Development
Theories of Moral Development 552
Piaget’s Model of Moral Development 552
Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development 555
Turiel’s Moral Domains 558
Cultural Construction Approach 560
Influences on Moral Development 560
■ RESEARCH & SOCIETY When Are We Obligated to Help Others? Cultural Differences in Children’s Perceptions 561
Peer Influences on Moral Reasoning 562
Parent Influences on Moral Reasoning 562
Psychological Factors that Influence Moral Behavior 563
Prosocial Behavior 564
Empathy and Sympathy 564
Helping and Sharing 564
■ CONVERSATIONS Conversations with a
Marriage and Family Therapist 565
Conflict Resolution 567
Individual Differences 567
Gender Differences 568
Social and Cultural Differences 568
Determinants of Prosocial Behavior 569
Kin Selection and Reciprocal Altruism 569
Moral Affect and Moral Reasoning 569
Social Participation and Socialization 570
Aggression 572
Age and Gender Differences in Aggression 572
Biological Determinants of Aggression 573
Cognitive and Affective Influences on Aggression 574
Sociocultural and Family Determinants of Aggression 575
Family Processes 575
Contents Continued
xxviii
Contents xxix
References R1
Author Index I1
In what ways does this child's cultural & historical contexts shape his development?
(John Warburton-Lee/Danita Delimont)
CHAPTER
3
4 Chapter 1 ■ Frameworks for Development
T he [Gusii of] Nyansongo [Kenya] had the largest number of children (50 percent) involved in
the herding of animals. The young boys took the cattle, sheep, and goats to the homestead pastures or
drove them along the sides of the road where there was grass. They were responsible for seeing that
the animals did not get into the gardens and ruin their own or someone else’s food supply. They drove
the cattle, sheep, and goats to the river to drink and took care that they returned home with the proper
number of animals. (Whiting & Whiting, 1975, p. 90)
[In] Orchard Town [New England, USA] the tasks assigned to children are less clearly related to
the economy and welfare of the child or the child’s family and probably seem more arbitrary to the
child. . . . The need for having clothes hung up, bureau drawers tidy, or the bed smoothed out neatly is
probably not immediately clear, nor are the consequences of negligence obviously serious. (Whiting &
Whiting, 1975, p. 106)
These paragraphs describe children who are growing focuses on acquiring skills that children may not easily
up in two very different contexts. The first context is a associate with the adult roles they will someday assume.
small village in Kenya populated by subsistence farmers. How might growing up in these two very different
Children help with chores that are essential to survival. contexts affect a child’s development? For example, what
Through their daily involvement with these tasks, they skills and abilities are likely to be practiced and acquired
learn the skills necessary to become productive farmers by a child who is contributing to daily subsistence
themselves someday. The second context is a small town through herding animals or watching younger siblings
in the northeastern United States. Children grow up in while parents work in the fields, as compared to a child
home settings and go to schools that are typically sepa- who spends a great deal of after-school time in leisure
rated from adult work environments. School usually activities such as play and TV? ■
When we study children’s development over time, we are looking at how children
change in their physical, cognitive, linguistic, emotional, and social development across
these age periods.
Finally, child development researchers recognize that children are born into families—
typically, families that hope the best for them. These families live within neighborhoods,
which exist within communities, that in turn are part of larger societies and cultures. As
children develop, their lives are influenced by each of these contexts: families and the love
and types of resources they bring; neighborhoods and the educational settings they pro-
vide; communities and the peers and activities they offer for play and enrichment. Soci-
eties provide laws and institutions that guide childrearing, whereas cultures shape the Questions for Thought
and Discussion
beliefs and values that permeate the lives of children and their parents at all levels. In ad- In what ways has your development
dition, societies and cultures change over time in some ways, while staying the same in been shaped by your time and
other ways. These conditions and changes are the contexts of child development. place?
Many aspects of child development reflect our biological heritage as human beings
and so are universal across cultures and societies. This textbook traces the growing child’s
biological development from the embryo’s earliest beginnings to the child’s eventual ado-
lescence. Many other aspects of development, however, are shaped by children’s families, Questions for Thought
neighborhoods, communities, and cultures. In addition to paying attention to the influ- and Discussion
What behaviors or aspects of chil-
ence of biology on child development, this textbook focuses on the larger environmental dren’s development are you particu-
context in which child development takes place. Thus, this textbook presents child devel- larly interested in learning about in
opment within a contextual framework. this course?
I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.