2020/06/12 by Francesca Mezzenzana · 4 citations
Health Professions · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Amazon rainforest #Amazonian #Anthropological Studies and Insights #Anthropology #Community Health and Development #Cultural Differences and Values #Developmental psychology #Ecology #Ethnography #Gender studies #Independence (probability theory) #Indigenous #Individualism #Political science #Psychology #Social psychology #Socialization #Sociology
paper · doi:10.1111/aman.13345
openalex publication_date 2020/06/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
ABSTRACT This article provides an ethnographic account of how moral dispositions toward independence and social responsiveness are forged during infancy and toddlerhood among the Runa, an Indigenous people in the Ecuadorian Amazon. I show how two local concepts, munay (will) and yuyay (thought) shape children's early experiences of the self and the self in relation to others. In particular, I argue that, unlike middle‐class Anglo‐Americans who repute paternal responsiveness to be necessary for a “healthy” child development, Runa adults strategically chose not to respond to children's will in order to make them “thoughtful.” Such a state of thoughtfulness, I argue, emerges from socialization practices that stress a child's unique will while at the same time forcefully encouraging the development of social responsiveness. [ child‐rearing, individuality, responsibility, attachment, indigenous Amazonia ]