The Anthropology of Learning¹

Abstract

Although anthropologists have often reported child‐training practices and formal efforts to transmit culture, they have not been overly concerned with the ways that individuals within a society actually “acquire” cu1ture. This paper calls for more attention to culture acquisition and suggests how the study of first‐language acquisition seems to offer a useful model. Attention is also given to inventorying myriad concepts and ideas about learning that anthropologists have contributed but have not subjected to systematic inquiry. ANTHROPOLOGY AND EDUCATION, CULTURAL ACQUISITION, CULTURAL TRANSMISSION, ENCULTURATION, LEARNING.