Acknowledgments -- Note on translation and transliteration -- Introduction -- Sri Lanka: setting the ethnographic context -- Socializing desire: demanding toddlers and self-restrained children -- Shaping attachments: learning hierarchy at home -- Making sense of envy: desires and relationships in conflict -- Engaging with hierarchy outside the Home: education and efforts at change -- Culturing people -- Notes -- References -- Index
Summary
"Childhood in a Sri Lankan Village offers an intimate look at how these children, raised on the tenets of Buddhism, are trained to set aside selfish desires for the good of their families and the community. Chapin reveals how this cultural conditioning is carried out through small everyday practices, including eating and sleeping arrangements, yet she explores how the village's attitudes and customs continue to change with each new generation. Combining penetrating psychological insights with a rigorous observation of larger social structures, Chapin enables us to see the world through the eyes of Sri Lankan children searching for a place within their families and communities. Childhood in a Sri Lankan Village offers a fresh, global perspective on child development and the transmission of culture."--Back cover