David Lancy
David Lancy | |
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| File:David-Lancy.jpg Dr. David F. Lancy | |
| Born | 1945 |
| Nationality | American |
| Academic background | |
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| Academic work | |
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| Language | English |
David Lancy (born 1945) is an American academic and anthropologist. He has made recognized contributions to childhood development and the concept of "chore curriculum." He is considered "perhaps the world’s leading expert on child-parent relationships throughout the world."[1] In 2001, he was awarded the Carnegie Foundation's Professor of the Year.[2]
Education and early career
David Lancy was born and raised in Pennslyvania. He received his B.A. in 1967 from Yale University, a master's degree in psychology from University of California, Irvine in 1969, and a Ph.D. in International and Development Education from the University of Pittsburgh in 1975.[3] In 1979, he was an N.I.M.H. fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles.
As a student of childhood and culture, Lancy's career began in 1968. As part of his graduate fellowship, he worked with Kpelle village children to determine the impact of schooling on cognitive development.[4] With this work, Lancy adopted an emic perspective which foregrounded the Kpelle ethnotheory of child development in counterpoint to the Western (now referred to as WEIRD) perspective. In a second visit in 1973, Lancy undertook a comprehensive ethnography of Kpelle childhood from birth to adolescence. This study yielded several important discoveries. Chief among these was the role of work in children’s lives and the “chore curriculum,” which ensured children learned the skills and knowledge required of mature members of society. Another important theme was the great contribution that children’s play makes to this learning process; this research was key to the development of the sub-discipline—the Anthropology of Childhood.[5]
Following his work in Liberia, Lancy studied children in a variety of cultures in Papua New Guinea, and established nine field sites throughout the country, where both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. This research examined the role that cultural complexity played in children’s thinking and adaptation to Western style schooling.[6]
Academic Career
Lancy’s interests also encompassed research methods for the study of childhood,[7]. but, increasingly, Lancy focused on an archival approach to inquiry. Specifically, he and his students combed through the hundreds of ethnographic descriptions of indigenous communities. Children remained the focus of repeated surveys of the literature, and insights were gleaned via inductive, pattern-seeking analyses.
It became clear to Professor Lancy that anthropology had a great deal to contribute to the study of childhood, which was and is completely dominated by Western-trained psychologists with limited awareness of the degree to which childhood is shaped by culture.[8] This necessitated a program of research as well as a concerted effort to create an environment to nurture and grow a new sub-discipline.[9] In 2008, The Anthropology of Childhood: Cherubs, Chattel and Changelings (Cambridge Press) became the first and remains the only systematic review of the field. A shortened version aimed at parents— Raising Children: Surprising Insights from Other Cultures—appeared in 2017. Lancy was instrumental in launching two organizations to foster the study of childhood by anthropologists: The Association for the Anthropological Study of Play and the Anthropology of Children[10] and Youth Interest Group.[11]
He has been awarded two Fulbright Fellowships for teaching and research in Trinidad and Tobago and Sweden.
Selected Publications
- — (2018). The Anthropology of Childhood: Cherubs, Chattel. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521887731.
- — (2017). Raising Children: Surprising Insights from Other Cultures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 1108415091.
- — (2010). The Anthropology of Learning in Childhood. Lanham: AltaMira Press. ASIN B0044R9HYA.
- — (1996). Playing on the Mother-Ground: Cultural Routines for Children's Development. New York City: Guilford Press. ISBN 978-1572302150.
Awards
- 2011, D.W. Thorne Career Research Award, Utah State University
- 2001, Professor of the Year, Carnegie Foundation
- 1999, Humanist of the Year, Utah State University
- 1995, Fulbright Fellowship, Sweden
- 1989, Fulbright Fellowship, Trinidad & Tobago
See also
External links
- The Association for the Anthropological Study of Play
- Anthropology of Children and Youth Interest Group
References
- ^ Grey, Peter (September 6, 2014). "Playing With Children: Should You, and If So, How?". Psychology Today.
- ^ Hegsted, Danielle (November 19, 2001). "Lancy named Professor of Year". The Utah Statesman.
- ^ Lancy, David. "David F. Lancy".
- ^ LANCY, DAVID F. (1975). "The Social Organization of Learning Initiation Rituals and Public Schools". Human Organization. 34 (4): 371–380.
- ^ Lancy, David F. (1996). Playing on the Mother-Ground: Cultural Routines for Children's Development. Guilford Press.
- ^ Lancy, David F. (January 1, 1983). Cross-Cultural Studies in Cognition and Mathematics. New York: Academic Press. ISBN 0124356206.
- ^ Lancy, David F. (2001). Studying Children and Schools: Qualitative Research Traditions. University of Michigan: Waveland Press. ISBN 1577661702.
- ^ Lancy, David (1986). "A Pen or a Bushknife? School, Work, and "Personal Investment" in Papua New Guinea". Anthropology & Education Quarterly. 17 (1): 40–61.
- ^ Lancy, David. "Play in Species Adaptation". Annual Review of Anthropology. 9: 471–495.
- ^ Lancy, David (1976). The Anthropological Study of Play: Problems and Prospects: Proceedings of the First Annual Meeting of the Association for the Anthropological Study of Play. Leisure Press. ISBN 9990015279.
- ^ "ACYIG HISTORY". Anthropology of Children and Youth Interest Group.