This unprecedented collection of articles is an introduction to the study of cultural variations in childhood across the world and to the theoretical frameworks for investigating and interpreting them.

• Presents a history of cross-cultural approaches to child-development
  
• Recent articles examine diverse contexts of childhood in ecological, semiotic, and sociolinguistic terms
  
• Includes ethnographic studies of childhood in the Pacific, Africa, Latin America, East Asia, Europe and North America
  
• Illuminates the process through which people become the bearers of culturally/historically specific identities
  
• Serves as an ideal text for anthropology courses focusing on childhood, as well as classes on development psychology

Robert A. LeVine is a professor emeritus of education and anthropology at Harvard University. He has been investigating child rearing and development for more than 50 years, in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. His recent books include Childhood Socialization: Comparative Studies of Parents, Learning and Educational Change (2003), Japanese Frames of Mind: Cultural Perspectives on Human Development (2001), and Child Care and Culture: Lessons from Africa (1994).

Rebecca S. New is associate professor of education and research fellow at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She has spent three decades studying the cultural nature of child development and early education, most often in Italy and recently in Head Start programs serving immigrant populations. Publications include the four-volume Early Childhood Education: An International Encyclopedia (2007).