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18 April 2005 Volume 1, Issue 9 A full week of sunshine in the Berkshires has the daffodils billowing gold and the male cardinal who hangs out on our street trilling with unabashed glee. It's frustrating to be inside on days like this, as those of you prepping students for the AP exams know all too well. Here are some reflections on adolescence, and the rituals of growing up, drawn from world history and anthropology. Perhaps AP and other standardized tests can be also counted as rites of passage, with their own myths and magical rituals. Another award for the Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History: According to the well-known Library Journal Best Reference Sources 2004 selector Brian E. Coutts of Bowling Green, KY, "Berkshire . . . has made an auspicious publishing debut with this unique and readable guide to world history." Transitions
With graduations upon us, young people face the task of moving from one stage of life to the next. From middle school to high school, from high school to college or to work, and from college into the professions are transitions we all experience. Throughout human history and across cultures people have always faced the most basic of these transitions – from child or adolescent to adult. In the Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History cross-cultural psychologist Gwen Broude and historian Peter Stearns examine this issue in their articles on Adolescence and Initiation Rites and Childhood. Adolescence – Does Everyone Experience It?In the West adolescence is defined as a developmental stage between childhood and adulthood marked by physical changes (puberty) and emotional and social turmoil. In nearly all cultures, this stage that we call adolescence, is recognized and acknowledged. At the same time, there is variation in how long the stage of adolescence is thought to last and how much turmoil is considered normal. So, the answer is, yes, pretty much all human beings experience adolescence and nearly all cultures recognize it. An exception – The Chippewa Native Americans of the Great Lakes region – recognized a transition from childhood to as a new stage in life, but that new stage lasted until the individual had grandchildren. Rites and Rights
Inside the Berkshire Encyclopedia:
Coming of age is covered in such aticles as Adolescence, Initiation and Rites of Passage, and Childhood. Growing Up by Gwen Broude (published by ABC-Clio) and the Encyclopedia of Religious Rites, Rituals and Festivals edited by Frank Salamone (and published by Routledge) are other Berkshire reference works with much to say. Adolescent initiation rites take place in about 50% of cultures. In contemporary America they include confirmation, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, and school graduation ceremonies. Wherever they occur, the purposes and organization is quite similar. They are meant to end one’s social identity as a child and establish one’s identity as an adult. They are also meant to teach the knowledge and skills expected of an adult and to create bonds among the initiates. The adolescents are separated from their families and placed under the control of adults. These adults pass on important knowledge and teach them adult skills and behavior. The rite concludes with a public ceremony marking the initiate’s new identity as an adult member of the community. The new status means new rights and responsibilities. Rites can last from a few days to several months and learning by trial and error the ways of an adult can take much longer. A Bar Mitzvah joke: Today I am a man; tomorrow I go back to the seventh grade. Free article for classroom use: “Initiation and Rites of Passage” from the Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History, by Gwen Jessica Broude, Professor of Psychology at Vassar College. From Boys to Men
Surveys show that more cultures have rites for boys than for girls. Some experts interpret this pattern as showing that boys and men are valued more than girls and women. This is likely true, but another interpretation also makes sense. We know from historical and anthropological studies of childhood that both girls and boys in most cultures spend more time with their mothers than with their fathers. This is mainly because traditional women’s work such as gathering plant food and cooking is more compatible with caring for children than is traditional men’s work such as hunting. Check out our World History and HCI gear for 2005!
 For girls, this close association with their mother eases the transition into adolescence and then adulthood. For boys, and especially boys in cultures where men are expected to be independent, brave, and aggressive, the transition is less easy. They need to break their psychological association with their mothers, identify with their fathers, and learn adult male skills and behaviors. Initiation rites are one way of accomplishing this and that is one reason why there are often more rites for boys and the rites are more intense and dramatic than for girls. Rites for boys often involve physical pain, isolation, and hazing. The hazing sometimes found in youth sports today can be seen as a male initiation rite designed to make teammates tough and loyal to one another.
Many thanks to the teachers who have offered to work with us on lesson plans for using the Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History, and we welcome contacts from other teachers. We're also preparing materials for the AP World History workshops that will soon be held around the country; if you are a workshop leader, please be sure to drop me a note so I can send you a list to select from. With warm regards, |
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