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