The Anthropology of Childhood Cherubs, Chattel, Changelings

In the previous chapter, I surveyed the relative rank of children over time and across cultures. Children may occupy the apex of society (neontocracy) or the basement (gerontocracy) or points in between. In this chapter my intent is to view the beginnings of life in the more common gerontocracy. In a gerontocracy, Imperial China for example, “‘child,’ or tzû, is understood … as a social status relative to his or her elders. It denotes the subordinate, humble, and inferior status of a child in a subservient role to that of his or her elders, ancestors, and others in a hierarchically superior position” (Hsiung 2005:21).

Figure 8 depicts a specific case from Pamela Reynolds’ study of the Tonga of Zambia. Note that the lowest level is the earth and a stillborn is returned directly to the wild, without ceremony. As the individual survives, she or he ascends a ladder of value reflected in the place and manner of burial – which progresses from fully wild to domestic.