Knowing and Learning Among Nayaka Hunter-gatherers

Abstract

In this paper I explore patterns of knowing and learning among present day Nayaka – hunter-gatherer groups from the forests of South India. I will argue that knowing and learning is embedded within two main contexts. One is personal experimentation, which often entails processes of trial and error. The second context is engagement with others, locally constructed as ‘relatives’ (see Bird-David 1999: 72–7, 2005a: 211), in which learning takes place not as a singularized and isolated event but as an integral element of ‘being together’. These two contexts are not necessarily detached from one another and learning may flow from one context to the other, being enriched and stimulated by both. In both contexts, learning is characterized by first-hand experience, which includes adults’ appreciation of the need children have to learn for themselves through direct experience.

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