Childhood Activities: An Indexed & Searchable Subject in the eHRAF databases

Photo taken by Ulrike Haase

Tarahumara Children Sitting on the Doorsteps of a Church. Photo Credit: Ulrike Haase

eHRAF World Cultures includes data on children’s including children’s play and work; imitative activities (e.g., make-believe); habits of rest and sleep; children’s play groups, cliques, and gangs; quarreling and fighting; children’s explorations and haunts; tasks performed by children and age at which each is undertaken (e.g., errands, chores, care of younger children); etc.

The ethnographic texts in eHRAF World Cultures are indexed with subjects based on the Outline of Cultural Materials (also called OCMs). Subjects such as “Childhood Activities (OCM 857)” can be used in Advanced Search to find relevant passages of texts in the paragraphs and pages of ethnographies.

The eHRAF Search Examples & Methodology section provides some ideas of the different Advanced Search possibilities in the eHRAF databases, including a cross-cultural search for  “Childhood Activities (OCM 857).”  Interested in using eHRAF World Cultures and Archaeology for your research or teaching? Email hraf@yale.edu for a free temporary log-in to access the eHRAF databases.