Children’s learning to be vernacular architects: Yucatec Maya theory behind LOPI (Cómo aprenden los niños mayas a ser arquitectos vernáculos: la teoría maya yucateca detrás de LOPI)

Abstract

Yucatec Maya theory of learning may be thought of as Learning by Observing and Pitching In to family and community endeavours. Children learn everyday and specialized tasks by observing and pitching in. This mode of learning is embedded in children's developmental niche in which parental ethnotheories play the central role. I present results from a study of children's process of learning to become vernacular architects as they participate in building the boxes that make up the bullring for the village fiesta. Ninety-two expert adults were interviewed and direct observations were made during the building process. Results show that children accompany their fathers from an early age and observe and pitch in until they become experts. In order to learn, children need to have the will to like the task. Having the will depends on their destiny. Only those who have the will become responsible experts. Fathers encourage their children to accompany them to help their will to emerge. The developmental niche is organized to incorporate children into the building process to learn by observing and contributing.

The developing of executive function skills through culturally organized autonomy and helping

“…Similarly, Cervera‐Montejano (2022) reports observing a 5‐year‐old boy gathering some aromatic herbs from the backyard while Cervera was conducting an interview with a Yucatec Maya mother. His mother explained that “he likes to have some money of his own, so he sells them among neighbors; he has seen his aunt doing it, so he decided to plant his own herbs and sell them.” (p. 550).…”

The key role of community inLearning by Observing and Pitching Into family and community endeavours (El papel clave de la comunidad enAprender por medio de Observar y Acomedirseen las actividades de la familia y la comunidad)

“…However, many ethnographers have described communities' ways of organizing learning that are quite distinct from the ways that are common in highly schooled communities and in Western schooling itself, such as children having responsible roles, included broadly in community activities (e.g., Cole & Scribner, 1981;Erickson & Mohatt, 1982;Fortes, 1938Fortes, /1970Gaskins, 1999Gaskins, , 2020Paradise, 1998;Philips, 1983). In addition, Indigenous autobiographies and scholarly accounts have made observations of Indigenous American ways of learning -emphasizing the importance of children's astute observation in the context of inclusion as contributors to community activities -sometimes contrasting these ways with the ways that learning is organized in Western schooling (e.g., Bang et al, 2016;Cajete, 1994;Kawagley, 1995;Pelletier, 1969;Swisher, 1990).…”

“…Our insider/outsider process of studying Learning by Observing and Pitching In to family and community endeavours involves a much larger 'we' than the two authors of the present article and the contributors to the LOPI model. Our understanding of LOPI has developed thanks to the writings of other scholars, especially the descriptions of learning in Indigenous communities of the Americas, and theorizing about this phenomenon by Indigenous American scholars writing about Indigenous Knowledge Systems (e.g., Bang et al, 2016;Barnhardt & Kawagley, 2005;Battiste, 2010;Brayboy & Maughan, 2009;Cajete, 1994;. We have also learned a great deal about LOPI through our own decades of everyday participation, discussions, and research in several Indigenous and Indigenous-heritage communities of the Americas (especially San Pedro la Laguna, in Guatemala, and San Juan de Ocotán, in Mexico, as well as several Native American communities in the USA and Mexican immigrant communities in the Santa Cruz and Los Angeles areas).…”

“…No obstante, muchos etnógrafos han descrito formas en que varias comunidades organizan el aprendizaje que son muy distintas de las formas que son comunes en comunidades con mayor experiencia escolar y en la institución de la escuela occidental, como el que los niños asuman roles responsables, incluidos en muchas actividades de la comunidad (e.g., Cole & Scribner, 1981;Erickson & Mohatt, 1982;Fortes, 1938Fortes, /1970Gaskins, 1999Gaskins, , 2020Paradise, 1998;Philips, 1983). Además, en las autobiografías indígenas y narrativas académicas se han hecho observaciones de las formas de aprendizaje de muchos pueblos indígenas americanos -en las que se destaca la importancia de una observación astuta por parte de los niños en el contexto de la inclusión como contribuidores en las actividades comunitarias -en ocasiones contrastando estas formas organizativas con el modo en que es común organizar el aprendizaje en el contexto escolar occidental (e.g., Bang et al, 2016;Cajete, 1994;Kawagley, 1995;Pelletier, 1969;Swisher, 1990).…”

Seeing for the purpose of learning and doing among the Nahua in Northern Puebla, Mexico (Ver para saber y hacer entre los nahuas del norte de Puebla, México)

“…En náhuatl antiguo se dice ixtlalia, sentar, depositar en el ojo (inglés: to fix something in one's mind, en Wimmer, en línea), y se entiende muy bien en la lengua moderna. Entre los Mayas actuales, se usa la misma imagen: t'áal tin wich, asentarse en el ojo (Cervera-Montejano, 2017).…”