This essay provides an ethnographic account of how moral dispositions towards independence and social responsiveness are forged during infancy and toddlerhood among the Runa, an indigenous people in the Ecuadorian Amazon. I will show how two local concepts, munay (will) and yuyay (thought) shape children’s early experiences of the self and the self in relation to others. In particular, I will argue that, unlike middle class Anglo-Americans who repute paternal responsiveness to be necessary for a “healthy” child development, Runa adults strategically chose not to respond to children’s will in order to make them “thoughtful”. Such state of thoughtfulness, I argue, emerges from socialization practices which stress a child’s unique will while at the same time forcefully encourage the development of social responsiveness.

中文翻译：

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意志与思想之间：亚马逊育儿中的个人主义与社会反应

这篇文章提供了一个民族志描述，说明了在厄瓜多尔亚马逊地区的土著人 Runa 中，在婴儿期和幼儿期如何形成对独立和社会反应的道德倾向。我将展示两个局部概念，munay（意志）和 yuyay（思想）如何塑造儿童早期的自我体验以及与他人的关系。尤其是，我要论证的是，不像英美中产阶级认为父亲的回应对于“健康”的儿童发展是必要的，鲁纳成年人战略性地选择不回应孩子的意愿，以使他们“体贴”。我认为，这种体贴的状态来自社会化实践，这种实践强调孩子的独特意愿，同时有力地鼓励社会反应能力的发展。