Survey on Children’s Interactions with Fire

Daniel M.T. Fessler, Assoc. Professor of Anthropology at UCLA, is requesting data on children’s interactions with fire in small-scale societies. If you are able to, please respond to his survey, copied in full below the fold. Send your response directly to Dan (dmtfessler “at” gmail.com) – do not post in the comments or he might not get them.

Message from Dan Fessler:

Colleagues — I am currently researching children’s interactions with fire in small-scale societies. I would greatly appreciate it if you could take a moment to reply to this message using my email address, dmtfessler “at” gmail.com (insert the @ symbol), answering the following brief questions (all of the questions apply to the society or societies in which you have conducted fieldwork; if you have conducted fieldwork in multiple societies, just copy and paste the questions as many times as needed):

  1. Name of group/society/people at issue:

  2. Do you know of any serious burns (including deaths) due to fire? Please briefly explain (i.e., age of individual[s], outcome, etc.).

  3. At approximately what age do children first begin interacting with (i.e., manipulating, poking at, etc.) fire? Is there a gender difference in this regard?

  4. At what age do children typically begin playing with fire (carrying burning objects, building play fires, etc.)? In what age range is such behavior most frequent, if it occurs? Any gender differences?

  5. At what age are children fully competent to maintain a fire? At what age are children fully competent to start/build a fire? Any gender differences?

  6. Do children display entertainment interest in fire (i.e., watching fire for long periods, manipulating fires to create interesting effects, etc.)? Are there are age or gender differences? Do adults display such interest?

  7. Do adults or older children directly instruct children with regard to the dangers of fire? How do children learn techniques for maintaining a fire? How do children learn techniques for starting/building a fire?

If you have colleagues who could usefully contribute to this database, please forward this message to them.

Many thanks,

Dan