Anthropology and education in a more-than-human world: Reflections on a study of infant retrievals and the acquisition of social rank in baboon “nursery school”

Abstract

Drawing on a more-than-human world perspective for anthropology and education, I (re)examine a study of juvenile baboon social learning conducted almost 50 years ago. Major scientific disciplinary twists and turns over the decades are examined in order to (re)interpret specific affiliative behaviors, communicative events and public performances. I identify and describe a “Baboon Nursery School” participation structure that provides the context for behavioral practices that reproduce and perpetuate the troop's social hierarchy.