Developmental Niche Theory
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Developmental Niche Theory
Alda Sarmiento
Western Washington University
Developmental Niche Theory
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Abstract
Babies is a documentary of four different children born and raised by their parents in
their respective regions. Throughout the film, we see different forms of physical and social
environments, customs and ideologies, and psychologies of their caretakers. This paper will
focus particularly on Ponijao, the baby born by Opuwo, Naimbia to explain the Developmental
Niche Theory. There will be a combination of observation based off of what was gathered from
the movie and analysis by the information learned in the course HSP 315 and its readings. The
theory will explain and reflect the baby’s growth, development and its outside influences.
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Developmental Niche
In a land near Opuwo, Namibia, the movie Babies shows a small village of people.
Unlike urban areas, the village is surrounded by the natural environment of our earth. Its
location is vulnerable to the rays of the sun and close proximity to wild animals. The villagers
house themselves in huts and live with minimal resources. One night, the village was blessed
with a young baby by the name of Ponijao. She was born from a mother of many and was
welcomed by the rest of the community. In her growth, she was influenced by the people and
environment, the beliefs of her caretakers, and how they thought she should be raised. Through
the Developmental Niche Theory, a concept which is based off of cultural systems and personal
dispositions, the larger cultural system effecting Ponijao’s life as an infant will be analyzed and
uncovered.
Physical and Social Settings of Daily Life
The village community holds certain physical and social settings of daily life that is
unique to Ponijao. For example, Ponijao’s family lives in a hut made of branches from trees that
support the entire structure with a roof made of grass and clay. Due to the ecological setting of
constant arid climate, the homes of villagers would be susceptible to rainfall. Additionally, the
lack of resources would cause its people to be vulnerable to Mother Nature. Here, the physical
environment creates complete dependency for the villagers. When the huts are safe to live in,
family activities occur inside. Ponijao’s family shares a single bowl of food when dinner comes
and sleep on the bare ground when night falls. Within the day, she discovers new things, many of
which include the sex of an individual. She sees the physical differences and wonders why she
doesn’t have the same sexual organs as her brother. Later, Ponijao comes to learn that the parts
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that make her a female are not meant to be shown publicly. With this aspect, she is being
socialized to recognize not only her sex but her gender and the respect of one’s body. As a result,
she is becoming capable of identifying herself within society.
What is more, throughout the movie, there was no scene that included older males. This
leads to the conclusion that, in terms of family structure, there was no father figure in Ponijao’s
life. That is not to say she had no male figure at all; in fact, she had several brothers. They took
place of the missing parent and cared for their sister too. One could speculate that the father was
off hunting for food or getting materials that the village may have needed. The father figure may
not even have an important role in Ponijao’s life and therefore, was not featured in the film.
However, as a single mother who continued raising Ponijao and several other children, she had
the support of other females in her peer group, some of which were not of the village.
In one brief instance, there was a woman playing with Ponijao. She looked like a
potential relative considering how familiar she was with her. This woman was fully clothed in a
dress and wore sandals, unlike the rest of the village that only wore pieces of cloth to cover the
lower part of their body. In comparison to the rest of the village, she was more capable of
obtaining easy access to survival. This part in the film brought out the comparisons between
those with more resources and the minimal amount the village had; in other words, the
availability of objects. Under the analysis gathered, these settings are what comprises Ponijao’s
physical and social environment.
Customs of Child Care and Rearing
In addition to her situation, there are customs of child care and rearing which are embedded
in Ponijao’s everyday life. These meaningful activities include how the mother takes care of her
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child. An important and prominent event in a baby’s life is his or her sleeping patterns. In
Ponijao’s case, she sleeps at any time of the day according to the movie. The first scene we see
her sleeping is when three siblings are sitting in front of the hut. Whether it is to watch the goats
pass by or to stay out of the shade, Ponijao is sleeping on her older brother in what seems like an
uncomfortable situation. Other instances where she is caught falling asleep are when her mother
is working, Ponijao on back, and another when she is sitting up and jerking awake. Gathered
from the observation, Ponijao cannot only sleep whenever, but wherever and however no matter
how painful it may seem. The sleeping patterns usually follow up with breast feeding also
throughout the day. The mother has an instinct of when she gets hungry and insists that she
feeds. If not that, when Ponijao cries, her mother is quick to comply. As Ponijao gets older, there
is less of the breast feeding and more solid food amongst her siblings.
Aside from dependent activities is Ponijao’s learning experience. A lot of the film showed
her observing the environment quietly. She was left alone to herself when the mother was busy
doing chores. Although it was not said verbally, independence training became apparent. To this,
Ponijao became more familiar with informal learning. She caught on to concepts causally
without needing structure. When she was around her mother, work and play were two separate
things that were apparent to her. When the mother was working, either she would have Ponijao
carried on her back or she would be sitting beside her quietly. Come time to play, her mother
made separate time for the both of them. In their moment of bonding was when Ponijao learned
to crawl, talk and dance. Because her mother was not available all the time, she could not teach
her everything. With Ponijao’s observation skills, she was able to imitate her brothers when
learning how to stand up and make clay like the elders. Ponijao’s mother left her baby to
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discover things on her own to become stimulated and active. With that, not much scolding was
done. With Ponijao, the handling of her mother was more centered towards emotional support.
In the moment when Ponijao first learned to crawl, it was a call for celebration. Her mother
made a necklace to mark her achievement and coming of age. Crawling was seen as an initiation
rite because it meant the first steps to independence. Being able to crawl was a sign of
transportation and bigger things. Not only does this say something about Ponijao’s successes, it
also acknowledges the communities values.
Psychology of the Caretakers
In fact, it explains some of her caretaker’s psychology. Ponijao’s mother is an authoritative
woman who is respected by her children. They cooperate with her when she needs them to do
something. In turn, she cooperates with them. When Ponijao cries, she tends to her whether it is
for breast feeding or bullying of another child. From what is observed, the mother uses a childcentered approach. She helps Ponijao develop with encouragement and exploration. She values
family and gets protective when her children are mistreated. Work is important to her because it
is the means to survival. The community of the village is significant as well because they are a
small community and peer groups are needed to support each other. What the mother believes
effects Ponijao’s development. How she raises her also contributes to how Ponijao will react to
specific situations.
The ethnotheories of Ponijao’s mother relate to the environment. The limited resources
mean her decisions are based off of what is available. For instance, there is not much clean water
to give. That could mean lack of fluids or cleanliness which would lead to diseases. There is a
specific scene where, instead of bathing Ponijao in water, she licks the dirt off of her. The
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inability to take showers can be the death of her but because it is what the environment demands,
they have to comply. Similar to that is when Ponijao had to participate in the act of defecation.
She didn’t have a diaper on and no cloth could fully cover her bottom. The mother had to wipe
the feces on her knee and scrape it off. As diverse as it is from other cultures, it is how the
villagers live their lives.
The mother’s developmental expectations were very influenced by socialization. As
Ponijao was growing up, she was surrounded by other babies. She had some interaction with her
older brothers and the women of the village as well, becoming a member of the village. Ponijao
experienced one of her first instances of sharing when her mother was breast feeding her and
another child. Her mother allowed her to be dependent as a baby should be but also expected her
to explore the larger world whether it meant to discover the differences between girls and boys or
eating dirt from the ground. In her travels as a baby, Ponijao was supported through language
development. Her mother would speak to her throughout the film and eventually, she started
forming words although it may have sounded like blabbering. There were also strong values
towards emotional development. When observed closely, Ponijao does not smile within the day
unless a person is directly in contact with her, speaking to her. When having human interaction,
she is easy to warm up to as an infant. Ponijao realized that when she achieves something, she
will be gratified with praise. Like mentioned before, her crawling experience was a time to
celebrate. As her motor skills advanced from crawling to standing, the amount of dependence
withered and her mother fed her less. Ponijao was growing up and becoming more independent.
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Reflection
As a result of developmental change through the movie, Ponijao’s environment transitioned
from reliant and trusting to a young individual who is continuously learning. Not only was there
physical differences from a newly born to a three year old apparent, but the amount of
knowledge intake there was in that time was massive. It was Ponijao’s job to dive in to society
and become one of the villagers. She adapted to the physical and social environment, learned the
customs of care taker and grasped the ideologies of those who influenced her. During the course
of the movie, the Developmental Niche Theory accounted for these changes. With the lack of
resources and the company of the village, it explained why she grew up the way she did.
Different components of the theory were intermixing because everything she was influenced by,
along with her personal dispositions, were a cause of the larger ecology she was surrounded by.
Based on the analysis, the assessment of this theory successfully demonstrates human
development.