At the dawn of humanisation: culture casts a polyhedral shadow, the female gender and teaching practice.

Abstract

The most commonly used meaning of the word culture relates to objects: the production-creation of cultural objects, knowledge, and institutions. The invention of the term involved a metaphorical transfer, which did
not consider processes linked with child rearing; agents involved, especially women and teachers of basic skills, were forgotten. We argue that teaching of knowledge, skills and valuations are fundamental in the development of the human mind and come together in the concept of teaching or education. Women and teachers played a leading role in this scenario and patterns of development-upbringing were a fundamental stage. We have built our proof using overlapping historical and anthropological data that allow us to conclude that teaching is a distinguishing feature of the genus Homo. Homo docens might offer a perspective for the elaboration of an anthropology of education.