Cultures of childhood: a critical appraisal

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Cultures of childhood a critical appraisal

• Professor Allison James
• University of Sheffield

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Aim

• Explore childhood from perspective of childhood
  studies - new paradigm
• Critically examine issues of diversity in
  context of universalising paradigms
• Explore childrens lived experiences social
  contexts as cultures of childhood

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New paradigm in child research

• 1970s - 90s
• Ariès - history of French childhood
• Lack of awareness of childhood in medieval
  period
• 15th C. construction of child as needing
  special attention
• 19th C. Institutionalisation of childhood in
  West
• development of schooling for children
• removal of children from places of work
• age limits to childrens participation
• Childhood emerges as a social formation in
  society
• - not simply a life course period

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Childhood as a social construction

• Different cultures of childhood
• Cultural historical relativity of ideas of
  the child childhood
• Childhood as a social rather than natural
  phenomenon
• Ideas of the child childhood represented
  in laws policies of every society
• Shapes childrens experiences of being a child

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What is a child?

• Children as superior to adults
• Beng (West Africa) Balinese
• Growing up losing knowledge from previous
  association with spirit world
• Children as status givers
• Pulau Langkawi ( Malyasia) Inupiaq (Canada)
• Birth brings full adult status to women/parents
• Children as economic investment
• Gonja ( West Africa) Thailand
• Reciprocity in old age

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How are children seen?

• Children as not-yet-human
• Scheper-hughes (1992) Brazilian favellas
• sickly children not meant to live
• Children as non-human
• Angels witches
• Child witches in Congo, Nigeria
• Disabled children Papel ( Guinea-Bissau)
• Seen as iran, returned to the spirit world of the
  sea

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Other children/childhoods?

• Briggs - Inuit
• Growth of isuma (thought, reason, will,
  consciousness)
• Teasing games to encourage this development
• Inuit children cant sit back comfortably,
  passively absorb the fruits of adult wisdom and
  experience and conclude that this wisdom embodies
  final and permanent answers. Instead of learning
  to depend passively on authorities and
  experts they learn to rely on their own sense in
  interpreting their own experience, to be
  watchful, doubtful, alert to hidden meanings and
  intentions and to keep testing others, as the
  adults have tested them (1990 38)

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Other children/childhood?

• Hendry - Japan
• encouragement of fear , danger (abunai)
• I noticed then that in English we would be much
  more likely to use the positive phrase be
  careful than the negative one thats
  dangerous. In the country, some old people went
  further, specially at night, and pointed down
  dark alleyways suggesting that there might be a
  ghost or a big dog lurking there, so that the
  child should remain close to the safety of the
  adults side (1986113)

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Universalism of developmental model?

• Western cultural Ideologies of childhood
  premised on developmental model
• Children lack specific competencies
• Children have special needs
• Age /development as determining the child
• Child as becoming
• Child as different from adult
• the child cannot be imagined except in relation
  to a
• adult......it becomes impossible to produce a
  well defined
• sense of the adult.. without first positing the
  child (Jenks 198210)

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Characteristics of the (western) child

• a period of lack of responsibility with rights
  to protection and training but not to autonomy
  (Ennew 198621)
• Otherness (c.f. adults)
• Naturalness
• Innocence
• Vulnerability
• Dependency
• BUT
• Different social cultural interpretations of
  biological change in different societies

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Implications of new paradigm

• Examples highlight cultural relativity of
  concepts of the child , childhood child
  development
• Questions assumptions about age competence
• Reveals different experiences of family life,
  socialisation, ideas of development and
  childrens needs
• natural or cultural ?

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Problems or potentials?-intercultural diversity

• Woodhead (1996)
• Questions universality of childrens needs
• Fundamental needs c.f. social/cultural needs
• South African child care settings V UK child care
• Over-crowding or normal density?
• Importance of enculturation - coping strategies
• Developmentally appropriate practices important
  cross-culturally

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Universals?

• Attachment theory (Levine Norman 2008)
• Bowlby, US late 70s
• A) Anxious avoidant attachment
• (B) secure attachment
• (C) Anxious resistant attachment
• US - most B, circa 65
• cf
• Bielefield study (1985). Linden study (1990)
  most A C
• Raises questions about mental health/risk

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Enculturation?

• Le Vine Norman
• German parenting style - self reliance favoured
• Precocious independence
• CF
• US - child-centred
• precocious sociability
• Normal variation c.f. pathology?
• Enculturation - ongoing adjustment between infant
  environment c.f. direct cause and effect

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Implications for children of developmentalism?

• Problem of intra-cultural diversity
• 10 year old girl - England
• like me and my mum can have , like, a good
  talk, so we will tell each other things
• If my dad rings, I spend like a lot of time on
  the telephone but he dont talk much. Ive got to
  do all the talking, cus hes just like Hi and
  Bye and he dont talk much. I have a good
  conversation with his girl friend (who is French)
  She speaks real good English.
• Home (competent child) versus school
  (incompetent child)

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Implications for children of developmentalism?

• Childhood as an othered experience for children
• ESRC Hospital research reveals childrens own
  views of children
• Vulnerable and in need of protection
• Irresponsible and in need of control

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Children as vulnerable

• Might die
• Might hurt themselves
• Might bang themselves
• Bang heads on table
• Get lost
• Fall from the bed
• Under 10s would be with someone in case they
  drown
• Might get locked in
• Loads of electrical stuff
• Trip up

• Might find medicines on the floor and eat them or
  drink them
• No doors might run off
• Sharp things
• No in case someone slipped and cut their head
  open
• Lots of needles might hurt yourself
• Slip and fall
• Trip up
• Hot water

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Children as irresponsible

• they could have needles and stab someone
• might grab something
• might break something
• might steal
• mess around and set something off
• press button
• fiddle with things
• touch things

• expensive equipment
• make a noise
• pick something up damage
• touch something damage
• press the alarm
• Run off and go in a hospital room
• Mess it up
• Mess about and knock stuff over

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Conclusion

• Cultures of childhood - usefulness for practice?
• Awareness of cultural relativity of ideas of
  childhood
• Inter and intra cultural differences
• Awareness of relationship between development
  environment
• Social physical
• Awareness of importance of cultural politics of
  childhood
• Ideas of childhood embedded in laws, policies
  customs and shape childrens experiences of the
  world
• Awareness of childrens own experiences of
  being a child in a particular cultural setting
• positives may be experienced negatively, care
  may be controlling