Children and Cultural Context

Abstract

There have been changes in the conceptual frames and research approaches that consider the development of children in relation to culture, the cultural, or to (our preference) cultural contexts. The chapter begins with an analysis of conceptual frames and the splits and dichotomies that have regarded change as unidirectional and unidimensional, neglecting the intertwining of the personal with the social and the cultural. We examine shifts in conceptual frames and research approaches in five lines of analysis, noting the changes that have occurred, the questions raised, and the changes that may take analyses in new directions. Cutting across these lines of analysis are proposals about the nature of context, the nature of development, and their interconnections. In any situation, children experience more than one, often competing cultural contexts, and more than one way of thinking, feeling and acting. We propose moving beyond separations, beyond seeing contexts as one‐dimensional and individuals as solo, moving instead to analyses of the two as intertwined.

Drivers of human development: How relationships and context shape learning and development1

“…Development is "always development in context," and is shaped by all the contexts that the developing child and youth experiences (Goodnow & Lawrence, 2015). DST provides a flexible, constructive framework that enables us to both capture the richness and complexity of development in a bioecological context (Bronfenbrenner, 2005;Fischer & Rose, 2001;Overton & Müller, 2012) and to explain its diversity and variability-from the expression of genes at the cellular level and the secretion of chemical hormones to the expression of behaviors and the appraisal and processing of experience.…”

“…Although some social and emotional skills may be domain specific (e.g., skills learned through sports; Pierce et al, 2017), social and emotional learning programs can intentionally support skill transfer (Yoder, 2014). Similarly, adults can provide a web of support that helps children and youth develop cultural competence, a capacity to code switch, and the ability to employ socially effective scripts when encountering challenging and identity-assailing situations (Oppedal & Toppelberg, 2016), all of which can help children and youth adapt to environments that have differing behavioral expectations and pose differing challenges (e.g., Goodnow & Lawrence, 2015;Jakonen, 2016;Spencer, 2017).…”

Computer-Assisted Expressions of the Perspectives of Refugee Children in Resettlement

“…They have viewed family displacement, trauma, and loss with cognitive and emotional lenses differing from those of adults, and their propensities for recovery and resilience are enacted in environments that do not figure in the adult landscape (Goodnow & Lawrence, 2015;Lucić, 2016). They are able to make suggestions for assisting their recovery, for example, greater access to recreational facilities and playmates (Escot, Mahfouz, Feghaly, Saade, & Varady, 2016).…”

“…Sam and Oppedal (2003) accordingly argued that the acculturation processes of immigrant children must be seen as part of their developmental experiences. Goodnow and Lawrence (2015) took this further and pointed out that changes related to children's refugee and migration experiences may be integrated into normative developmental pathways or may be at odds with the accomplishment of developmental tasks. For example, a child's sense of belonging that was previously tied to the homeland may be smoothly transferred to the new environment when extended family and school provide her with security to explore a sense of self in accommodating places.…”

“…At least, Rousseau and Kirmayer point out, conducting research with vulnerable groups like refugees should bring power differentials to the surface of researchers' deliberations. Programmatic changes that favor children's rights require children's participation, with attention to Tisdall's (2008) warning against tokenism (Goodnow & Lawrence, 2015).…”