Children Learning by Observing and Pitching In

Commentary

Bibliographic Data

ID20293076
AuthorsElinor Ochs (Karger Publishers (Switzerland), corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume57
Issue2-3
Pages162-170
Publication date2014-01-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHuman Development (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0018-716X • E-ISSN: 1423-0054
PublisherS. Karger AG (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.1159/000359915
OpenAlexW2067283684
LanguageEN
References cited27

Just as history contextualizes a current state of affairs through accounts of past events, so comparative studies speak volumes about what is cultural in the way we live our lives from infancy to old age. Yet, while historical studies abound, few contemporary scholars dare to tread into the territory of comparative research, wincing at the critique that such an enterprise essentializes societies and ignores porous social boundaries, global flows, instabilities, transformations, and internal variability within and across persons and situations. Indeed, since the late twentieth century, anthropologists have decried “culture” as a blanket attribute of a population [Abu-Lughod, 1991]. But does hybridity and fragmentation mean that we cannot or should not overcome methodological shortcomings to sort out the shared and distinctive, resilient and shifting sentiments, beliefs, and practices associated with belonging to one or more communities? The study of “Learning by Observing and Pitching In” takes this step, offering a nuanced comparative perspective that taps into social changes in learning ecologies brought about by modernity and urban migration of indigenous populations in Latin America. The shift from subsistence agriculture to urban employment has reorganized not only household economies but also household ecologies of educating children. In this perspective, cross-cultural comparison is not absolute but rather comprehends a continuum of default dispositions and practices undergirding the social organization of learning. “Learning by Observing and Pitching In” entails degrees of (1) routine incorporation of children’s contributions in community endeavors, (2) a goal of transforming children’s participation in community activities, imbued with

Cognitive psychology · Cognitive science · Developmental psychology · Early Childhood Education and Development · Indigenous Cultures and Socio-Education · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare · Psychology

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