Parents, Caregivers, and Peers: Patterns of Complementarity in the Social World of Children in Rural Madagascar

Research on childhood in anthropology and neighboring disciplines has continuously broadened the range of the social partners that are considered relevant for young children’s development—from parents to other caregivers, siblings, and peers. Yet most studies as well as interventions in early childhood still focus exclusively on parents, who are presumed to be the most significant socializing agents. Objecting to such a hierarchical understanding of the social world of children, I propose a complementarity view. Rather than being linearly ranked in a hierarchy of significance, children’s social partners may complement each other by providing different but equally significant experiences. My suggestions are based on an ethnographic study in a rural community in Madagascar. Focusing on children in the first 3 years of life, I explore the full range of their social partners and the respective experiences they provide. Caregivers focus on children’s physical needs and aim to keep them in a calm emotional state, while other young, related children are the most crucial partners when it comes to play, face-to-face interaction, and the exchange of intense emotions. These complementary roles, I argue, lead to the parallel formation of two distinct socio-emotional modes—a hierarchical and an egalitarian one

Parents, Caregivers, and Peers: Patterns of Complementarity in the Social World of Children in Rural Madagascar

Research on childhood in anthropology and neighboring disciplines has continuously broadened the range of the social partners that are considered relevant for young children’s development—from parents to other caregivers, siblings, and peers. Yet most studies as well as interventions in early childhood still focus exclusively on parents, who are presumed to be the most significant socializing agents. Objecting to such a hierarchical understanding of the social world of children, I propose a complementarity view. Rather than being linearly ranked in a hierarchy of significance, children’s social partners may complement each other by providing different but equally significant experiences. My suggestions are based on an ethnographic study in a rural community in Madagascar. Focusing on children in the first 3 years of life, I explore the full range of their social partners and the respective experiences they provide. Caregivers focus on children’s physical needs and aim to keep them in a calm emotional state, while other young related children are the most crucial partners when it comes to play, face-to-face interaction, and the exchange of intense emotions. These complementary roles, I argue, lead to the parallel formation of two distinct socioemotional modes: a hierarchical one and an egalitarian one

Learning (by) feeling: socialization and development of emotions in cross- cultural studies

Forschungen zur Sozialisation und Ontogenese von Emotionen sind in der Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie bisher weitestgehend vernachlässigt worden. Entwicklungspsychologen beschäftigen sich dagegen intensiv mit diesem Thema, wobei sich jedoch das Gros ihrer Studien auf euro-amerikanische Gesellschaften beschränkt und somit kaum Aussagen über interkulturelle Divergenzen zulässt. In diesem Artikel vergleichen wir die Sozialisation von Emotionen in zwei nicht-westlichen Gesellschaften: den Bara in Madagaskar und den Tao auf der taiwanesischen Insel Lanyu. Es wird aufgezeigt, wie folk models von Person, Emotion und Entwicklung mit den jeweiligen lokalen Erziehungspraktiken verknüpft sind. In beiden Gesellschaften werden von den Bezugspersonen Sanktionierungsstrategien angewendet, die mit einem hohen Maß an emotionaler Erregung einhergehen. Während bei den Bara „Furcht“ induziert wird, kommt es bei den Tao zu einer Evokation von „Angst“ und „Scham“. Eine wichtige Frage ist, inwieweit diese „sozialisierenden Emotionen“ an der Herausbildung eines kultur-spezifischen Emotionsrepertoires beteiligt sind.Research on socialization and ontogeny of emotions has been widely neglected in social and cultural anthropology. In contrast, developmental psychologists are occupied intensively with this subject but the majority of their studies focus on Euro-American societies and thus do not explain intercultural differences. In this article we compare the socialization of emotions in two non-western societies: the Bara in Madagascar and the Tao on the Taiwanese Island of Lanyu. It will be illustrated how folk models of person, emotion, and development interrelate with local child rearing practices. In both societies sanctioning strategies are used by care-givers who operate with high levels of emotional arousal. While “fear” is induced among the Bara, in the Tao’s case the evoked emotions are “anxiety” and “shame”. An important question, among others, is to what extent these “socializing emotions” play a role in the development of a culture-specific emotional repertoire

Different is not deficient: respecting diversity in early childhood development

CORRESPONDENCE to: Black, M. M., & Richter, L. M. (2022). "Different is not deficient: respecting diversity in early childhood development." The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 6(12), e26. ; https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(22)00276-0An estimated 250 million children under 5 years in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) are considered to be at risk of not achieving their full developmental potential because of inadequate care. 1 This assessment was crucial for establishing the Nurturing Care Framework, a roadmap for improving early childhood development globally. Although the number is still based on proxy measures (stunting and poverty rates), newer research draws directly on indicators of nurturing care, provided by UNICEF's Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys. On the basis of these data, in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health Dana McCoy and colleagues 2 claimed that the problem is even bigger: they calculated that 74·6% of children in LMICs aged 3–4 years do not even receive minimally adequate nurturing care. This figure increases to 92·1% for sub-Saharan Africa and to 99·5% in Chad.

“Poor brain development” in the global South? Challenging the science of early childhood interventions

Global Early Childhood Development (ECD)—an applied field with the aim to improve the “brain structure and function” of future generations in the global South—has moved to the center of international development. Global ECD rests heavily on evidence claims about widespread cognitive, social, and emotional deficits in the global South and the benefits of changing parenting practices in order to optimize early childhood development. We challenge these claims on the grounds that the leading ECD literature excludes research from anthropology, cultural psychology, and related fields that could provide crucial insights about childrearing and children's development in the targeted communities. We encourage anthropologists and other scholars with ethnographic expertise on childhood to critically engage with global ECD. To facilitate such an endeavor, this article sketches the history, scientific claims, and interventions of global ECD, points out the critical potential of ethnographic research, and suggests strategies to make ethnography more relevant

“Poor brain development” in the global South? Challenging the science of early childhood interventions

Global Early Childhood Development (ECD)—an applied field with the aim to improve the “brain structure and function” of future generations in the global South—has moved to the center of international development. Global ECD rests heavily on evidence claims about widespread cognitive, social, and emotional deficits in the global South and the benefits of changing parenting practices in order to optimize early childhood development. We challenge these claims on the grounds that the leading ECD literature excludes research from anthropology, cultural psychology, and related fields that could provide crucial insights about childrearing and children's development in the targeted communities. We encourage anthropologists and other scholars with ethnographic expertise on childhood to critically engage with global ECD. To facilitate such an endeavor, this article sketches the history, scientific claims, and interventions of global ECD, points out the critical potential of ethnographic research, and suggests strategies to make ethnography more relevant

Ein Kurzporträt der neuen Migration aus Vietnam nach Deutschland

Der Bevölkerungsanteil mit vietnamesischer Migrationsgeschichte in Deutschland wird häufig auf zwei Einwanderungsgruppen zurückgeführt: sogenannte Boat People, die Ende der 1970er und Anfang 1980er Jahre von der BRD als Kontingentflüchtlinge aufgenommen wurden (Su & Sanko 2017), und Vertragsarbeiter, die in den 1980er Jahren in die DDR kamen (Dennis 2005). Diese beiden Gruppen haben insbesondere aufgrund der gegensätzlichen Migrationsregime und vielschichtigen Verflechtungen mit der Geschichte von Teilung und Wiedervereinigung beider Länder einige Aufmerksamkeit in den Medien, in Kunst und Kultur sowie der Forschung erhalten. Migration aus Vietnam nach Deutschland ist allerdings kein abgeschlossener Prozess. Wie wir in diesem Beitrag zeigen, ist spätestens seit der Jahrtausendwende eine stetig anwachsende Zuwanderung zu verzeichnen. Neue vietnamesische Migrant*innen in diesem Sinne dürften mittlerweile gar die Mehrheit innerhalb der deutsch-vietnamesischen Bevölkerung ausmachen

Respecting diversity in early childhood development – A response to Seiden et al. and Black and Richter

A RESPONSE to: Seiden, J., Pisani, L., Cuartas, J., Waldman, M., & McCoy, D. C. (2022). "Different is not deficient: respecting diversity in early childhood development–Authors' reply." The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 6(12), e27 ; https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(22)00307-8This contribution is a continuation of a debate in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health about the scientific and ethical challenges associated with globalizing early childhood interventions. It consists of an original article, a critical response, and two replies

Feeding, Bonding, and the Formation of Social Relationships. Ethnographic Challenges to Attachment Theory and Early Childhood Interventions

This Element explores multi-faceted linkages between feeding and relationship formation based on ethnographic case studies in Morocco, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Costa Rica. Research demonstrates that there are many culturally valued ways of feeding children, contradicting the idea of a single universally optimal feeding standard. It demonstrates further that in many parts of the world, feeding plays a central role in bonding and relationship formation, something largely overlooked in current developmental theories. Analysis shows that feeding contributes to relationship formation through what we call proximal, transactional, and distal dimensions. This Element argues that feeding practices can lead to qualitatively distinct forms of relationships. It has important theoretical and practical implications, calling for the expansion of attachment theory to include feeding and body-centered caregiving and significant changes to global interventions currently based on 'responsive feeding.' This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core