Indigenizing child development science: cultural politics between contextualists and universalists
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication (Name of Journal)
Global Perspectives on Cultural Politics in Indigenous Psychology
Department
Institute for Educational Development, East Africa
DOI
10.1007/978-3-031-96813-6_4
Publisher
Springer Nature
Abstract
Child development is appropriately viewed as a bio-eco-cultural process in the sense that human development generally is codetermined by a person’s biology, ecological conditions of living, and the culture into which the person is born. However, some developmental psychologists and other scientists, the so-called universalists, tend to present child development as largely a biological process, downplaying the role of culture and ecology in codetermining the developmental outcomes cherished in each ecocultural context. In this chapter, we present our experiences as members of a group made up of cultural psychologists and cultural anthropologists, the so-called contextualists, who argue for the contextualization of child development as opposed to the universalizing tendencies prevalent in the global child development industry. We build on previous studies by presenting the perspectives and debates that characterize the ongoing conversations between the universalists and contextualists regarding the universality or context specificity of child development, particularly in the Majority World. We attend to the nature and use of cultural politics and dominant narratives in order to illustrate the process by which power relations are constructed, asserted, and contested in the discussions about the science and practice of child development. We finally integrate the universalists and contextualists perspectives into a unified narrative of “glocalization” that emphasizes the need for a more representative and inclusive child development science and practice.
Recommended Citation
Adje, S. B.,
Bakuza, F.,
Kgolo, T.,
Oppong, S.
(2025). Indigenizing child development science: cultural politics between contextualists and universalists. Global Perspectives on Cultural Politics in Indigenous Psychology, 71-94.
Available at:
https://ecommons.aku.edu/book_chapters/667