Collaboration at a microscale: Cultural differences in family interactions

Abstract

Using a holistic, process approach, this article brings attention to cultural differences in the prevalence of fluid synchrony in collaboration, at a microanalytic scale of analysis that is embodied in the processes of everyday life. We build on findings that in a number of Indigenous American communities, fluid and harmonious collaboration is prioritized both in community organization at a scale of years and centuries, and in everyday family interactions and researcherorganized tasks at a scale of days, hours, or minutes. We examined whether this sophisticated fluid collaboration could be seen even at a scale of fractions of seconds. At a microscale of 200-millisecond segments, Guatemalan Mayan triads of mothers and children frequently engaged mutually, in fluid synchrony together, when exploring novel objects.They did so more commonly than did European American mother-child triads, who usually engaged solo or in dyads, with one person left out, or resisted each other. This microanalysis of mutuality in family interactions reveals the role of culture in the foundations of thinking and working together in both Mayan and European American communities, and the fruitfulness of considering developmental processes holistically. K E Y W O R D Scollaboration, culture, Indigenous people of the Americas, microscale, synchronyIn a home visit interview from a US researcher, this Mayan mother was asked to help her 17-month-old toddler operate some novel objects. The sequence in the screen shots occurred 7 s after the mother was handed a clear plastic jar containing a little plastic doll, by the Mayan research assistant (at Second 0 of this episode). The mother had placed the jar on the mat in front of the toddler, as the toddler reached for it and the mother's 5-year-old son scooted near the toddler. The mother had removed the wooden lid and put it aside, between the two children. She had then reached into the jar and picked up the little doll and showed it to the toddler, who was holding the edge of the jar with one hand. We focus on the fluid synchrony that shows in the few seconds of interaction that occur at 7 s into the episode:The 5-year-old leans forward and picks up the lid by its handle, while the mother puts the little doll back down in the jar. The mother begins to lean back out of the way as the 5-year-old begins to extend the lid toward the jar. All three people are watching the action and moving their arms and torsos in tandem, coordinating their moves as they operate the jar together. By 8 s, the mother is sitting up, smiling as she leans to watch the children closely while the 5-year-old stretches to hold the lid over the jar. At 9 s, the toddler and the mother watch with interest as the 5-year-old tries to show the toddler how the lid fits on the jar. However, the toddler's fingers are still holding the edge of the jar, so lid cannot be attached. At 10 s and the following seconds, the 5-year-old puts the lid aside, as the mother smiles and gently tells him to let go of it, as the toddler watches. The 5-year-...

Mutually Constituting, Fractal: Individual and Cultural Aspects of Holistic Process

“…In addition, ethnographic understanding is needed for analysis of data in ways that maintain fidelity to individuals, communities, and their circumstances, such as the casegraphs that my team and I have used in many of our studies to bridge between individual cases and quantitative patterns (Angelillo et al, 2007; Rogoff et al, 1993). Casegraphs maintain the information from individual cases at the same time as portraying the patterns across the individual cases (for recent examples, see Alcalá et al, 2018; Coppens et al, 2016; Dayton et al, 2022; Rogoff & Aceves-Azuara, 2023; Ruvalcaba & Rogoff, 2022; Silva & Rogoff, 2020).…”

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“…Indeed, people are skilled in learning and using more than one approach, applying different practices from their repertoires according to changing and distinct circumstances (Gutiérrez & Rogoff, 2003;Rogoff, 2003). Change and flexibility are important processes of communities, as well as individuals, who change in some ways and persist in some ways -over very short and very long timespans (Dayton et al, 2022;Rogoff, 2011). Further, the possibility of enduring and commonly held values and practices across many Indigenous American communities should not obscure the many important differences among these communities (Rogoff, 2011; see also Leonard, 2021).…”

“…De hecho, las personas tienen la capacidad de aprender y utilizar más de un único enfoque; aplican distintas prácticas de sus repertorios en función de circunstancias distintas y cambiantes (Gutiérrez & Rogoff, 2003;Rogoff, 2003). El cambio y la flexibilidad son procesos importantes de las comunidades, como de los individuos, que cambian de algunas formas y persisten en otras, durante períodos de tiempo cortos y extendidos (Dayton et al, 2022;Rogoff, 2011). Además, la posibilidad de que existan valores y prácticas perdurables y compartidas en común entre muchas comunidades indígenas no debería impedir reconocer las muchas e importantes diferencias entre ellas (Rogoff, 2011;véase también Leonard, 2021).…”

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From everyday participation to ways of life: Development of Yurakare children in Bolivia's Amazonian area

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