Dispatch from the Ivory Tower: Reflections on the 20th anniversary of Deconstructing Developmental Psychology

Limits of deconstruction, deconstructing limits

“…Yet the account by Claiborne, Peters, and Brink (2015) in this issue of the reception and use of DDP in their teaching and training practice in New Zealand offers some counterarguments to Reel and Athan's (2015), in particular by directly contradicting the latter's claims (about lack of uptake and engagement), even as they articulate a similar account of which features of DDP are relevant. However what may be significant here is that they write explicitly from a context that is not at psychology's center, but from one of its postcolonial contexts, albeit further amenable to cultural colonization as Anglophone.…”

“…Further, the literature on textbook construction has long highlighted the ways in which critique becomes incorporated (Lubek, 1993(Lubek, , 1997, and DDP is also likely subject to such processes (as Reel & Athan (2015) highlight here). Nevertheless, the fact that DDP has had greater impact outside academic psychology in professional training and practice (in education, social work, counselling, nursing, etc.)…”

“…Two commentaries in this issue, addressing pedagogical issues, invite juxtaposition. Reel and Athan (2015) pose important questions that have exercised me over the years, and doubtless reflect many a critical (feminist) psychologist's frustrations. Their critique arises from their concern with the regulation, and often evacuation, of maternal subjectivity.…”

Deconstructing Developmental Psychology 20 years on: Reflections, implications and empirical work

“…In their two articles in this issue calling for the revitalisation of the study of matrescence (the process of becoming a mother), Aure´lie Athan and Heather Reel highlight the neglect of maternal subjectivity in developmental psychological research. In their commentary, Reel and Athan (2015) explore the challenges to woman-centred scholarship that are presented by our current social and political context, what our existing and past scholarship makes it possible for contemporary scholars to know, and how science and 'the academy' enable or limit our ability to engage in critical and feminist scholarship. In their article, Athan and Reel (2015) argue, following Burman, that mothers are seen as important only insofar as they are vehicles for their children's development -as 'functional agents', not as persons in their own right.…”