Integrating Cultural Values Through Everyday Experiences

Abstract

Children learn their culture’s moral system by participating and observing everyday life. Yucatec Maya children’s cultural environment is organized on three intertwined principles: autonomy, belonging, and work. As they develop, they must integrate them into a single system that motivates their moral behavior. From infancy, children assert and caregivers respect their autonomy to organize their own activities, learning, and social engagement. Belonging entails reciprocal caring within an age hierarchy of responsibility and respect. Work is not only exercising competence but also “pitching in.” Understanding these more complex meanings lead Yucatec Maya children to see that their actions matter to their family, and they recalibrate their idea of autonomy to include the opportunity to make a difference. A model for studying the development of children’s moral understanding is demonstrated by ethnographic data: study the child-in-context and interpret everyday behavior as evidence of moral action as defined by the culture.

Raising Helpful Children: Exploring Conflict Between Goals and Practices in Euro-Heritage Socialization of Helping

“…A commonality exists among great global variation: from about 4-6 years of age, children tend to readily contribute to household work; Indigenous-heritage families of the Americas provide a strong example (e.g., Rogoff et al, 1980;de Haan, 1999;Gaskins, 1999Gaskins, , 2020Rogoff, 2003). Children commonly help out of their own initiative in complex ways as they develop, and parents tend to prioritize children's autonomy in participating collectively to benefit the family and community (e.g., Rogoff et al, 1993Rogoff et al, , 2017de Haan, 1999;Gaskins, 1999Gaskins, , 2020Ochs and Izquierdo, 2009).…”

“…A commonality exists among great global variation: from about 4-6 years of age, children tend to readily contribute to household work; Indigenous-heritage families of the Americas provide a strong example (e.g., Rogoff et al, 1980;de Haan, 1999;Gaskins, 1999Gaskins, , 2020Rogoff, 2003). Children commonly help out of their own initiative in complex ways as they develop, and parents tend to prioritize children's autonomy in participating collectively to benefit the family and community (e.g., Rogoff et al, 1993Rogoff et al, , 2017de Haan, 1999;Gaskins, 1999Gaskins, , 2020Ochs and Izquierdo, 2009). Parents commonly believe children are motivated and able to help from infancy, so that encouraging autonomy naturally leads to being "acomedido/a, " anticipating and providing the needs of others/the group (Rogoff et al, 1993(Rogoff et al, , 2017Rogoff, 2003;López et al, 2012;Alcalá et al, 2014;Coppens et al, 2014Coppens et al, , 2016Coppens and Rogoff, 2017).…”

“…For example, Coppens et al (2020) found that UWEC mothers of 2-to 3-year-olds often rephrased questions about their children "helping" into descriptions using other action verbs. Some UWEC mothers believed their 2-to 3-year-olds to be incapable of helping from their own initiative (Coppens and Rogoff, 2017), despite evidence that UWEC toddlers are highly motivated to help (Rheingold, 1982;Warneken and Tomasello, 2013) and in many communities, take the initiative (e.g., Rogoff et al, 1993;Gaskins, 1999Gaskins, , 2020Forman, 2007). Parents might then avoid scaffolding toddlers' helping attempts toward successful helping.…”

¡Memo, te vienen a ver! El proceso de investigación como protocolo de visita en la cultura mapuche

“…Los niños son personas pequeñas que conducen la interacción bajo la supervisión atenta de un adulto, quien con señas o palabras lo apoya en cómo debe comportarse frente a la visita. Al igual que en otros pueblos indígenas de las Américas (Gaskins, 2020), coexisten los roles de aprendiz y educador, pues los niños enseñan y demuestran sus aprendizajes culturales, pero, al mismo tiempo, están bajo la mirada y evaluación atenta del adulto de la familia.…”

“…Resulta muy interesante destacar que la concepción de los niños como agentes activos y autónomos en su propio desarrollo subyace a la epistemología y ontología ancestral de los pueblos originarios (De León, 2017;Gaskins, 2020;Rogoff, 2016). Respecto del pueblo mapuche, diversos autores han aportado a la sistematización del modelo educativo kimeltuwün que guía la formación de niños y jóvenes, y cuyo propósito último es la formación del che -la persona mapuche-.…”