Interpreting ‘grief’ in Senegal: language, emotions and cross-cultural translation in a francophone African context

Evans, Ruth; McCarthy, Jane Ribbens; Kébé, Fatou; Bowlby, Sophie; Wouango, Joséphine

doi:10.1080/13576275.2017.1291602

Cited by 27 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 30 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In contemporary Chinese children's family lives, these include: the specific ways in which childhood itself is institutionalized as a legal and social structure (Ribbens McCarthy et al 2017a); the changing but still core significance of the complex notion of filial piety shaping appropriate inter-generational relationships; the centrality of family and social networks for material protection and survival; the historical and contemporary significance of educational pressures; ancient philosophies of childhood oriented to ideas of collective personhood; and an emphasis on the moral value of self-cultivation towards becoming an acceptable human being; all underpinned by values of stability, harmony and loyalty (Ribbens McCarthy et al 2017b). All of these themes, in more recent times, have also encountered ideas from affluent Anglophone and Western…”

Section: Empirical Un/certainties?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Troubling Children’s Families: Who Is Troubled and Why? Approaches to Inter-Cultural Dialogue

McCarthy

Gillies

2017

Sociological Research Online

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article draws on multi-disciplinary perspectives to consider the need and the possibilities for intercultural dialogue concerning families that may be seen by some to be 'troubling'. Starting from the premise that 'troubles' are a 'normal' part of children's family lives, we consider the boundary between 'normal' troubles and troubles that are troubling (whether to family members or others). Such troubling families potentially indicate an intervention to prevent harm to less powerful family members (notably children). On what basis can such decisions be made in children's family lives, how can this question be answered across diverse cultural contexts, and are all answers inevitably subject to uncertainty? Such questions arguably re-frame and broaden existing debates about 'child maltreatment' across diverse cultural contexts. Beyond recognizing power dynamics, material inequalities, and historical and contemporary colonialism, we argue that attempts to answer the question on an empirical basis risk a form of neo-colonialism, since values inevitably permeate research and knowledge claims. We briefly exemplify such difficulties, examining psychological studies of childrearing in China, and the application of neuroscience to early childhood interventions in the UK. Turning to issues of values and moral relativism, we also question the possibility of an objective moral standard that avoids cultural imperialism, but ask whether cultural relativism is the only alternative position available. Here we briefly explore other possibilities in the space between 'facile' universalism and 'lazy' relativism (Jullien, 2008(Jullien, /2014. Such approaches bring into focus core philosophical and cultural questions about the possibilities for 'happiness', and for what it means to be a 'person', living in the social world.Throughout, we centralize theoretical and conceptual issues, drawing on the work of Jullien (2008Jullien ( /2014 to recognize the immense complexities inter-cultural dialogue entails in terms of language and communication.

show abstract

Section: Empirical Un/certainties?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Troubling Children’s Families: Who Is Troubled and Why? Approaches to Inter-Cultural Dialogue

McCarthy

Gillies

2017

Sociological Research Online

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Critical debates about the 'crisis of representation' and the potential of postcolonial approaches (Comaroff and Comaroff, 2012;Connell, 2006;Philipps, 2018), are pertinent here. Yet it is only relatively recently that family lives have become a focus of cross-cultural discussion in relation to the Majority world, largely among sociologists, who have a longer tradition of researching 'family' meanings and practices than geographers (Korbin, 2013;Ribbens McCarthy and Gillies, 2017; see Punch, Vanderbeck and Skelton, 2016;Evans et al, 2017a; Ribbens McCarthy et al in press, for work in geography). My recent research in the Francophone African context of Senegal sought to set aside Minority world theorising on death, bereavement and family relations.…”

Section: Global Inequalities In Knowledge Production About Everyday Fmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Analysis of the socio-spatial and gendered dynamics of parenting, childcare and grandparenting in everyday family lives and neighbourhoods have been central to this work (Holloway and Pimlott-Wilson, 2014;Hall, 2016;Jupp and Gallagher, 2013;McKie et al, 2002;Tarrant, 2010). While this burgeoning work on family and intergenerational geographies is to be welcomed, research to date has largely focused on children and families in the Minority world, reflecting the wider dominance of geographical knowledge and social science theories developed in affluent, Anglophone contexts (Evans et al, 2017a;. Notable exceptions include my own and other geographers' research in Africa (Ansell, 2001;Katz, 2004;Robson, 2004) and elsewhere in the Majority world (Brickell, 2014;Punch, 2002), in addition to edited collections which encompass Majority and Minority world contexts (Panelli et al, 2007;Vanderbeck and Worth, 2014;Horton and Pyer, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interpreting family struggles in West Africa across Majority-Minority world boundaries: tensions and possibilities

Evans

2019

Gender, Place & Culture

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The 'family' is associated with powerful, often emotive discourses in both the Majority and Minority worlds. However, family geographies to date have been largely focused on research with children and families in the Minority world, reflecting the wider dominance of geographical knowledge and social science theories developed in affluent, Anglophone contexts. In this intervention, I reflect on the tensions in attempting to theorise family meanings, practices and struggles in West Africa without imposing Minority world framings and perspectives. In my research in urban Senegal, the team's approach of 'uncomfortable reflexivity' enabled us to have frank conversations about our own experiences of 'family' and the death of a significant person, about our differing emotional responses to participants' experiences and about the nuances of the language used. My collaborative research with Ghanaian academics highlights the importance of time and space to develop shared qualitative understandings of everyday family struggles for publication in international journals. Given global inequalities in social science knowledge production, an ethic of care is needed that seeks to collaborate reflexively with others across disciplinary, linguistic and Majority-Minority world boundaries. This endeavour will hopefully generate more nuanced insights into the plurality and diversity of everyday family lives globally, while recognising the commonalities we share, situating knowledge in place and approaching the 'global' from the Majority world.

show abstract

“…Commentators have drawn attention to the cultural specificity of conceptual frameworks often developed in Minority European socio-linguistic contexts and call for greater engagement with theoretical, empirical and methodological insights gained in the Majority world (Evans et al, 2017;Ribbens McCarthy et al, 2017;Punch, 2016). In our comparative study, we sought to reflect on the usefulness of framings of young caregiving developed hitherto primarily in Minority world contexts.…”

Section: Conceptualising Children's Care Work Globallymentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing Children’s Care Work Across Majority and Minority Worlds

Evans

Becker

2018

Palgrave Studies on Children and Development

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Comparative qualitative methodologies that investigate children's lives in sharply contrasting socioeconomic , political and welfare contexts are relatively unusual. Yet within an increasingly interdependent globalised world, comparative research and dialogue across binaries seems ever more important. In this chapter, we critically reflect on global conceptualisations of young caregiving and discuss the methodological and ethical challenges that arose in our comparative study of children caring for a parent/relative living with HIV in Tanzania and the UK. We discuss the potential problems and benefits of using the term "young carer" and suggest that levels of support and recognition of children's caring roles in particular countries do not follow a simple Majority/Minority world binary, but rather reveal a more complex picture. We argue that developing global perspectives that work across geographical, linguistic and disciplinary boundaries can facilitate greater understanding of the commonalities and diversities of children's caring lives globally.

show abstract

Interpreting ‘grief’ in Senegal: language, emotions and cross-cultural translation in a francophone African context

Cited by 27 publications

References 30 publications

Troubling Children’s Families: Who Is Troubled and Why? Approaches to Inter-Cultural Dialogue

Troubling Children’s Families: Who Is Troubled and Why? Approaches to Inter-Cultural Dialogue

Interpreting family struggles in West Africa across Majority-Minority world boundaries: tensions and possibilities

Comparing Children’s Care Work Across Majority and Minority Worlds

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About