GROUNDING DEVELOPMENT IN CULTURE: HOW TO STUDY THE INFLUENCE OF CULTURE ON DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

ABSTRACT. One way to understand the unfolding of human development is to consider it a culturally situated phenomenon. The present paper aims to provide a grounded perspective on how culture influences human development, specifically one in which shared practices, artifacts, ways of relating, and institutions become more important than the abstract norms of a culture in shaping development. We will analyze thus how development might become grounded in culture through the specific tools, cultural tasks and bodily actions that children from a culture are exposed to via parental practices. In the end, we discuss the implications of such a perspective for studying the interaction between culture and development.

Keywords

• embodiment
• grounded cognition
• culture
• parental practices