“Where did we go last weekend?” Socialization of children through past-event reminiscing in various cultural contexts
Date
2012-10-02
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Abstract
Igaühel meist on oma lugu. See lugu ei ole alati täpselt ühesugune, vaid sõltub sellest, kellele me seda räägime ja miks. Samuti võime uutest kogemustest tulenevalt oma minevikule hakata hoopis teise pilguga vaatama. Oma lugu rääkides tugineme autobiograafilistele mälestustele. Autobiograafiliste mälestuste kujunemisel lapseeas on mitmetel asjaoludel väga tähtis roll: oluline on piisav keeleoskus, ajamõiste tajumine, teatavad kognitiivsed oskused ning meenutusvestlused täiskasvanutega. Vestlused, mille käigus meenutatakse minevikusündmusi, aitavad lapsel paigutada neid samu sündmusi ajas ja ruumis; mõista nende olulisust ning tõlgendada kogemust enda jaoks. Meenutusvestlusi uurides on leitud, et need on sageli kultuuriti erinevad ning neid erinevusi nii vestluste sisus kui ka vormis seletatakse minapildiga seonduvate hoiakutega seotuse ning sõltumatuse suhtes. Läänemaailmas, kus väärtustatakse eelkõige sõltumatust, räägitakse lapsega palju ja detailselt ning keskendutakse lapse individuaalsele kogemusele. Sellest tulenevalt on ka täiskasvanuea mälestused põhjalikumad, pärinevad varasemast east ning neid on rohkem. Erinevalt Läänemaailmast väärtustatakse näiteks Aasia riikides eelkõige seotust ja minevikusündmustest räägitakse põgusamalt. Samuti keskendutakse pigem sotsiaalse sisuga kogemustele ning inimeste mälestused on hilisemad ja üldisemad.
Antud doktoritöö keskendub ema-lapse meenutusvestlustele kolmes Euroopa pealinnas – Berliinis, Tallinnas ja Stockholmis – ja Kamerunis, Aafrikas. Üldiselt võib öelda, et ema-lapse meenutusvestlused Euroopas ja Kamerunis erinevad oodatud viisil: nt. räägivad nii Kameruni emad kui ka lapsed vähem ning keskenduvad erinevatele aspektidele võrreldes Euroopa emadega. Neid erinevusi saab seletada erineva rõhuasetusega minapildis. Samas, nii vestluste sisu kui ka vorm (kui palju lastega räägitakse ning kuidas) erineb Euroopa kontekste võrreldes. See viitab asjaolule, et lisaks minapildiga seotud väärtustele on oluline arvestada erinevate riikide ajaloolist tausta, kombeid ja hoiakuid, mis puudutavad suhtlemist ning tavapäraseid suhtlemisharjumisi. Kõigest sellest sõltub, kuidas me ennast näeme, millise loo endast loome ning kuidas seda teistele räägime.
Everyone of us has a story to tell. Yet, the story is never exactly the same, but depends on whom we are telling it to and why. We can also gain new perspectives of our past due to new experience. Our story is always based on autobiographical memories. The appearance of autobiographical memories in early childhood depends on many aspects: language development, time perspective development, cognitive abilities, and reminiscing conversations with grown-ups all play a role. Conversations about past events help children place these events in time and space, conceive their importance and interpret the experience for one’s self. Studies of reminiscing conversations have shown that these interactions vary in different cultural contexts. Differences in the content and structure of the conversations have been attributed to the prominence of either independence- or interdependence-orientation in one’s self-construal. In the Western world where independence is valued highly, past-event conversations with children are elaborated, rich in detail, and concentrate on children’s individual experience. Also, memories in adulthood are more abundant, detailed, and from an earlier age. In contrast, in Asian contexts where interdependence is valued past event reminiscing conversation are shorter, and have a more social focus. Also, people’s memories in adulthood are more general and of a later age. The dissertation focuses on mother-child reminiscing conversations in three European capitals- Berlin, Tallinn, and Stockholm – and Cameroon, Africa. In general, it can be said that reminiscing conversations in Europe and Cameroon differ in the expected way: e.g. Cameroon mothers and children provide less information and concentrate on different aspects as compared to European mothers. These differences can be explained by the different orientation of the self-construal. At the same time, there is variance among the European contexts in the structure and content of reminiscing conversations. Therefore, also the historical background of the countries, traditions, attitudes towards interaction, and common interactional patterns should be considered in addition to the dimensions of the self-construal. All these aspects influence the story we construct about ourselves and how we tell it.
Everyone of us has a story to tell. Yet, the story is never exactly the same, but depends on whom we are telling it to and why. We can also gain new perspectives of our past due to new experience. Our story is always based on autobiographical memories. The appearance of autobiographical memories in early childhood depends on many aspects: language development, time perspective development, cognitive abilities, and reminiscing conversations with grown-ups all play a role. Conversations about past events help children place these events in time and space, conceive their importance and interpret the experience for one’s self. Studies of reminiscing conversations have shown that these interactions vary in different cultural contexts. Differences in the content and structure of the conversations have been attributed to the prominence of either independence- or interdependence-orientation in one’s self-construal. In the Western world where independence is valued highly, past-event conversations with children are elaborated, rich in detail, and concentrate on children’s individual experience. Also, memories in adulthood are more abundant, detailed, and from an earlier age. In contrast, in Asian contexts where interdependence is valued past event reminiscing conversation are shorter, and have a more social focus. Also, people’s memories in adulthood are more general and of a later age. The dissertation focuses on mother-child reminiscing conversations in three European capitals- Berlin, Tallinn, and Stockholm – and Cameroon, Africa. In general, it can be said that reminiscing conversations in Europe and Cameroon differ in the expected way: e.g. Cameroon mothers and children provide less information and concentrate on different aspects as compared to European mothers. These differences can be explained by the different orientation of the self-construal. At the same time, there is variance among the European contexts in the structure and content of reminiscing conversations. Therefore, also the historical background of the countries, traditions, attitudes towards interaction, and common interactional patterns should be considered in addition to the dimensions of the self-construal. All these aspects influence the story we construct about ourselves and how we tell it.
Description
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Keywords
lapsed, sotsialiseerumine, minapilt, ema-lapse suhe, vestlusanalüüs, kultuurierinevused, Euroopa, Aafrika, children, socialization, self-image, mother-child relationship, conversation analysis, cultural diversities, Europe, Africa