The true purpose of anthropology is to increase the number of stories in the world.
–Clifford Geertz*
The ways in which people in diverse societies understand and raise their children vary widely. With the incursion of biomedicine, pediatrics and their associated worldviews, in Nicaragua childhood socialization has become increasingly formalized and medicalized (Lancy 2008:152). Parents are dealing with this transition under North American and medical criticism. The community studied is home to a clinic run by a United States-based non-governmental organization (NGO) that, along with recent developments in the tourist economy of the region, has increased biomedical influence in the area.I examined how Nicaraguans are negotiating the sometimes conflicting models of biomedical, North American, and traditional parenting to which they are exposed as they raise their children.
Methods
I conducted ethnographic research through interviews and participant observation over the course of eight weeks living with a host family in the community. Interviews were conducted with twenty members of the community through snowball sampling (Bernard 2011:147-8). Every participant was a parent, teacher, or medical professional; many held more than one of these roles. I spent time in the homes of many of the people interviewed. Because of the size of the community and the nature of snowball sampling, my sample was relatively small and homogenous
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Findings
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There's no parent training. |
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Conclusions
The community in Nicaragua is undergoing demographic and economic transitions. These transitions, influenced by North American tourism and development work, are affecting cultural practices of how people raise, and how they believe they should raise, their children. The biomedical model of parenting has been introduced as correct and cultureless, in the process devaluing traditional Nicaraguan parenting methods. Now, Nicaraguan parents are in the midst of negotiating a transition in their child-rearing techniques. The adjustments they are making may be due to North American and biomedical influence, or they may be a response to the changing economy in an attempt to prepare children for success in school and economic prosperity. Parenting in this corner of Nicaragua represents parents’ attempts to negotiate these sometimes conflicting models of child socialization.
*This quote is from Claire Wendland's A Heart for the Work. She is unable to officially attribute the quote to Geertz, but the meaning and spirit of the quote are true no matter who said it.