cultural issues
‘Culture’ is often considered in terms of identifiable artefacts, rules and practices, with less attention given to how investment in these features comes about. Using data extracts from a case study of a young woman who is becoming a mother for the first time, we pay attention to how people react to cultural processes in terms of how they ‘feel’. We use our own affective and reflective responses to interviews and observational material about... more
[This abstract set into this paper by the archivist on 2/2014 – it was saved by CU on 14/9/08 20:37 and saved in a separate file to the body of this piece below]
There are historical, social and cultural variations in how emotional and mental health are thought about and believed to develop and the place of children in society. Historical and cross-cultural comparisons can sharpen thinking about strengths and lacunae of child... more
Becoming a mother can create profound changes for a woman’s sense of who she is. This paper presents findings from a study on mothering identity involving 20 first-time mothers from a range of ethnic and cultural backgrounds interviewed about their experiences before the baby’s birth and during and at the end of the first year. 6 mothers and infants were also observed weekly at home for one year using the psychoanalytic infant observation... more
Observing families from cultures very different from our own can produce complex reactions, from fascination, shock and confusion, to a tendency to be dismissive or judgemental. Perhaps the difficulty in processing these kinds of affective reactions contributes to the tendency to see culture as OUTSIDE the person. Research tends to focus on ‘cultural differences’ or cultural practices for what they tell us about the social group that they... more
