Clashes, Cracks, and Negotiations between epistemologies of childhood: A critical examination of the transference of dominant ideas

• In Event: Philosophical, ethical, and practical questions for education

Proposal

Relevance to the theme
The study explores how a specific construction of childhood, “Universal Childhood,” expands and is resisted through the transference of narrative in a highly digitized world. Since the advent and popularization of the internet, there has been an attempt to make the world a cosmic, connected village where ideas are exchanged increasingly. In cases of childhood development, notions such as “competencies” and “best practices” are getting traction, and a notion of a “universally competent child” is being developed. Both Rogoff(2003) and Tobin et al. (1989) demonstrated in their work that children's development is a context-specific cultural activity. Yet, the increase of the internet is blurring the line and promoting a euro-centric view of “singular childhood,” especially in the previously colonized places. This study will examine how, in Bangladesh, the idea of a universally competent child is gaining popularity in parenting discourses across social media, including but not limited to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, blog sites, and other social media apps. The study will also explore how the idea of a competent child is resisted in those spaces. As the study analyzes the impacts of the non-formal technological medium of education in parenting discourses and how envisioning counter-narrative of euro-centric childhood looks like in digital media, the researcher believes it is aligned with the CIES 2025 theme of “Envisioning Education In a Digital Society.”

Building on existing work
This study builds on the existing work of Tobin et al.(1989), Rogoff(2003), and many other proponents of the cultural nature of development. It specifically looks at the role of technology in blurring the cultural line as the euro-centric view of singular childhood is promoted through the internet. This work's primary focus is counter-narratives in the digital cultural sphere, which expands the cross-border early childhood digital spaces. This study explores and expands on whether and how discursive clashes and cracks exist in online cultural spaces, taking cultural angles and examining online parenting discourses that actively accept, negotiate, or resist such practices.

Situating the study
The study is situated in Bangladesh, specifically in several online spheres. Bangladesh is a post-colonial state in South Asia, which means that in its different cultural practices, the remnants of colonialism are found and negotiated. Post 2010, the country had a surge of internet users, and a cultural form of neo-liberalism entered its online sphere. Early childhood education and care have become increasingly popular, especially regarding euro-centric knowledge. Traditional child care significantly differed from the Eurocentric model of independent and competent children. Also, the post-colonial nature of Bangladeshi society offers multiple narratives regarding childhood and child development. By situating it at the juncture of post-coloniality and neo-liberal ideas, the study aims to explore both the nexus and clash of “globality” and “locality” of childhood.

Implications for further studies

The study has multiple implications for theory, practice, and policy. Epistemologically, the cultural construction of childhood is not explored enough in Bangladesh. Understanding multiple perspectives of childhood through parents' narratives will open up opportunities for dialogue to include them in the policy and curriculum structure of the Bangladeshi education system. Considering the post-colonial phenomena, the study can inspire comparative and cross-cultural research across similar contexts. Also, how multiple narratives of childhood are present and persist in digital spaces and produce counter-narratives against euro-centric hegemony should open up discourses on how online spaces actively construct or deconstruct early childhood places, theoretically and practically.

Originality of the contribution

The contribution’s originality rests on its effective investigation of online platforms as a third-space pedagogical tool that neither operates in schools nor home learning environments while centering on the issues of identity, difference, and power relations. Parents' perspectives will act as a counter-narrative to epistemic hegemony, which in the Bangladeshi context will open up possibilities for critical examination of how childhood is viewed and explored. Situating the crossroads of post-coloniality, neo-liberal ideas, and globalized technologies and critically examining them in childhood studies will open up opportunities for expanding cultural approaches to childhood development in this social media and AI era.

Author

• Md Rifat Hassan Liju, Penn State College of Education