Crianza infantil y diversidad cultural. Aportes de la antropología a la práctica pediátrica / Child rearing and cultural diversity. Contributions of anthropology to pediatric practice

En este artículo, se propone situar la crianza infantil como un proceso social y cultural que, lejos de presentar características universales e invariables, muestra una enorme diversidad, ligada, en gran medida, a particularidades culturales de las familias y comunidades que la llevan a cabo. Se considera que la perspectiva de la antropología puede contribuir a comprender esa multiplicidad de formas de criar a los niños que suele emerger en el consultorio del pediatra y que pone en juego diferentes concepciones de niñez, sujeto, cuerpo, maternidad, paternidad, entre otras. A su vez, se advierte acerca de los riesgos de limitar el abordaje de la crianza a un relativismo cultural ingenuo que esencialice el papel de la cultura, y se señala, por el contrario, la necesidad de considerar el modo en que las particularidades culturales se entrelazan con las desigualdades sociales a la hora de interpretar esa diversidad

This article proposes to define child rearing as a social and cultural process that, far from depicting universal and invariable characteristics, shows a huge diversity, mostly linked to the cultural features of families and communities in charge of such process. It has been considered that the anthropological perspective may contribute to understanding such multiple forms of bringing up children that are usually seen at the pediatrician's office and that involve different concepts in relation to childhood, individual, body, motherhood, fatherhood, among others. In turn, this article warns about the risks of restricting the approach to child rearing to a naive cultural relativism that reduces the role of culture to essentials and, on the contrary, points out the need to consider how cultural features intertwine with social inequalities when interpreting such diversity.

Child rearing and cultural diversity. Contributions of anthropology to pediatric practice. / Crianza infantil y diversidad cultural. Aportes de la antropología a la práctica pediátrica.

This article proposes to define child rearing as a social and cultural process that, far from depicting universal and invariable characteristics, shows a huge diversity, mostly linked to the cultural features of families and communities in charge of such process. It has been considered that the anthropological perspective may contribute to understanding such multiple forms of bringing up children that are usually seen at the pediatrician's office and that involve different concepts in relation to childhood, individual, body, motherhood, fatherhood, among others. In turn, this article warns about the risks of restricting the approach to child rearing to a naive cultural relativism that reduces the role of culture to essentials and, on the contrary, points out the need to consider how cultural features intertwine with social inequalities when interpreting such diversity.

En este artículo, se propone situar la crianza infantil como un proceso social y cultural que, lejos de presentar características universales e invariables, muestra una enorme diversidad, ligada, en gran medida, a particularidades culturales de las familias y comunidades que la llevan a cabo. Se considera que la perspectiva de la antropología puede contribuir a comprender esa multiplicidad de formas de criar a los niños que suele emerger en el consultorio del pediatra y que pone en juego diferentes concepciones de niñez, sujeto, cuerpo, maternidad, paternidad, entre otras. A su vez, se advierte acerca de los riesgos de limitar el abordaje de la crianza a un relativismo cultural ingenuo que esencialice el papel de la cultura, y se señala, por el contrario, la necesidad de considerar el modo en que las particularidades culturales se entrelazan con las desigualdades sociales a la hora de interpretar esa diversidad.

[Television as agent of socialization. Influence of television on the construction of subjectivity in children and adolescents]. / La televisión como agente de socialización. Influencia de la televisión en la construcción de la subjetividad en niños y adolescentes.

UNLABELLED: In the human process of socialization the family (main agent in the first years) takes part together with friends, school and mass media, specially T.V, among others. The aim of our research is to analize television's influence upon the construction of subjectivity in the child and adolescent. We intend avoid the sterilizing antinomy: TV is either good or bad. SAMPLE: 587 children and adolescents from 5th to 9th grade (EGB). Parents and teachers were included to compare answers. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Semi-structured questionnaires. Years 2004-2005.