Some Growth Points in African Child Development Research
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-2014
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
http://doi.org/10.1002/cad.20075
Abstract
We reflect on ways in which research presented in earlier chapters responds to challenges of generating an African child development field and identify additional issues calling for the field's attention. The chapters collectively display a variety of African contexts and reflexive evidence of the authors’ African cultural roots. Connecting research with African audiences demands cooperative communication between educational practitioners and parents with low literacy, and cross-sector communication among professionals. Intracultural exploration of factors influencing the pattern of human development has begun to document the potential of indigenous African cultures as a fund of resources for enhancing child development. Priority topics for future African developmental research include multilingualism, musical performance, socially distributed caregiving, and the relation between adolescence and economic activity. Integration of multiple disciplines in the application of research-based principles to service delivery in the fields of community-based (re)habilitation and early childhood care and education calls for researcher collaboration with practitioners.
Was this content written or created while at USF?
No
Citation / Publisher Attribution
New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, v. 2014, issue 146, p. 97-112.
Scholar Commons Citation
Serpell, Robert and Marfo, Kofi, "Some Growth Points in African Child Development Research" (2014). Educational and Psychological Studies Faculty Publications. 61.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/esf_facpub/61
