Operationalizing Culture and Identity in Ways to Capture the Negotiation of Participation across Communities

Vol. 49, No. 1, 2006

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Commentary

Operationalizing Culture and Identity in Ways to Capture the Negotiation of Participation across Communities
Victoria Hand

University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisc., USA

Address of Corresponding Author

Human Development 2006;49:36-41 (DOI: 10.1159/000090302)

Key Words

Activity systems
Culture
Design-based research
Identity

Abstract

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The ways that people participate (or resist participation) across geographically and culturally diverse communities and in doing so develop new ways of being and perceiving themselves in the world is necessarily nuanced and multifaceted. Scaling the side of a house to show proper deference in entering a kitchen [Holland et al., 1998], rejecting schooling as a symbol of 'acting white' [Fordham & Ogbu, 1986], or attending medical school despite criticism from family and community as described in this issue are complex behaviors individuals enact in the context of perceived social and cultural constraints and opportunities they negotiate in their daily lives. This process of negotiation occurs at both local (microgenetic) and global (sociogenetic) levels, as incremental shifts in individual participation reverberate across broader collectives of joint social activity. Negotiation also involves issues of power and access, as communities into which individuals attempt to gain entry may de-legitimize certain practices, which may serve to position these individuals on the fringes of this community. It is only when we acknowledge the complexity of these processes that we can begin to paint a fuller picture of the landscape that individuals such as immigrant people face in performing multiple memberships.

Author Contacts

Victoria Hand
Department of Curriculum & Instruction
Universitiy of Wisconsin-Madison, 225 N. Mills Street
Madison, WI 53706 (USA), Tel. +1 608 263 5142
Fax +1 608 263 9992, E-Mail vmhand@education.wisc.edu

Article Information

Number of Print Pages : 6
Number of Figures : 0, Number of Tables : 0, Number of References : 22

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