Peer-reviewed article
With instead of about: Toward an anthropology that is critically integrated into Global Early Childhood Development interventions
Carolina Remoriní ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This is a methodological commentary on anthropological approaches to early childhood development research rather than a substantive study of child well-being. The author argues that anthropologists in the Global South should engage more actively with institutions and policy work to make their research relevant to global early childhood development debates. The piece calls for broader dissemination of anthropological evidence beyond academia and for incorporation of cultural diversity into ECD interventions.
Key points
- Anthropologists should broaden audiences beyond academia by engaging with policy and practice communities
- Anthropological evidence needs to be presented in ways that are 'hearable' to global ECD institutions
- ECD interventions often operate within limited parameters of normalcy from the 'minority world'
- Anthropologists in the Global South should actively participate in institutions they typically avoid
- Incorporating cultural diversity into ECD is essential beyond dominant Global North frameworks
Limitations
This is a position paper and commentary, not an empirical study. It does not present data, evaluate specific interventions, or provide evidence on what works for improving child well-being outcomes.
Abstract
Abstract This comment posits questions and opens debates around the recent article by Scheidecker et al. based in the author's experience in anthropological research and applied work in child development in the Global South. The article advocates for a critical review of how anthropologists in the Global South carry out and disseminate their research, in order to broaden audiences beyond the academy. Finally, it is argued that for anthropological evidence to hold a place at the table on Global Early Childhood Development (ECD), anthropologists must engage in practices, methodologies, and forms of collaboration that make our findings and perspectives hearable. For this to happen, anthropologists should take an active part in institutions and fields of work they tend to avoid. Only in this way can we positively impact children and families by incorporating the inherent diversity of ECD beyond the parameters and values of normalcy that predominate in the so‐called minority world.