Abstract
Chaudhary's book, which looks at the psychological dynamics of culture, provides a much-awaited insight into Indian cultural reality. It is evident from the very outset that this is a text that poses some very relevant questions about the mainstream enterprise of the brand of psychology that comes across as an empirical game geared towards proving fixed prior notions and beliefs. The book begins with an episode that very clearly brings out the necessity to question the reality of neat cultural categories delineated by social scientists. The problem with the existing approach of classifying and providing taxonomies is discussed in the light of the ease with which dualisms such as East-West, literate-illiterate and collectivism-individualism submit the complexity of cultural reality to oversimplification. Pointing to the deficiency of the dominant academic discourse in understanding the cultural reality of Indian community and family life, Chaudhary sees this reality in the light of personal experiences, the meaning of which she interprets as being embedded in the discursive, unscripted and unwritten domain of everyday speech. She demonstrates this idea with the help of conversations and experiences grounded in the complex interaction between individual and community life. Describing cultural activity and the response of the community through the event of 'Lord Ganesha's Thirst', the author clearly brings out the need to understand the complementary relationship between individual agency and social reality.
Chaudhary holds that the notion of culture as practical activity is an appropriate way of understanding everyday experience. Culture cannot be understood as a mental and symbolic construct that is divorced from the practicality of everyday living. The dynamic interface between person and culture, she claims, can be attributed to the central role of language activity. This language-centric dynamism results in cultural differences as well.
Further, Chaudhary outlines the methodological and theoretical frameworks associated with the study of culture. The questions associated with culture being treated as depicting nationalities and ethnically homogeneous locations are also discussed, pointing out the problem of applying such labels to Indian culture. The issues generated by the treatment of culture as an independent variable and the idea that it can be controlled through rigorous research methods are discussed using the paradigm of cultural psychology. The dynamic relationship between human agency and cultural activity is central to the paradigm of cultural psychology as opposed to explanations and theoretical approaches that de-link individual functioning from culture.
One of the significant points noted by the author is that collective reality is created through interaction and conversation. Language thus becomes an important tool in creating the dynamics of collective culture, which can be easily seen in small groups such as families. In addition, language activity structures the contemporary and dynamic relationship between the personal and the collective levels of cultures. These levels are thus inseparable and the duality is only an artificial manifestation. Not surprisingly, Chaudhary explores the dynamics created by language activity between an individual and society in the context of developmental processes and the family unit.
She rightly points out that the studies of children and childhood need to take into account the ideological constructions of the society because views regarding childhood are shaped by the cultural ideology of the communities concerned. Studies relating to the interpretation of childhood within specific cultural contexts reflect how cultural ideologies determine the adult response to childhood and development. Chaudhary pertinently raises the question of the cultural organisation of human development. The early environment of children is constructed via developmental tracks provided by cultural ideals. Different cultural ideals may result in different constitutions of the reality of children. In addition, children are also seen as active participants and demonstrate a high level of awareness of the dynamics of social contexts.
The study of children and culture involves issues pertaining to cultural models that determine the method and domain of study, different views of children in theories of childhood and variations in parenting. Parenting practices are largely determined by culture. Care-giving, for example, takes different forms in different communities. Early socialisation influences the relationships that children develop. Language emerges as the central process of socialisation. Everyday activity is culturally and linguistically routine-bound. Such routines form the core of shared understanding. In addition to providing linguistic frameworks, routines also provide enough flexibility for play. Early parent-child interactions are wrought with verbal games and rhyming of words and sounds. Such games are common in Indian communities.
Before examining childhood themes in Indian families, the author discusses the conflicts faced by researchers working with children and families. Since selecting an appropriate method for the study of human interaction is a crucial step in the research process, the author enumerates the various methodological conflicts that a researcher might face in such a context. She points out that research tools need to be used in consonance with the ideological paradigm and in a culturally sensitive way.
Chaudhary successfully delineates the various themes through which sense-making of childhood takes place. These themes have been linked to the plural and contradictory aspects of Indian culture. Various studies have demonstrated that the Indian identity is more or less plural in nature. For instance, urban Indians live in plural complexity and demonstrate contradictory frameworks of existence. Indians have a collectivistic culture and yet demonstrate individualistic tendencies. Family affiliations are a part of personal identity yet ambiguity and apathy is reflected towards broader social responsibility. The Indian family system socialises a young child in terms of familial relations and kinship. The familial as opposed to the individual is the most important cultural reality of the Indian everyday experience. Interestingly, it has been noted that most experiences in Indian families are multiparty and group-based. Families have a functional existence and provide the basis for an in-group and collective social context. The Indian mother is not typically involved in a dyadic interaction with the child. Multiple care-giving appears to be a norm.
The main focus of Chaudhary's study is the conversational pattern around children in Indian families. The communication pattern is embedded within a context of empathic relationships in families. The author outlines the ways in which language is used in person-talk to define family relationships and points to the recurrent conversational themes that define the social reality of children in Indian families. Everyday conversation is analysed to illustrate the ways in which personhood gets explicated in conversation. Chaudhary's study is thus an inquiry into the language of self through conversation with young children and explores the various dimensions of conversation such as topics, functions and intentions as well as themes of person references, 'social play' with objects and people and invocations. From person talk the study proceeds to an exploration of the collective reality of Indian community life. Chaudhary presents a number of 'domains of heightened activity'. These domains form the cultural meaning patterns of life in Indian families. They mark the positioning of oneself or others in everyday talk among families and are analysed by the author with reference to the socialisation and developmental functions served by them. The book culminates in an articulation of some principles that embody the exploratory aspects of cultural activity. Socialisation is assumed to be the fundamental process of cultural activity. Culture is created dynamically and goes through phases of contraction and expansion. These phases find expression at three levels — individual, familial and collective. The book specifically explores the dynamics of the familial level and its importance in the dynamics of development and in making sense of cultural reality.
As far as the overall organisation of the book is concerned, in the first chapter Chaudhary raises some pertinent questions about the ways in which the study of cultural reality is approached in contemporary psychology. In the second chapter she extends the observation made in the first chapter and elaborates on the complex relationship between culture and language activity. These two chapters lay the groundwork for the chapters that follow. An interesting feature of the book is that the theoretical groundwork keeps extending as the study proceeds. While a large number of explanatory concepts and ideas are explored in the context of an extensive review of existing literature, it might have been interesting if more of these ideas were presented along with an analysis of discursive data. A variety of vignettes and conversations are also presented and analysed in order to explore the dynamics between language and culture. Overall, Chaudhary's theoretical and qualitative analysis is impressive. The qualitative research approach she employs is ideal for a scholarly exploration of cultural sense-making and patterns of socialisation in Indian families.