Our comments on Keller et al’s (2004) paper stress that new perspectives on
the investigation of ethnotheories and childrearing practices are very much needed.
Based on our own assumptions—the ‘network of meanings’
perspective—some constraints of the results reported in the target article
are discussed. In order to alter some dominant and traditional Western
ethnotheories, suggestions are made for taking into account both parents and
relevant kin group members, not just the mother figure. Given the diversity of the
existing ethnotheories, and the diversity of social strata, cultural psychology of
parenting needs to go beyond the usual middle-class models. The need for an
awareness of the dialogical processes established among researchers and participants
is also highlighted. Finally, it is suggested that discourse analysis should go far
beyond verbal communication, analyzing other kinds of social languages.
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