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Interfering with Gendered Development: A Timely Intervention

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Abstract

Instead of relying on colonial and Western developmental logic to understand and research gender, this paper proposes interfering as a strategy toward generating gender knowledges that are more inclusive to other-than-Western concepts and contexts. This paper shows how post-developmental perspectives interfere with psychological and biological scientific logics that feed into common sense explanations of gender. Interference is discussed as one of a number of post-developmental practices that can illuminate the social construction of gendered childhoods and the position of the child as agentic. The paper ends by highlighting other-than-Western gender research that draws from post-Confucianism to interfere with the universal gendered girl and boy child. It is a move toward gathering and generating new gender knowledges.

Résumé

Au lieu de compter sur la logique du développement coloniale et occidentale pour comprendre et étudier le genre, cet article propose l’interférence comme stratégie permettant d’engendrer des connaissances sur le genre qui soient plus inclusives des concepts et contextes autres qu’occidentaux. Il démontre comment les perspectives post-développementales interfèrent avec les logiques scientifiques, psychologiques et biologiques qui sous-tendent les explications sur le genre relevant du sens commun. Cette interférence est discutée comme étant l’une de plusieurs pratiques post-développementales permettant d’éclairer la construction sociale du genre chez les enfants et sur la position de l’enfant en tant qu’agent. Le texte se termine en signalant que les recherches sur le genre autres qu’occidentales, basées sur le post-Confucianisme, contredisent la conception universelle sexuée du garçon et de la fille. Il s’agit d’une avancée vers l’appréhension et le développement de nouvelles connaissances sur le genre.

Resumen

En vez de depender de la lógica de desarrollo colonial y occidental para comprender e investigar el tema de género, esta investigación propone la interferencia como una estrategia hacia la generación de conocimiento de género que incluya otros conceptos y contextos diferentes a los occidentales. Este documento muestra cómo las perspectivas pos-desarrollo interfieren con lógicas científicas psicológicas y biológicas que ayudan a perpetuar explicaciones de género de sentido común. La interferencia es presentada aquí como una de las tantas prácticas posteriores del desarrollo que pueden explicar la construcción social de la niñez limitada por el género y la posición del niño como agente. El documento finaliza resaltando perspectivas de investigación diferentes a las occidentales, las cuales se derivan del pos-Confucionismo para interferir con el concepto de género universal de niño y niña. Esto constituye un intento para recolectar y generar nuevo conocimiento sobre género.

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Correspondence to Mindy Blaise.

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Blaise, M. Interfering with Gendered Development: A Timely Intervention. IJEC 46, 317–326 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13158-014-0122-9

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