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Gearing Up for Kindergarten: Project overview & year-end report for 2009-2010
Brotherson, Sean E., August, 2010
Fargo: North Dakota State University, Extension Service.

An evaluation of Gearing Up for Kindergarten, a preschool learning and parenting education program in North Dakota, that examines changes in parenting practices and children's readiness for school, based on pre- and post-program surveys from parents and teachers

Reports & Papers

The myth of American selfhood and emotion: Raising a sociocentric child among middle-class Americans
Ahn, Junehui, Fall 2010
Journal of anthropological research, 66(3), 375-396

In this article, I examine the concepts of the self and emotion reflected in American middle-class socialization practices. Detailed ethnographic description of everyday socialization practices in an American middle-class preschool shows that contrary to the characterization that American notions of self and emotion are predominantly individualistic and egocentric, middle-class socialization practices are highly oriented toward developing sociocentric values such as niceness, cooperation, social appropriateness, empathy, friendship, politeness, and manners. I argue that the dichotomous model of self and emotion that consists of only two types--an egocentric Western self and a sociocentric non-Western self--fails to adequately describe variations and complexity in American experiences of self and emotion. The article contributes to a growing body of research that critically discusses the bipolarized model and argues for inherent dynamism and heterogeneity in our conceptions of the self and emotions. (author abstract)

Reports & Papers