Psychology Program Presents

Exploring Intergenerational Child-Rearing Practices in Central Asia: A Critical Psychology Approach

This presentation is based on a qualitative study of nebere aluu, an intergenerational child-rearing practice (translated as taking a grandchild), historically observed in some Central Asian kinship systems. In nebere aluu, individuals are expected to voluntarily yield custody of their firstborns to their paternal grandparents who adopt and raise them as their own. Signifying an important life achievement, the practice contributes to grandparents’ social status. Scholarly discussions about nebere aluu, though rare, have emphasized its acceptance as an ethnic tradition and a cultural norm. Popular sources, also scarce, have tended to sensationalize or pathologize it, creating narratives which emphasize nebere aluu's adverse psychological and socialization effects on children so raised. Adopting the intellectual traditions of the Indigenous and Critical Psychologies which advocate for creating psychological knowledge as deeply rooted in the particularities of specific contexts and as reflective of the local voices, this study offers a shift towards an empirical exploration of nebere aluu through subjective experiences of adult individuals who were raised in such arrangements.

This presentation's analytic focus is on narratives of care and bonding. These narratives articulate competing discourses of generational continuity, ideological disruptions, loss and reconnection. Findings are discussed in terms of the visible and invisible power asymmetries that nebere aluu appears to perpetuate and linkages of the practice to the unique Central Asian condition characterized by the history of colonization, political volatility, economic instability and social insecurity.

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For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].

Time: 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm EDT/GMT-4

Location: Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

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