• 13 de mayo de 2025

Featured Conference: “Early Childhood Development Interventions: A Global Movement in Need of Cross-Cultural Research.

Prof. Dr. Gabriel Scheidecker, Assistant Professor 

Department of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies (ISEK), University of Zurich.

Time: 10:00 

Place:  aula B7/1058, Facultat de Filosofia i Lletres, UAB

Dear researchers, the AFIN-Barcelona group (Dr. Diana Marre, RD24/0013/0003) oragnize the following conference

International development and global health actors are increasingly promoting Early Childhood Development (ECD) interventions in the Global South as a strategy to boost human capital and economic growth. By changing the way parents interact with and relate to their children, such interventions aim to improve cognitive and socio-emotional development in early childhood, thereby enhancing school performance in middle childhood and productivity in adulthood. However, the underlying scientific evidence is biased, as it is largely drawn from research in Western middle-class contexts and excludes ethnographic research in diverse settings around the world. Longstanding research from developmental psychology, anthropology, and related fields on variations in child-rearing practices, developmental goals, and developmental pathways is largely excluded from the ECD evidence base. In this presentation, I will introduce the field of global ECD, highlight the relevance of cross-cultural and ethnographic research, and encourage a critical exchange between these fields.

Gabriel Scheidecker: Assistant Professor at the Department of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies (ISEK), University of Zurich. He leads the project "Saving Brains? Applying Ethnography to Early Childhood Interventions in the Global South" (2023-2028), funded by an SNSF Starting Grant. His research focuses on childhood across various settings, parenting support, and early childhood development interventions.