Studying Cultural Behaviors: Insights into Development and Learning

I find myself in the midst of a few very different qualitative research studies.  One study is examining the implications of family and institutional culture on music therapy practices.  Another study is examining how families interact with a local institution of informal learning.  The third study is looking at how individuals, as informed by their contexts, are navigating a new context.  While the populations are very different for these three studies (music therapists, families/ caregivers with young children, and college students), the central question that threads through all of the studies is the idea of how an individual’s local context shapes their experiences, transitions, and learning. 

Overall, these studies represent an exploration of cultural variables on a more micro level.  Rather than examining culture related to larger ethnic or geographic variables, these studies are an attempt to examine culture for day to day experiences.  In a previous entry, I shared Spradley’s definition that culture is the knowledge that allows us to interpret and engage in social behavior.  Each of these studies therefore attempts to examine the nature of the cultural knowledge and how that knowledge guides behaviors and learning.

What is the value of this sort of examination?  Why is it beneficial to examine the everyday lived experience?  In a recent conversation with a research colleague, we were discussing the perception of a researcher from the hard sciences who claimed that examining the everyday occurrences is just looking at what is common knowledge.  The researcher did not see the value in studying what is known.  Last night, I was reading a passage by Geertz in which he was talking about the nature of studying culture.   He was describing the importance of theoretical formulations in the interpretation of cultural behaviors.  Geertz claims that, “stated independently of their applications, they seem either commonplace or vacant” (p. 25).

So, what is the value of studying the common place?  I believe it’s about really seeing what is right in front of us.  I just finished teaching a child development course.  Students in the class were required to complete a child observation paper which included 4-5 hours of direct observation of a child or group of children.  Typically, students will select children that are familiar to them (i.e. cousins, friend’s children or even younger siblings) out of convenience.  By the end of the project, students often report seeing things in the child that they never noticed before.  In some cases, the transformation in their perception of the child is so significant.  They shift from seeing the child just as this loud, obnoxious child to really seeing how their behaviors are shaped by numerous factors.   The students use developmental theory to guide their interpretations of the children’s behaviors so the commonplace becomes a point of insight and understanding.

Careful examination of everyday behaviors as guided by theoretical formulations allows for deeper interpretation and understanding.  This process can drastically alter the way that we understand others and how we interact with them.  I believe this is the value of the commonplace. 

Geertz, C. (1973).  The Interpretation of Cultures.  New York, NY: Basic Books.