Child Development

Bringing together Antonia Darder’s Sphere of Bicultural Development, Geneva Gay’s Culturally Responsive Teaching, Leticia Nieto’s Life Cycle Spirals, Roger Fernandes’ Storytelling, and Teaching Umoja’s notion of triliteracy, this course provides an in depth engagement with child development within the social, political, economic, and cultural contexts that children of color and their families experience in the United States. The bridges between psychosocial development stages (Trust v. Mistrust, Autonomy v. Shame and Doubt, Initiative v. Guilt, Industry v. Inferiority, and Affiliation v. Abandonment) will be used to organize the content of this class. Spanning prenatal development to the teenage years, students will study and discuss holding environments as cultural nests, bicultural voice, and ethnic identity development.