Grandmothers: A Learning Institution - Basic Education and Policy ...

mation from Azerbaijan (McNulty 2003;Capps 2004) and Kyrgyzstan (Dolotova2003) provides evidence of the stronginfluence of mother-in-laws on the socializationand management of children andyounger women at the household level.In southeast Europe, evidence fromAlbania (HDC 2002; Waltensperger 2004)reveals that the mother-in-law’s centralrole in infant care and child rearing is culturally-dictatedand supported by otherfamily members. The influence of seniorwomen in the family extends to fertilitydecisions, care-seeking during pregnancy,newborn care, and socialization of youngchildren in the family and community. Inhouseholds where mothers-in-law arepresent, they provide advice and oversightto their son’s wives and guidance to theirsons on all matters related to the wellbeingof children and women.LATIN AMERICAEvidence from several countries in LatinAmerica also shows that in various culturalcontexts older women play an advisoryrole on child development issues at thehousehold level. In Saguaro Indian communitiesin Ecuador, Finerman documentedthe leading role played by senior femalefamily members in health promotion andillness management (1989a & 1989b).Similarly, describing household dynamicsaround illness episodes in the Ecuadorianhighlands, McKee (1987) refers to grandmothersas the ”primary medical specialists”within the family, suggesting the essentialrole they play in child and family healthmatters. While there is considerable culturaldiversity between the multiple ethnicgroups across Central and South America,anecdotal evidence from key informantssuggests that the core roles played bygrandmothers in socialization and childrearingare similar in Bolivia (Fernandez2000), El Salvador (Velado 2003),Nicaragua (Alvarez 2003) and Ecuador(Escobar 2003).NORTH AMERICASchweitzer and colleagues (1999) discussthe central role played by grandmothers inchild development in seven contemporaryNative American cultures.Their analysisreveals two critical dimensions of grandmothers’role in child development. First,they are “almost universally engaged inchildcare and childrearing” (Schweitzer 8)and second, they play a central role in theenculturation process of young NativeAmericans based on their knowledge ofIndian traditions and values. They concludethat this second dimension is of invaluableimportance to these minority cultures inNorth America.While it might be assumed that the role ofgrandmothers is diminishing in NativeAmerican cultures, Schweitzer’s conclusionrefutes this assumption, “The importanceof grandmothers in earlier times is echoedin grandmothers’ lives today….the continuingimportance of the grandmotheringrole” (18). Another significant, and perhapssurprising, observation of theseresearchers is that while Native Americangrandmothers are committed to preservingtradition, they are simultaneously interestedin adapting to change.Native American educationalist, Sam Suina(2000), discusses the vital teaching role ofNative American grandmothers in convey­12 UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT