[Discussion] Fwd: Re: The Beshik, or why we do not speak Tatar

[gonul@bilkent.edu.tr]

------------- Forwarded Message -------------
Date: 11 Aug 2002 16:09 EEST
From: D.G. Porter <dgporter@pacbell.net>
Subject: Re: The Beshik, or why we do not speak Tatar

Dear Mr. Ahunov,

Your research and hypotheses are very interesting and are sure to
provoke controversy. I do have some questions, though:

Did N. Kurek's studies account for variables such as language, cultural
background and socioeconomic status of the children that he studied? I
ask this because around the same time period as his study was done, it
was quite prevalent in the US (where I am from) to conduct studies of
the intelligence quotient of children from various ethnic backgrounds.
Of course the ethnic minority children-who almost always happened to be
poor and non-native English speakers-came out as "intellectually
backwards" on these tests and suffered accordingly in educational
opportunities in the schools and employment.

This was especially true for Native American children. And I seem to
recall studies from the same time period as Kurek's linking certain
Native American swaddling practices--which are similar in concept to
that of the beshik--with low I.Q., "intellectual retardation," etc. and
consequently using these results to account for their poverty-stricken
living conditions.

Another interesting point is the fact that in the U.S. over the last 20
years the furniture in which babies are kept have become more
beshik-like. For example, more parents here now use more the confining,
enclosing baby carriers and beds (even cradles) as opposed to the older
open "crib," in which the baby could move and squirm around (and cry!!!)
all the time. The child-development theories promoting this shift were
based on studies which showed that American children suffered
psychologically from being allowed to flail about, that they needed the
security and warmth provided by the more enveloping type of baby bed.

-Melinda Niekum


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