Learning in childhood: an autoethnography of girl childrearing practices and identity construction in southern Africa

Abstract

This article is a reflection on my childhood learning from preschool age to the age of nine and how my early learning has impacted my life, thus contributing to the way I constructed my identity as a girl and later as a woman. The family and the community at large are the agents through which we learn. The article seeks to answer the following question: “What kind of learning contributes to the way children behave and construct their identity, and what impact does their childhood learning have on their later life?” Using autoethnography as a methodology, I outline the upbringing practices from which I learned as a child that impacted my life. I put forward two categories of childrearing practices, those that had positive and negative impacts on my life and in the journey of constructing my identity as a human being. The study presents the identity I developed as the result of the environment in which I grew up. The study recommends that teachers as contributors in identity construction, need to have a bird eye’s view on the life of children. They - as partakers in shaping young lives - should not take children in front of them at face value but rather analyse behaviours displayed by learners as they depict how children are raised.

Keywords: culture, child rearing practices, behaviour, rural context, identity construction