One of the key purposes of the following essay is to get acknowledge that there are other
theories, other than the western theories of development. Although the Euro-American
theories are conveyed to hold true to all of humanity, different cultural backgrounds have an
impact to the way in which children grow within their society. This piece will also focus on
explaining each of the two theories being compared to better understand where they
correspond and where they differ. The western theories of development differ from the
theories Africans have for development. This essay will cover both differences along with the
similarities these theories had. More specifically looking at the theories by A Bame
Nsamenang and Jean Piaget.
The main difference within these two theories is the types of stages they have. According to
Piaget all the stages in development are achieved within existential reality, While Nsamenang
states that “an African worldview envisions the human life cycle in three phases of selfhood”,
with the one occurring before you’re born and the other one after you die (Nsamenang, 2006)
. Piaget focuses on how the child develops cognitively, from from when they first begin
building schemas in which they assimilate and accommodate everyday experiences. On the
other hand, African theorists note the growth of the societal role a person has from the
moment they are conceived. At this point begins a spiritual selfhood which ends once the
new-born is named. From then on, a social selfhood is then adopted till the point of death,
which is also the beginning of the next stage known as the ancestral selfhood (Nsamenang,
2006). The social selfhood stage is divided into seven sub-stages, namely the new-born
period, social priming, social apprenticing, social entrée, social internment, adulthood and
then death (Nsamenang, 2006).As we can see, most of the development has to do with social
influence and introducing the child into the relevant social sphere to be more and more a part
of it. As the child grows within the existential self during social selfhood, their social tasks
and responsibilities differ through the sub-stages. This is when the individual is acquiring the
tools needed to interact in their family and in society effectively. It is important to note that
this theory mainly credits the more knowledgeable others surrounding the child through
development for how the child fits into the society. It doesn’t only focus on what the child is
doing to develop but also what part society plays in the development.
The western theory within the scope of this essay is Piaget’s theory of cognitive
development. This theory is more interested with how an individual is gradually more and
more familiar with reality. This includes recognising how things work on a physical scale and
learning how to use their body in a more controlled manner such as learning language or
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