Erica Burman - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Erica Burman is an influential critical development psychologist

Developmental psychology

Developmental psychology, also known as human development, is the scientific study of systematic psychological changes, emotional changes, and perception changes that occur in human beings over the course of their life span. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to...

based in Britain

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. Her work has been a conceptual resource for critical research in developmental psychology, feminist perspectives on the connections between different forms of oppression, and methodological debates in psychology

Psychology

Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...

Developmental psychology

Burman’s 1994 work, Deconstructing Developmental Psychology, provided a critical response to mainstream theories of child development

Child development

Child development stages describe theoretical milestones of child development. Many stage models of development have been proposed, used as working concepts and in some cases asserted as nativist theories....

, and drew upon feminist theory

Feminist theory

Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, or philosophical discourse, it aims to understand the nature of gender inequality...

to show how this aspect of psychology serves to regulate family behavior, marginalize working class

Working class

Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...

and minority

Minority group

A minority is a sociological group within a demographic. The demographic could be based on many factors from ethnicity, gender, wealth, power, etc. The term extends to numerous situations, and civilizations within history, despite the misnomer of minorities associated with a numerical statistic...

ethnic women and pathologise their experience as mother

Mother

A mother, mum, mom, momma, or mama is a woman who has raised a child, given birth to a child, and/or supplied the ovum that grew into a child. Because of the complexity and differences of a mother's social, cultural, and religious definitions and roles, it is challenging to specify a universally...

s. The book covers the spectrum of dominant approaches in psychology, and finds each of them wanting. The specific cultural assumptions that give rise to different forms of psychology are examined, and the book provides new ways of thinking about the position of children in modern society.

Following this book much of Burman’s research has been devoted to representations of children, and to the connections between different kinds of "development". She has continued critical examination of the role of developmental psychology, and her work turned to study the way images of children are used in connection with the "developing" world. She has also focused her research on the question of how such images of women and children hold in place models of the "progress" of the development of the nation state.

Feminist research and methodology

Although feminist

Feminism

Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...

research has been a central concern of Burman’s writing on developmental psychology, she has questioned cultural assumptions in "second wave" feminism, and she has often drawn on anti-racist debates. She has drawn attention to the way the position of women is closely connected with the position of cultural minorities. Burman is best known as a developmental psychologist and theorist of women’s studies, but many of her publications have been concerned with radical developments in methodology

Methodology

Methodology is generally a guideline for solving a problem, with specificcomponents such as phases, tasks, methods, techniques and tools . It can be defined also as follows:...

(see, for example, her analysis of the way debates on child labor can be used to show the limits of mainstream models in developmental psychology in the 2006 FQS online reference). Her study of different ways of carrying out research has been a powerful resource for feminist psychologists

Feminist psychology

Feminist psychology, is a form of psychology centered on societal structures, and gender. Feminist psychology critiques the fact that historically psychological research has been done from a male perspective with the view that males are the norm. Feminist psychology is oriented on the values and...

, but beyond that the impact has been felt in "discourse analysis

Discourse analysis

Discourse analysis , or discourse studies, is a general term for a number of approaches to analyzing written, spoken, signed language use or any significant semiotic event....

" and in "critical psychology

Critical psychology

Critical psychology is an approach to psychology that takes a critical theory–based perspective. Critical psychology is aimed at critiquing mainstream psychology and attempts to apply psychology in more progressive ways, often looking towards social change as a means of preventing and treating...

" (see for example the 2004 DAOL online reference) and in critical mental health

Mental health

Mental health describes either a level of cognitive or emotional well-being or an absence of a mental disorder. From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology or holism mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and...

.

She is sometimes criticized for being too political because her work crosses academic disciplinary boundaries. She is less an exponent of how psychology can help people than a critic of psychology, and so her work is dismissed as irrelevant by some mainstream developmental psychologists.

Erica Burman also trained as a group analyst, and much of her work has been in collaboration with a new generation of researchers working in psychology and in adjoining disciplines, and with practitioners. Apart from edited books, Burman has produced a number of collaborative books on the position of women (in 1995, Challenging Women: Psychology's Exclusions, Feminist Possibilities) and discursive research (in 1996, Psychology Discourse Practice: From Regulation to Resistance). This collaborative research and writing has continued in recent years in publications on suicide

Suicide

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

and self-harm

Self-harm

Self-harm or deliberate self-harm includes self-injury and self-poisoning and is defined as the intentional, direct injuring of body tissue most often done without suicidal intentions. These terms are used in the more recent literature in an attempt to reach a more neutral terminology...

and on domestic violence

Domestic violence

Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...

and "minoritisation", in which her concerns with the position of women and children connect with asylum and immigration

Immigration

Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...

issues. Burman was a co-founder (with Ian Parker

Ian Parker (psychologist)

Ian Parker is a British psychologist who has been a principal exponent of three quite diverse critical traditions inside the discipline...

) of the Discourse Unit

Discourse Unit

The Discourse Unit is an international research group that currently has its main base at Manchester Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom. It has been one of the most important focal points for the development of critical work in psychology and in other social sciences concerned with...

at Manchester Metropolitan University

Manchester Metropolitan University

Manchester Metropolitan University is a university in North West England. Its headquarters and central campus is in the city of Manchester, but there are outlying facilities in the county of Cheshire. It is the third largest university in the United Kingdom in terms of student numbers, behind the...

, and the website of this research unit provides open access to a number of publications.

Critical responses to Erica Burman’s work have been in the fields of policy and ethics around work with children in the UK (e.g., Dahlberg et al., 2005; Mac Naughton, 2005). Her work has been acclaimed and used in teaching of alternative approaches to developmental psychology in New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

(e.g., Bird and Drewery, 2000) and South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

(e.g., Hook et al., 2002).

Books by Erica Burman

Burman, E. (ed.) (1990). Feminists and Psychological Practice. London: Sage. (Out of print, available at discourseunit.com)
Burman, E. and Parker, I. (eds) (1993). Discourse Analytic Research: Repertoires and Readings of Texts in Action. London and New York: Routledge. (Out of print, available at discourseunit.com)
Burman, E. (1994). Deconstructing Developmental Psychology. London and New York: Routledge.
Banister, P., Burman, E., Parker, I., Taylor, M. and Tindall, C. (1994). Qualitative Methods in Psychology: A Research Guide. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
Burman, E., Alldred, P., Bewley, C., Goldberg, B., Heenan, C., Marks, D., Marshall, J.. Taylor, K., Ullah, R. and Warner. S. (1995). Challenging Women: Psychology's Exclusions, Feminist Possibilities. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Burman, E. Aitken, G., Alldred, A., Allwood, R., Billington, T., Goldberg, B., Gordo Lopez, A., Heenan, C.. Marks, D. and Warner, S. (1996). Psychology Discourse Practice: From Regulation to Resistance. London: Taylor & Francis.
Levett, A., Kottler, A., Burman, E. and Parker, I. (eds) (1997). Culture, Power and Difference: Discourse Analysis in South Africa. London: Zed Books / Cape Town: UCT Press.
Burman, E. (ed.) (1998). Deconstructing Feminist Psychology. London: Sage.
Burman, E. (1998). La Decontruccion de la Psicologia Evolutiva. Madrid: Visor Apredizaje.
Chantler, K., Burman, E., Batsleer, J. and Bashir, C. (2001). Attempted Suicide and Self Harm – South Asian Women. Manchester: Women’s Studies Research Centre, MMU.
Batsleer, J., Burman. E., Chantler, K. Pantling, K., Smailes, S., McIntosh, S. and Warner, S. (2002). Domestic Violence and Minoritisation: supporting women towards independence. Women’s Studies Research Centre, MMU.
Banister, P., Burman, E., Parker, I., Taylor, M. and Tindall, C. (2004). Métodos Cualitativos en Psicología: Una Guía Para la Investigación. Guadalajara: Universidad de Guadalajara.
Hook, D. (ed.) (2004), with Mkhize, N. Kiguwa, P. and Collins, A. (section eds) and Burman, E. and Parker, I. (consulting eds) (2004). Critical Psychology. Cape Town: UCT Press.

Critical responses

Bird, L. and Drewery, W. (2000). Human Development in Aotearoa: A Journey Through Life. Auckland: McGraw Hill.
Dahlberg, G., Moss, P., and Pence, A. (2005). Beyond Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care. London: RoutledgeFalmer.
Hook, D., Watts, J. and Cockcraft, K. (eds) (2002). Developmental Psychology. Cape Town: University of Cape Town Press.
Mac Naughton, G. (2005). "Doing Foucault" in Early Childhood Studies. London: Routledge.

External links

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