Personal autonomy, volition and participation during early socialization: a dialogue between the LOPI model and ethnographic findings in a Mapuche context (Persona autónoma, volición y participación durante la socialización temprana: un diálogo entre el modelo LOPI y hallazgos etnográficos en un contexto mapuche)

ABSTRACT

This article seeks to connect ethnographic findings from a study on parenting, childcare and early childhood in Chile’s Mapuche communities with facets of the LOPI model. From Facet 1, we observe that children are included in social situations from an early stage, which empowers them to learn how to interact through such instances as greeting others, commensality and hospitality, displaying will as well as motivation. From Facet 2, we highlight the children’s enthusiasm for participating and collaborating in the adults’ activities, imitating their work and ways of socializing. And lastly, from Facet 5, we identify the way in which their capacity for keen attention and anticipation unfolds, which has been identified elsewhere as ‘pitching in’. Our analysis considers the inherent inseparability of the model’s facets, as well as different emphases on a reality for learning that has tension between belonging and personal autonomy as key elements, understood from their socialization capacity.