Nikolai Veresov

Perezhivanie as a Theoretical Concept for Researching Young Children’s Development

ABSTRACT The phenomenon of perezhivanie has received increasing attention in recent years; however, an understanding of perezhivanie as a concept remains elusive. This article discusses perezhivanie as a theoretical concept from within a cultural-historical framework; through this, the article aims to foreground the significance of this concept for studying young children’s development. In this article we show development through drama in both everyday life and conditions specifically created for the study of children’s development, where we show the significance and power of perezhivanie in research. It is argued that perezhivanie as a concept productively contributes to the study of children’s development.

Refocusing the Lens on Development: Towards Genetic Research Methodology

This chapter discusses issues related to the methodology of developmental research from the perspective of cultural-historical theory (Vygotsky). The target question is how the video recording as a research instrument can become a valid and efficient part of genetic research methodology. Experimental-genetical method is based on understanding development as a complex process of qualitative changes. Its essence is to restore in specially created artificial experimental conditions and settings the entire process of qualitative change in developmental transitions from “buds” to “flowers” and then to “fruits”.

Duality of Categories or Dialectical Concepts

The paper explores that CHT contains at least three dialectical concepts and principles; (1) development as drama (dialectical contradiction) and the principle of dramatic construction of the personality, (2) the concept of mediating activity and the principle of qualitative transition and reorganisation and (3) the concept of perezhivanie and the principle of refraction. Rethinking the status of “the social” creates opportunities to overcome a dualism of two groups of factors (biological and social) and introduces the principle of dramatic construction of the personality, which is an intrapsychological result of overcoming social dramatical interpsychological collisions (dramas of life). Rethinking “the individual” in relation to mediating activity leads to the conclusion that by creating and using cultural signs an individual not only creates artificial stimuli-devices for mastering his psychological processes, but actively reorganizes the whole social situation. Dialectics of the individual and social is explained as interpsychological and intrapsychological are dimensions of one “social-individual” or “individual-social” continuum. Drama of real life refracted through the prism of perezhivanie becomes a drama of a personality; intrapsychological higher mental function develops, but remains quasi-social.

The Journey Forward

What makes cultural-historical theory unique is that every concept refers to a certain aspect of the complex process of development that we believe are collectively exemplified in this issue of Mind, Culture and Activity (MCA) dedicated to the concept of perezhivanie. The role, place, and interrelationships of all concepts within a theory become clear when the origins and development of higher mental functions are considered. Cultural-historical theory provides a system of interconnected instruments for the theoretical analysis of the process of development in its wholeness and complexity. The theoretical content of each concept can be understood through identifying (a) which aspect of sociocultural genesis of human mind this concept is related to and (b) how this concept is related to other concepts and principles of the theory. Our article in this issue unpacks these two directions through a theoretical analysis of perezhivanie. Having this in mind we suggested two important distinctions coming from Vygotsky’s original texts. The first distinction is about two levels of analysis—(a) phenomenological level (perezhivanie as a psychological phenomenon), and (b) conceptual level (perezhivanie as a theoretical concept). We believe this distinction is important, as it differentiates different meanings of perezhivanie in Vygotsky’s original texts—phenomenological meaning and theoretical/conceptual meaning. The meaning of both is different. That is, a phenomenon is not a concept and the concept is not a phenomenon—even though both are equally important for understanding what is meant by perezhivanie in scientific work (Fleer, 2016). When we tested this conceptualization of the concept of perezhivanie in relation to the articles presented in this special issue of MCA, we noticed that perezhivanie has been used as a phenomenon (see Blunden, 2016; Clarà, 2016; Ferholt & Nilsson, 2016) and as a theoretical concept (see González Rey, 2016; Roth & Jornet, 2016; Veresov & Fleer, 2016). Indeed, the articles in this issue begin by using perezhivanie as a phenomenon, and the latter articles have drawn upon perezhivanie as a theoretical concept. Blunden nicely captures these two aspects of perezhivanie through the thoughtful placement of the articles in this issue, and together the articles give a rich conceptualization of the term perezhivanie. Our second theoretical point focuses on the principle of refraction, which we also believe challenges the principle of reflection. This is in line with González Rey (2016), who raises this point in his article. If a prism is a metaphor, it definitely challenges a mirror as a metaphor of the principle of reflection; mirror reflects, prism refracts. The light goes through the prism; the child emotionally and intellectually lives through the social situation. This in turn shows the complex nature of perezhivanie, which should not be reduced to emotional reactions only. González Rey (2016) discusses the principle of refraction nicely when he draws attention to the psychological formation of personality. When quoting Vygotsky (1994), “it is not any factors in themselves ... [which determines future course of development], but the same factor refracted through the prism of the child’s perezhivanie” (p. 340), he argues that this “definition permits us to overcome the concepts of reflection, internalization and social determinism” (González Rey, 2016, p. 309). In our article we introduced the dramatic nature of perezhivanie as a form of refraction of dramatic collisions in everyday and specially created situations. We think that this is important because perezhivanie is a prism that reflects the social environment, but dramatic collisions are turning points, as they redirect the child’s developmental trajectory being refracted through child’s

Method, Methodology and Methodological Thinking

This concluding chapter discusses issues related to the contemporary tendency of rethinking the research methodology both in psychology and in early childhood studies. Such a rethinking is not only about limitations of statistical methods, measurements and validity issues, it is about searching for new ways in research and therefore a new methodology per se. The first part of this chapter briefly describes new directions and perspectives which cultural-historical framework opens in formulating research questions and developing research strategies. These main directions are (1) changing the focus of research questions from stages of development to the process of development, (2) changing the focus of research strategies from investigation of child’s behaviour to analysis of sociocultural contexts and institutions, (3) changing the focus from investigation of results (‘fruits’) to the processes of transformations of ‘buds’ into ‘fruits’ and (4) changing the focus from ‘classical observations’ to observations in existing or specially created experimental conditions. These directions are discussed in turn followed by a broad discussion of methodological principles, concluding with a theorisation of the role of researcher.

The Concept of Perezhivanie in Cultural-Historical Theory: Content and Contexts

This chapter, advancing Vygotsky’s original definitions, makes an important distinction between the two meanings of perezhivanie—perezhivanie as a psychological phenomena/process which can be empirically observed and studied (P1) and perezhivanie as a concept, a theoretical tool for analysis of the process of development (P2). The chapter is an attempt to unlock the theoretical content of the cultural-historical concept of perezhivanie in three interrelated dimensions, in relation to: (1) the concepts of social environment and interaction of present and ideal forms; (2) the general genetic law of cultural development; (3) the idea of analysis of complex wholes by units. Advancing Vygotsky’s legacy, this chapter introduces a concept of dramatic perezhivanie which allows to discover the dialectics of the process of development of human mind as a sociocultural genesis both in evolutional and revolutionary aspects as well as in a unity of macro and microgenesis.

Perezhivanie, Emotions and Subjectivity: Setting the Stage

This chapter captures and explores three key themes relevant to the concepts of emotions, perezhivanie and subjectivity . In analysing and transcending how these concepts have been primarily discussed is the past, this chapter goes beyond social determinism and theorises how a cultural-historical perspective on these concepts has led to new understandings of the human psyche. Rather than examining emotions, perezhivanie and subjectivity as the result of internalised operations, this chapter puts forward the view that these concepts must be studied as a generative system inseparable from the individual. In advancing upon the original writings of Vygotsky and others who have followed this theoretical tradition, it is argued that all three concepts are inseparable from the complex network within which human activities and human relationships form and develop. It is through understanding the human psyche as the unity of social, personal and environmental characteristics, that it becomes possible to advance on the essence of the three concepts that are the focus of this book, and thereby generate new understandings of what might constitute a contemporary reading of perezhivanie, emotions and subjectivity.

Contemporary Research in Early Childhood: Roots and Perspectives

This chapter examines common historical and theoretical roots of new areas and directions of contemporary research and unique innovative practices in early childhood education, which exist in Eastern European and post-Soviet countries. In many ways, they follow the academic tradition established in 1960s and developed in 1970s and 1980s in Soviet Union, which remains foundational for international contemporary studies and educational practices. Unique combination of traditional classical pedagogical research and strong “non-classical” developmental cultural-historical theoretical framework could be considered as a distinguishing feature, which predetermined both the foundations and directions of the history of early childhood studies in contemporary Russia, former Soviet republics and Eastern-European countries.

A Cultural-Historical Methodology for Researching Early Childhood Education

There are many ways to frame research, and there is a plethora of ways that researchers have theorised and discussed their study designs. In this methodology chapter, we present an overview of researching in early childhood education from a cultural-historical perspective. We specifically discuss aspects of a cultural-historical methodology which are related to play and development in early childhood settings. In this chapter we examine three key points. First we discuss what new perspectives the cultural-historical methodology can bring to the field of early childhood education research. Second, we show what a cultural-historical methodology will allow researchers to do. Finally, we (1) theorise a set of cultural-historical principles drawn directly from Vygotsky’s legacy but in the context of contemporary research practices in early childhood education; (2) conceptualise digital tools dialectically, as both a research tool for capturing observations of practices and as a cultural tool for the development of young children, where microgenetic changes are made visible and (3) discuss the doubleness of the researcher, as a participant in the research site and as a researcher collecting data. Through the lens of cultural-historical theory, we examine the contemporary challenges and conceptualisations of researching in early childhood education contexts.

Cultural-Historical and Activity Theories Informing Early Childhood Education

There are many theories that have informed early childhood education, including cultural-historical and activity theories. In this chapter, we present a discussion of cultural-historical and activity theories, beginning with the foundational logic that has informed both these theories – dialectical logic. We focus our discussion specifically on play and learning because this is the period of development being addressed by this handbook. Beginning with the original conception of play, learning and development proposed by Vygotsky, this chapter moves forward to the contemporary context of early childhood education, where we specifically illustrate key concepts from cultural-historical and activity theories through the research and theoretical writing of leading early childhood scholars. Cultural-historical concepts have been extensively used in the contemporary literature, as foundational for the key themes of: Play pedagogy; Pedagogical models that support the development of play; Play from the perspective of children; and Digital play. Together, these point to how cultural-historical concepts have been used by scholars to inform their work, as well as setting out the challenges and future directions in early childhood education.