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Childhood
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A Mother and a Friend

Differences in Japanese and Swedish Mothers' Understanding of a Tale

INGRID PRAMLING SAMUELSSON

Department of Teacher Education, Göteborg University ingrid.pramling{at}ped.gu.se

ULLA MAURITZSON

Department of Teacher Education, Göteborg University

MAJ ASPLUND CARLSSON

Department of Teacher Education, Göteborg University

MIYOKO UEDA

School of Early Childhood, Seiwa College, Japan

A narrative like The Giving Tree can be interpreted in various ways by readers from different cultures depending on differences in life-world apprehension. The study asked 193 Swedish and 344 Japanese mothers about what they felt as they heard this tale, what the tale was about and what children could learn from the tale. The responses were analysed according to the phenomenographic method. Six qualitatively different conceptions were found, describing some kind of relation. The categories were related to differences in age, where differences between Japanese mothers indicate a change in Japanese society. The categories are also related to differences in cultural background. Japanese mothers see a hierarchical relation, Swedish mothers see a mutual relation. A comparison between Swedish children and mothers show striking similarities. Finally, differences in interpretations can be related to differences in Japanese and Swedish children's life-worlds.

Key Words: culture • Japan • life-world • mothers • narrative • phenomenography • Sweden

Childhood, Vol. 5, No. 4, 493-506 (1998)
DOI: 10.1177/0907568298005004008
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