Think Locally, Act Globally: Contributions of African Research to Child Development

Research on African children has made key contributions to the emergence of a more globalized developmental science, advancing theory and providing illuminating examples in the domains of motor development, cognitive growth, attachment, and socially responsible intelligence. Because the environments for children’s development are culturally structured, local knowledge is necessary to understand development and to devise social programs to promote healthy outcomes, as illustrated in this article by a case study in Senegal. This argues for advancing the research activities of local scholars. At the same time, action at the global level is necessary to weave such local knowledge into a global science of human development.