title: Studying children's religious knowledge: contributions of ethnography and the clinical-critical method.
abstract: We analyze different methodological and conceptual contributions of anthropology and psychogenetic theory to the research of children's religious knowledge. We argue that for the study of children's points of view it is possible to build an approach that links aspects studied by both disciplinary fields. With this aim, we revise some of their basic theoretical assumptions and recent reviews as well as their methodological proposals. Then we review the core characteristics of ethnography and the clinical-critical method-proposed by Piaget's psychogenetic theory-with the goal of stressing their potentialities as well as their limitations in research. We argue that within an ethnographic approach, we must establish certain restrictions on the clinical-critical method following basic premises of social anthropology. This approach lets us demonstrate the importance of understanding children's constructions by placing them within social relations that children produce and update in everyday interactions.
authors.affiliation: University of Buenos Aires (UBA Argentina), National Council for Technical and Scientific Research (CONICET Argentina), Puan 480, of. 415/440, Buenos Aires, CP, 1406, Argentina, mariana.garciapalacios@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Mariana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: García Palacios
authors.forename: José Antonio
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Castorina
mesh_terms: D000884:Anthropology, Cultural / Q000379:methods*; D035841:Behavioral Research; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D019359:Knowledge; D011586:Psychology, Clinical / Q000379:methods; D066233:Psychology, Developmental; D012069:Religion and Psychology