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Ways of Knowing Midterm Final

Portland State University
Zoe Marie Andrew
Case Study: Carmen
Carmen, a 3 year-old Latina girl who has been tormented by nightmares, separation
anxiety, and temper tantrums. This problem isnt as simple as its manifested itself to be. It is not
solely the workings of a misbehaved child, rather, it is much deeper than that. As I delve deeper
into this case study its important to note Im utilizing E.H. Ericksons Case study of Sam, as
well as U. Bronfenbrenners Ecological Model of Human Development as reference to key
factors playing a role in Carmens life.
I will start by saying that both Ericksons case study and Bronfenbrenners theory directly
address this important idea that an individuals problem is derived from ones historical
background, familial legacies, and their geographical space. And that these, in regards to the
social sciences, are holistic, context dependent, evolving, and are all connected to the
individuals life (Flynn, 2016).
Carmens historical background. The key element here is the civil war of El Salvador
during the 1980s and early 1990s. This traumatically effects Carmen in the multigenerational
scheme of things. Her grandmother and mother lived in El Salvador during this time. Her
grandmother, being directly impacted, exhibits this feeling of difficulty to trust others. Family
was split apart making connections difficult to maintain and as the grandmother mentions, her
cousin was a part of those who disappeared. Here, the issue starts early. Conflict arises and loved
ones leave, simply put of course.

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Familial legacies. Where the bulk of the issue at hand resides. To cut it short, I will cover
two of the major roles this girls family plays in her life. One. Her mother and father spilt up.
They had a problematic relationship in which the father verbally abused her mother. The conflict
eventually ended the relationship in a restraining order and weekly visits granted to her father,
whom of which refused to communicate with her mother at the time of visits. Not only did
Carmens father cut her mother off, his family did as well. The issue presents itself here once
more. We have conflict and the eventual leaving of loved ones. Two. We focus in on the mother
and the grandmothers relationship here. Essentially, fighting is in constant circulation with these
two. Carmen is constantly surrounded by these arguments since her and her mother now live
with the grandmother. The major key in this relationship to analyze is, when Carmens mother
and grandmother fight, due to their own extensive history, Carmens mother will threaten to
leave the grandmother and deny her contact with Carmen. Now Carmen puts two and two
together on a more unconscious level, and believes that when conflict arises, family leaves her
life.
Carmens geographical space doesnt play a huge role in her issues but it is still important
to note that she attends a preschool that doesnt have any Spanish speaking teachers and she
doesnt get along with the only other Spanish speaking child. This makes it impossible for her to
build any kind of connection outside of her mother and grandmother, making it that much more
threatening to lose or be away from them.
Overall the solution was simple enough, the mother and grandmother realized the
importance of raising Carmen in a way which helped her live a more fruitful life so they partook
in more consistent caregiving routines, became empathetic to what she had endured, and became
a part of her life outside of the home setting

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. Carmens mother volunteered at her preschool and also stopped threatening to leave the
grandmother.
This is why its critical to understand that life is not reducible to discrete, measurable,
categories (Flynn, 2016, p.10), and that it is an intertwined complex system that interacts
with one another to form a functioning whole.

Explanation: Through this case study I was able to prove my understanding of the multiple
angles through thorough investigation and realize that the outside occurrences in ones life have a
much stronger impact than first thought prevalent. In order to do this I had to realize that life is a
complex system that functions as a whole in society and its important to understand that one is
not always able to theorize an objective solution but they may theorize the most beneficial.