The conceptualizations about children and childhoods enrich our understanding of adult–child interactions, educational practice, policy and child-welfare interventions. This study explored 42 cultural metaphors drawn from diverse socio-economic, geographical and linguistic settings to construct Indian childhoods. The paper reports an interpretative analysis of reconstructions leading to a typology of metaphors-in-use. The conceptual-analytical exercise helped unpack nuances and contextual meanings of metaphors. The paper argues for richness and subtlety in theorising childhoods, which is multilayered, situated and intertwined with contextual issues and tensions. The study offers methodological, pedagogical and conceptual insights and proposes possibilities for using cultural tools into inquiring childhoods.

中文翻译：

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文化隐喻作为对儿童和童年的情境化理解的手段

关于儿童和童年的概念丰富了我们对成人与儿童互动、教育实践、政策和儿童福利干预的理解。本研究探索了来自不同社会经济、地理和语言环境的 42 个文化隐喻，以构建印度的童年。该论文报告了对导致使用中隐喻类型学的重建的解释性分析。概念分析练习有助于解开隐喻的细微差别和上下文含义。这篇论文论证了童年理论的丰富性和微妙性，它是多层次的，与情境问题和紧张关系交织在一起。该研究提供了方法论、教学法和概念上的见解，并提出了使用文化工具探究童年的可能性。