Erica Burman

The specific cultural assumptions that give rise to different forms of psychology are examined, and the book provides new ways of thinking about the position of children in modern society.

She has continued critical examination of the role of developmental psychology, and her work turned to study the way images of children are used in connection with the "developing" world.

Although feminist research has been a central concern of Burman’s writing on developmental psychology, she has questioned cultural assumptions in "second wave" feminism, and she has often drawn on anti-racist debates.

This collaborative research and writing has continued in recent years in publications on suicide and self-harm and on domestic violence and "minoritisation", in which her concerns with the position of women and children connect with asylum and immigration issues.

Her work has been acclaimed and used in teaching of alternative approaches to developmental psychology in New Zealand (e.g., Bird and Drewery, 2000) and South Africa (e.g., Hook et al., 2002).