Photo of Asta Cekaite

Asta Cekaite

Deputy Dean, Professor

Asta Cekaite's research focuses on children's interactions and cultural socialisation in the family, school, and preschool. Her work covers bilingualism, peer group dynamics, emotions, everyday morality, and touch in social interactions.

Children's social interactions, bilingualism, socialization and institutional interactions

Asta Cekaite's research concerns children's interactions, cultural and communicative socialisation processes in families, educational settings and children’s peer groups.

Her research is characterised by ethnographic methods, video analysis, interviews, and action-based research. Central research questions concern the role of emotions in children’s socialisation across time; embodiment and sensoriality, specifically, touch in children’ development and between adult and children.

An important area of research concerns children's multilingualism and how it is promoted both within peer groups and within preschool, school and family.

Her research has also drawn attention to the importance of the peer group for socialisation and how children learn from each other in various cultural activities. In international collaborations about families in Sweden and the USA, and preschools in Sweden, Japan, and Finland, she studies different forms of socialisation that take place in the interaction between children and adults. The combination of longitudinal ethnographic approaches and detailed interaction analyses reveals the relation between societal processes and children's everyday actions and experiences.

Research areas

  • Children's bilingualism
  • Children’s peer groups, play and learning
  • Family socialisation
  • Children’s emotion and moral socialisation
  • Touch and sensoriality in social interaction

Research projects

Publications

2024

Sally Wiggins Young, Ali Reza Majlesi, Anna Ekström, Lars-Christer Hydén, Asta Cekaite (2024) How assisted eating becomes a caring practice in institutional settings: Embodied gestures and stages of assisted eating Appetite, Vol. 200, Article 107552 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Asta Cekaite, Vivien Heller (2024) Uses of interpersonal touch in educational settings: Organizing social relations, participation, and learning Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, Vol. 46, Article 100816 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Asta Čekaitė, Madeleine Wirzén (2024) Social and Emotional Functions of Institutional Touch in the Relational Care of Young Children Child & Family Social Work (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Maria Simonsson, Asta Čekaitė (2024) Den guidade leken som resurs Svenska som andraspråk i praktiken, p. 113-134 (Chapter in book)
Anna Ekström, Asta Cekaite (2024) An exploratory study of childrens peer touch in a Swedish preschool: touch forms, bodily arrangements, and social constellations European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, Vol. 32, p. 34-54 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Anna Ekström, Asta Cekaite (2024) Children's touch in a Swedish preschool: touch cultures in peer group interaction International Journal of Early Years Education, Vol. 32, p. 103-121 (Article, review/survey) Continue to DOI

2023

Asta Čekaitė (2023) Känslor och konflikter Den utbildningsvetenskapliga kärnan för förskolan, p. 272-291 (Chapter in book)
Juulia Suvilehto, Asta Cekaite, India Morrison (2023) The why, who and how of social touch NATURE REVIEWS PSYCHOLOGY, Vol. 2, p. 606-621 (Article, review/survey) Continue to DOI

Books

Bokomslag för

"Embodied Family Choreography"

Goodwin, M. H. & Cekaite, A. (2018): Embodied Family Choreography: Practices of Control, Care and Mundane Creativity. London: Routledge.

The book explores in depth how embodied interaction and touch play a central role in creating and maintaining close relationships within the family in today's Western middle-class society. Using extensive video ethnography from the US and Sweden, it describes how our senses, including the visual, auditory and tactile, work together to enrich and strengthen family bonds

Link to the book

Bokomslag för

"Touch in Social Interaction"

Cekaite, A. & Mondada, L. (Eds.) (2021). Touch in Social Interaction: Touch, Language and Body. London: Routledge.

The book presents a novel perspective on the role of touch in social life. It shows how different forms of social touch feature in everyday, institutional and professional contexts, describes its social functions, and ways touch conduct becomes meaningful in coordination with multiple senses. The book provides rich examples of social interactions where touch plays a central role.

Link to the book

Bokomslag för Bokomslag för

"Children’s Peer Talk"

Cekaite, A., Blum-Kulka, S., Gröver, V. & Teubal, E. (Eds.)(2014). Children’s Peer Talk: Learning from each other. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Both in and out of the classroom, children of all ages spend time interacting with their peers. This collection brings together an international team of researchers to document how children's conversations with their peers can influence their socialization. It emphasizes that to understand how children learn in everyday situations, we need to consider the culture, communication and activities of peer groups.

Link to the book.

CV

CV in short

  • 2018-2023
    Member of Board, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Linköping University
  • 2017
    Head of Child Studies unit, Linköping University
  • 2014-2016
    Deputee Head of Child Studies unit, Linköping University
  • 2013
    Professor, Child Studies, Linköping University
  • 2010
    docent
  • 2006
    PhD, Tema Barn, Linköpings University


     

Assignments

  • 2024-2026
    Pro-dean, Research and Phd Studies. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Linköping University.
  • 2024-2026
    Deputy Chairman, Faculty board, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Linköping University.
  • Co-editor, journal Research on Children and Social Interaction.

Seminar series

A hand is holding a pen

The conversation and interaction seminar

The Conversation and Interaction Seminar (SIS) is a working forum for conversation researchers and concentrates its activities on data sessions and presentations of ongoing analytical work.

Child Interaction Group Seminar

Child Interaction Group Seminar brings together child interaction researchers who are conducting ethnographic and interactional research in various educational, institutional and familu contexts across the globe, including Sweden, Germany, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Italy, Great Britain, China, Japan. Seminar participants are researchers from various stages of academic carrier – senior and junior researchers, and doctoral students. The group meets bi-monthly in an online forum to discuss the data, identify collaborative research areas, and develop questions that have theoretical and practical relevance. If you are interested to participate, please contact Asta Cekaite and Olga Anatoli Smith.

News

Organisation