Doing Giftedness: Reification and Performance in Israeli Parents’ Discourse of their Gifted Children

Abstract

This article explores the discursive practices employed by parents of gifted children to identify, construct and mobilize ‘child giftedness.’ Using qualitative analysis of interviews with Israeli parents of gifted children and an internet forum for parents of gifted children in Israel, I draw on critical constructionism to explore the relationships between gifted and non-gifted, ‘real’ and ‘fake’ gifted children, as well as between ‘ideal’ and ‘pushy’ parents. The findings show how, in shaping the social identity of their gifted child as well as of themselves, parents employ two major practices, related to the reification and performance of giftedness. These two practices are examined as representing opposite yet complementary aspects of the ways in which parents are “doing giftednessâ€

Keywords: Giftedness, gifted children's parents, pushy parents